DANISH BACON FACTORIES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1264, 21 May 1896, Page 6

DANISH BACON FACTORIES.

It is not only in In r improved butter producing methods that Denmark excels, says an Australian exchange, but also in tile attention given to working up the by-products. There is no waste of skim or butter milk All that and similar material is woiked up in the pig raising Lu iness. The great bulk of the poi k and bacon exported to E igland from D muiark is cured by the cooperative cmiug houses Enormous quautiu’es of cheap Black Sea hnh.-v have been imported into Denmark dining the last few years, used principally for fodder, and greatly stimulating the raising of pigs for market. Cooperative curing houses for pork, established about 1888, have been greatly increased in number. At the end of last year there were 18 establishments in different parts of the country, the largest of which slaughtered -40 000 nigs a year. The principal

advantage of the co-operative system, doing away with the middlemen, applies well to these establishments. Each shareholder, without regard to the number of pigs tinned off, lias but one vote in the management of the business. All farmers who raise pigs in a given district of, say, 10 to 20 mills

circumference, unite and raiie the money necessary for the plant and starting of the ciuing house by signing

contracts. These mak; them responsible for the payment of a certain sum answering to about 11s for each pig furnished for marketing. Vil’y often

all the interested farmers in one parish act as a whole. The contracts are deposited in the bank as security for the loan used in building the plant, the farmers putting up little cr no cish. Provision is usually made that the loan shall be paid off in the course of 10 years, after which period the curing house is owned by the shareholders in proportion to the number of pigs fur-

nished. Tiie participants further dud themsilves to deliver all the pigs hey raise to tho curing house. This

obligation is strictly enforced, and severe fines collected when animals are sold elsewhere. Settlement is made according to dressed weight, the pigs being divided into three classes when slaughtered. Payment is generally made within tight days after delivery, with a small deduction set aside to form a reserve fund. In some instances three-fourths the value of the pigs is advanced on delivery. At every curing house there is a shop for the sale ot sausages, fat, &e.j these as a rule paying excellently and yoilding an important part of the profits.