THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1503, 27 July 1912, Page 3

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

■ ' ' + ■ {By Chantecler.)

Bad Marketing. Thousands of pounds are lost annually, in bad marketing of eggs and poultry. In America the loss is estimated.at each year as the reisult of careless egg handling on the farms. The loss would run into some thousands every year in .. New Zealand.' Each country is faced ' with the same difficulty. The flax indus- , try used to waste thousands of pounds ayear; tho dairy industry did the same; mining tho same—all experienced a gigantic waste in by-producta. - What did the Government do ? They set to remedy ■ matters and arrest tho waste- by offering bonuses for improved systems of dealing with , the. products. Tho farmers get no instruction in this way of marketing. The Agricultural Department can. ia■crease its usefulness by taking up thia work; j It is ono of the weaknesses of the Department that it gives the poultry industry no help commercially. They havo done a lot to help producing, but little towards marketing. One sees this great waste as few do. Tho dirty and broken ' eggs that come to the market 'in summer almost make one weep. I have seen thousands of eggs wasted in this way. Surely there is need for improvement in this respect! The time is at hand when bettor methods should, be adopted. Co-opera-tion would help to remedy matters, as each, producer would be bound to certain rules for marketing his eggs and poultry. Waste in Poultry. If , the waste is great in egss it is worse in poultry. Out of 100,000 headof-poul- • try we sell each year, fully one halt are ■ .unfit for the market. The conditions under wiich birds are kept are lamentable. Here, again, is waste. One of. the best days in our business career was not to ece the need of more business, but moro economical and better dealing with the , business "we had. It is so with poultry. What New Zealand wants just now is better care of its poultry and eggs and better systems of marketing. Wβ seo thousands of birds put in the market that with a little care and good feed would return double the money obtained for them. ■ Just now, when poultry is so dear, this is to be done. Prices for poultry are ■•■ just a little higher than v;e care to see them. Table chickens of quality cost 10s. to 12s. a pair before they reach the conBurner's table, and this is more than the public can pay if we want to encourage them in the consumption of our foods. The Need of Export Trade. To the uninitiated high prices locally Indicate no need for an export trade. Mr. ' Ferguson (paperjprinted below) drops into this error, and no doubt many more do the same. We'hqld in our hand an order for 2000 table chickens for Vancouver at 6s. a pair f.o.h. What does that mean? It,means that if local prices drop we can keep them up by export. What is. the position of the duck business in New Zea- • land? Simply that it is paralysed: Ducklings for the table are worth Bs. to 10a. ,b pair in open auction. '' Is that a good sign? Nb.il , '

JUGaUNOiEGa MARKET. (By J. M. Ferguson, Trentham/ Wellington.) •The fluctuations of the prices of newlaid eggs on the. market are so pronounced that I would draw the attention, of every reader of your paper to the fact that juggling is going ou to i such an extent that unless tho poultry farmers club together they will rind themselves in a bad way. What with the price of feed and the cold and miserablo weather, preventing the usual quantity of eggs being produced, there must be a shortage in tho market. This wo do not find, but the opposite—a full supply. It must be clear to every producer that something is and that something in the nature of traud is being pressed upon the- markets with pickled eggs which are being sold as genuine fresh eggs, thus depriving the poultry-farmer of his legitimate profit. Now if this state of affairs continues, tho real. producer will find that instead of making a profit at this time of the year, to compensate hjm for his small return in the summer, howill find it difficult to make both ends meet, after paying commission. It at once, shows that the middleman must bo eliminated, for those producers living at a distance from the markets will be great losers. Permit mo to suggest, and hope that it will be taken up, that strong representations be made to the Government to cause eggs exposed for sale to be labelled as to what they are. This would stop if a substantial fine were imposed as a penalty. I have already, through: the press, warned the public. I hope the poultry farmers will take a firm stand ana unite together to form a legitimate market for themselves .and gain tho profit that is every day slipping through their fingers. I do not think that a stronger argument could be brought forward than the exposure of the juggling egg market of to-day, for forming a Dominion Co-operation amongst poultry farmers; and it is by doing so that the oause of the loss of profit will be channelled to its rightful owner—the poultry farmer. In further argument I may state that provincial co-operation would be powerless to cope with the situation as it presents itsolf. The poultry farmer need not think that a large sum of money would be required of him if such'a .cooperation were formed—he need only take up what his means will permit—but, what is wanted is his guarantee to supply the whole of his output to the co-operation, and they will do the rest and. seo that the profit is placed on to the credit of the producer. ' First, I 6uggest that when eggs are plentiful the poultry farmer 6tamp only those eggs to order all the year round. Second, when sending in large quantities of over-standing orders each week not to stamp them. ,' Third, to try to regulate their supplies to the open market instead of as has, and is, being done, flooding it. Fourth, for egg circles to obtain market prices' before sending in ' from their agents. J Fifth, to ..market eggs only on one day each we.ek.eay Friday,' instead of as at

present when you find eggs coming forward every day. Sixth,'for their agents to receive only stamped eggs for genuine all-year-roiuid customers. It can easily bo seen, from the foregoing that much good can be done, for in. the winter time when eggs are shorter in production the genuine article can be advertised to the public that only stamped eggs aro genuine. This will aid the proper prices being, realised, ami speculators will be unable to use stamped eggs pickled in' conjunction, with a few fresh ones, and thereby reap the harvest from the- poultry farmer. Until co-operation is on foot, I considor the foregoing plan would nieet requirements.