GRADING OF BACONERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23048, 27 May 1938, Page 18

GRADING OF BACONERS

GUIDE FOR FARMERS (By M. J. Scott. Department of Agriculture.) livery baconer pig between the weights of 1211b. and 1801b., whether it is for export, unexportable, or for local consumption, is now graded into one of the following classes: —No. 1 prime, .No. 2 prime, No. 3 prime, second grade, or reject. This grading is compulsory under the regulations, no matter whether the pigs are bought at per lb. on hooks weight, by auction in the saleyards, or on hoof in the stv or paddock.

The grading standards employed are those applied to Canadian bacon, less Jin. where pigs are measured with a trier prior to being split down the back. The measurements taken are the thickness of back fat over the shoulder opposite the third vertebra and over the loin opposite the last vertebra. In addition to these measurements, prime pigs must be shapely, well finished, and free from blemishes, with firm white fat. No direct account has been taken of length in the grading standards, but indirectly, and quite effectively, lencth is taken into consideration. There are no better related attributes of a pig than his length and the thickness of the fat over the shoulder. Kver since these measurements have been made this relationship has been found to be consistent, no matter what the breed of the pig. During the months of October to December the department was supplied by the trade with measurements of about 80,000 pigs from almost, every killing point in New Zealand. An analysis of these measurements shows that if our pigs are arranged in four groups —shortest, short, long, longest, with equal numbers in each class—the longest pigs are, on the average. 2J inches longer than the shortest and 3-16 th of an inch thinner on the back. This is true for all weights. This means that for pigs of anv weight there is, on the average, almost a certainty of getting them thinner on the back by 3-16ths of an inch if their length can be increased by two inches. Since length is the only feature that can be observed or judged, while the pig is alive it is the one thing that the producer can control, and he would be well advised to select and use longer pigs for bacon production.