THE POULTRY YARD POULTRY AND EGGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 14

THE POULTRY YARD POULTRY AND EGGS.

I (From the paper read by Mr C. R. Vai.bn.tinb ! a* the Foreign and Colonial Section, Society of Arts, on March 24 ) POULTJIT. ; The British farmer does not manage his 1 poultry yard with a viewta profit. Aaincome of from £30 to £50 from poultry fs too small a j thing for hi» not : ce. As far as bis supply of the market goes he supplies his own wants, and when he has too many he sells chickens and 1 hei,s alive or dr ssed at a near market, and when, everybody else is doing the sama. The intelligent management on email holdings is little better, bat there ares large cf>t*bfishmenta r i such aa the He -.th field Poultry Farm, that do an immense trade in poultry for the London market, rearing, buying and forcing on economical principles. Yot in London and the large provincial towns there is- a fine market for cheap, good poultry, prices even in small provmciitl towns in England baing very often prohibitive, even at tha mos% plentiful time. Let na see what G^eafc Britain pays abroad for pi-ultry. In 1801- our total bill was £480,884, France sending to the value of ££22 909, Belgium £118,355, Russia. £43,289, Holland £48,092, Germany £27,U5. Uaued, States (America) £6444, Norway £6661, Denmark £5677, and Argentine Republic £1122. Tho total from foreign countries was £479 737, and the full total, which included a few <>dd lots from British poFsessions, waa ■ £480,884. In 1893 the loUl wan £578 959, the ' falling-off being chiefly from France and Belgium, We may take it most of thin is ucnoces- '

B&ry if the old country and the colbnie3-did their duty. The demand is an increasing one, as lasb year's figures will prore. The colonies have go 6 some foothold now, as we will show later on* but it in a small fraction of the amount of up* wards of half a million sterling that Great Britain pays;. a» these figures show : —

For "'poulttyac (fame- alive or dead," Great Britain's bill was £605,166 last year— j-oughly £SO,QOQ ». month, or nearly £1700 k day. OE this- £806 000, Franca claimed £261500; • Belgium, £125,000 ; Rtania, £85,417"; Holland, £40,318,; Germany* £39,254 ;Norway,,£lo,6lo jf • Denmark, £7,523; United States of Amerioß, £9-523. &c. Tht& value- p»r head : o£ population of these products hat gradually increased, and (wiHl r»Bbit»). is now about 6d' per- head oE population, as against 43 in 1885, and 2d in 1875 So much, for tho- appreciation of the imported, poultry. We may with advantage just glance at some of the met'lhdV adopted to supply the market— is* capable of mush expansion — and then deal with the colonial supply. Ap&it from Surrey and. Smser, Essex and Lincolnshire, and Ireland^ loc*l supply doaa vo'y 1 tfc'e for iuimo iato needs, and is not apparently likely to. do much mora. Tha Sussex buds — a mix'uro of D rltinff, Coohini and Biabmv-are collected from the countrj people by "fatterai" or. thß larger "fafctera" buy from higglers who have collenteJ; The biidi theu are at onoo fatted until they are very hungry. They are fed fiom a trough on oatmeal and milk for a week, and no water, given. Animal fafc is added the next week, and from the nffcivth to the nineteenth day the birds we " crammed" twice a day. This is done by literallj forcing aoft foud dov»n their throats by means of a machine, an expert band cramming 15 dozen birds per hour. The birds, when flufficiontly plump, are fasted overnight and killed next morning ; they are plucked immediately, trussed, the breastbone broken, and put ii-to a press, to em- vgo a few hours after (tlmxsfc square in shape, and very subd. These in spring reali-io 5s to 7s 6d each. In August to September the price may go as low as 2i 6d. 'ShU method, on somewhat similar lines, is adopted iv other places in conjunction with rearing by incubators and hatching, Iru proof of the success of poultry fattening, eigbt out of ten of tha Suss-x tndl K u nt fattsners n»*ke a profit and say« money. In Ireland, with a Btwck of tomfethiuj; like 16,000,000 head in centres round Cork, Kilkenny, Watarford, W«xfvrd, and 1 Armagh, a pr< fitablu industry ia carded' on. The average ptics to tha large- salesmen in Sussex wo may pat at 3s 9J, and over 1,000,000 fowls are sent to Loi'don and the south-coast watering' paces. Many of the birds for fatteuiug are also bought iv lieland. «. With regard to French imports, which hava slightly- fallen off, it ie said this is due to the high price of meat in France, owing to which the natives ara willing- to pay- higher prices foir poultry than those obtainable in London. Thir goes to show that the colonies could drive a good deal of the French import off the market, gr-liing at a slightly cheaper rate. The plan adopted iv Erauoe is " iorcing."' Much on the. same Hues, chickens, ducka, geese, turkeys ara sent, and doubtless many sold as Bugliah— aar, indeed, the bulk of poultry is retailed. The poultry indnstry is an important ono In. Belgium, for. in that otherwise thickly-popu-lated country it is estimated (here are at leasft 6,000,000 head of poultry, and that the annual value of the product of eggs and' table poultry exceds £2 000,000. There is no higher authority on poultry than Mr EJwaid Brown, and we have his authority for saying that "a worse B»mplo of fowl than the Russiau can hardly be cooked,, for yet, bad an they aro, they find a murket." Tha Ru-staa Government intend to foster the industry of poultry-keeping with' a vioir of benefiting tha p^acantry. Even for Russian birds the prices here ace higher than they can get iv foreign countries nearer Russia, and considerable development of the trade has tak^n. place, the itn« ports of 1895 being- double those of 1894 Nor- , way, Sivtden, and Denmark are all increasing their export, as are the United States. This being po, it will be plain that tha colonies' opyortuui'y is now, and that: it will ba easier to g*in a market that is unoccupied- than to have to displace rivals near at hand already in th» field. There is a good opening for a colonial trada in pau'try in Great Britain, more especially from the itu'ipodes ; but in all. these new developments the first item to be considered is that of freight. Skilled' dressing, preparation, packing, chilling, and- storage of- the best .are necessary. It is satisfactory toiknow that with proper organisation there is already ample accommodation for freight o£ poultry,- the total being over 6,000.000 carcases; mutton capacity, while the requirements- last year fon mutton and sheep on all steamers and ordinary large vessels to Australasia was only about 4^ooo 000 carcases. Thia leaves u» about one-third of the available space now for poultry, fruit?, snd pro« duels of petite culture that can be most advau* tageously placed. Canada is. paying som& attention to this in« dustry ; on the experimental farms of the Department of Agriculture- rhera is a poultry. de« partment under skilled management. Canada does at present' litthv or nothing in fha way of supplying the large demand hene, her export in, 1895 beings worth £530. In New South Wales tha rearing and breed* ing of fowls.for home consumption and marketing near the immediate neighbourhood is carried on. m much, the same way as in England. A 6 present the stock of fowls, ducks, turkeys, and geese is about sufficient to supply home use. The average price per pair was about aa follows^ 1894 :— Fowls, 3s 3d ; ducks, 3s 4d ; geese, 4a 9i ; turkeys (hen), 5s 3d ; do (cock), 10a s*. You will see there is plenty of margin here foe export at profit, aa these are only about half thn value at the be&t time in England. The coif! of freezing is pub by a large firm at §d per lb

and the freight 75s per ton measurement of 40 cubic feet.

Victoria's stock and annual production of pou 'try ie s'milfir to that of.New South Wale?, and worth about £700,000. The Viotoria Depailment of • Agriculture have given instructions for the .exportation of poultry, and the colony is the richest in poultry of any of the Aiutralaiian colonies. The rearing of poultry is increasing. Some 12,000 chickens and ducks were exported last year, about 2500 turkeys, and 88 geese. Good .poultry shipped at ths right season and sent in the right way will command a price higher as a rule than in Victoria ; and if not that, at leaot a pro St. It is a question largely of freights, and these latter depend upon the style and quality of the goods for shipment. In a few months of the jeir shippers of poultry to England who have mastered the methods of killing, dressing, and pat-king wilt find for thtir produce in -England for a few months of the year a better market for their surplus than cculd be obtained in Victoria. The Drpar'-ment of Agriculture have given the necessary direcions. Experimental consijjnmeuts sent from Melbourne in winter 1893 94 consibted of 11 crates, containing 172 chickens, 44 duckings 64 teal, 36 black docks, 4-curlewa, and 100 rabbits. The fowls and duck's were dressed and the teal and black duck* with their feathers. The pocking was in this case far too balky and expensive, the total cost being £14 for the consignment. It is necessary that, each fowl should be frozen • separately, but half Ihe space occupied by this consignment would do. It is interesting to note the prices realised : — 108 chickens realised 3s 9d OBch.or 6;1 more than the average pries given above as the value per pair in New Suuth W*les ; 64. made 3s 6d each; 36 ducks realised 3a 9d each, or 5d more than the New South Wnles home value per pair ; 8 ducks, 3s 6d each ; 63 rabbits made Is 2d eaoh, and the balance 9d each. n

A second consignment later realisrd quite a entiling more for the poultry, so there is i\,om for profit here. Victoria's export t> England in 1895 was nearly worth £5000.

It is the same with poultry as till produce, the beat alone prove remunerative to the shipper. What the colon'ea muat look to is to provide for the spring trade in England, and also for the cargo bird trade at CSristmas. The trade would be a season trade and have to bo specially catered for. As an adjunct to general farming managed on co-operative biles it will be very remunerative, and from Victoria's experience it is but a matter of time. For spring youog chickens must bo sent, and iv May ducklings will- bring good prices. Here again Australia has' the advantage of the sea«ons.

Last Christmas Australian turkeys cold well, but it is to be borne in mind the poultry market there is flooded with, supplies for Ireland, Canada, and the Continent;. The Australian birdflj however, c<mmand good pricee, and these latter depend upou appearencss. Prejudice against " chilled " birds there is none, and it is now at leaet in the matter of pheasants and partridges to uuusual thing for private landowners in England who have ice houses' to hung birds therein A friend of mine enjoyed excellent pheasants in <h? first week of September last year that had been staot< within a mile of the dining-room table ten months previously. As an instance of what catering tor and catching the market may do, I may mention that in Ascob week quite a quantity of Adelaide chickens were sold at 8s a couple, and some as high as 10s. Many of these, doubtless, were aold as English; which were not procurable at the time by the Leadcnhall dealers. The Australian turkeys this year have realised 10d to Is 2d perlb, but had they been bigger birds would have made more. There is no doubt now that Australian poultry sold as such will be a permanent and well appreciated feature of the food supply of Gnat- Britain. y EGOS. Imports to the United Kingdom are immense aud growing :— 18P3. ' 1894. 1895. No. (gt. hundieds) 11,0J5,9 c 6 11,870,093 12,722,292 Value £3,875.647X3,786.329 £4 003,440 First, it must be noticed that 831 000 gre^t hundreds more egys in 1894 than in 1893 brought £89,000 less money to the senders, whilst an in' r-'ase of nearly 1 000.000 great huudreds in 1895 did noS proportionately increase the total value, but, for the first time in our history, Great Britain paid over four million pounds sterling for eggs in 1895. The trade has gradually increased, and was under £3,000,000 a year" in 1886, and first amounted tp over £2,000.000 in 1875. Last year France sent eggs to the- value of over £1,C69 580, and Germany for 650,000 great hundred* more received for her inferior e»g« £916,821, or £83,000 less. B -lgium and Russia supply the next largt-st quantities, then Denmark, with an export worth £450,000, and Canada £156,653 Russia doubled her export of 1891 in 1895 ; it is stated that the demand is yet greater than can he fully met. panada appears, owing to her proximity, to have the best choice of all the colonies to increase her trade in eggs with England. The Australasian colonies will never be able to compete with France and the nearer continental countries in the prodution of fresh egg*. At the j same time a considerable trade can be established by an improved system of conveying eggB in cool chambers, and the colonies should be able to compete successfully against Russian and Italian, and deliver better eggs at a higher price. Canada's experience shows this. She bad virtually no trade in eggs in 1887-89, and since then has sent an average of 1,000,000 dozen per year. Further, when worked out the figures show that the Canadian eggs made in the cheap year, 1895, ,7s 2d per great hundred, »s against 5s 6 i made by the Russian, The requisites for the colonial trada are quick Collectiug, careful handling, packing, storage, cool chamber space, and reasonable freights. This butter handicap will, we feel sure, aB years go on ba gradually lessened. In New South Waleq, in 1894, the value at Home was Is 3d per dozen, and the annual reduction of 90,000,000 not sufficient for Home consumption, and there was an import in the earpe year of 9,000,000 in excess of the export. South Australia supplies both Victoria and New South Wales with a quantity of eggi, and in 1892 exported e^gs to the value of £27,771, obtaining a better market under tee

circumstances th<m would bave been passible here. It appears that Victoria is rapidly becoming self-supporting in the matter of Gggs, and should have a surplus for export this year. It is quite certain that shippers of poultry and eggs in Viotoria will find the Eaglish market, at the right seaeons of the year, a better one for their surplus than they could have at home. The colonial eggs, sent with care, would probably rank next to the great fresh eggs from France. The bulk of the cheap Russian and Italian and German eggs are, doubtless, used for manufacturing purposes ; and there is tin export from Russia of large quantities of the yolks and whites of. eggs, as separate products, in tin boxes packed in barrels. The export trade in the colonies would doubtless be best accomplished by some co-operative scheme, as in Ireland, and possibly in connection with the factory systom of dairying. Now Zealand, like, Victoria, will have % a surplus »oon to export along, with poultry, rabbits, fruit, &).

1893. 1894. 1895. £ £ £ 4,791 131 ; 467 1,003 ... 530 - iouth. Australia... Ictorin South Walea - hiccDnland „» ■lew Zealand ... Xitmdft 48 13 221 . 1,T30r i;oi9 ' 600 290»