POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 295, 4 July 1929, Page 6

POULTRY INDUSTRY.

ADDRESS BY EXPERT.

Marketing of Eggs.

An instructive and interesting address on the poultry industry was .given to the Women s Division of the Putaruru Farmers’ Union on Saturday afternoon by Mr. E. C. Jarrett, Government poultry instructor, Auckland. There was a large attendance of members and poultry enthusiasts. In the course of his address Mr. Jarrett said it gave him pleasure to come and address the W.D.F.U. and educate the people on the importance of the poultry industry. It was a trade only to be learned by apprenticeship, but it was also a sideline to dairying, where skim milk and ■curds made it possible to keep d-wn the cost of feeding. In pointing out the value of birds kept by small hoide is, Mr. Barrett stated that 200 people were making a living from poultry farming, the bulk of the eggs being produced by the small poultry keeper. Important points in egg production were the keeping of hens of strong constitution, combined with careful selection with strict cleanliness, good feeding and comfortable housing. The lecturer then stated that 20 years ago birds produced 230 to 250 eggs in a year, whereas now they produce as high as 330, and one bird in the Auckland competition produced 345 eggs in 50 weeks. With the aid of charts Mr. Jarrett then showed how to select the better birds from the poorer. Dealing with what he termed a most important phase of the indus- ’ try—marketing of eggs—Mr. Jarrett said that before the system of marketing was put into operation, it •was one of the weaknesses of the industry. Often eggs were marketed to the local grocer once a week, who passed them on to the merchants and they Anally reached the consumer in the larger cities not only dirty and ungraded, but two or three •weeks old. The result was that the consumer buys eggs as doubtful articles, being used to getting two or three in every dozen stale or bad, whereas if eggs were marketed more regularly, graded in size and spotlessly clean, it would not be long

before great increases in consumption would take place. This is illustrated in the system of marketing of eggs in Canada. In 1923 the Canadian Government made it compulsory for all eggs to be classed and graded according to quality, and since then the consumption has increased from 200 eggs per person to 337 eggs per person, and seeing that we in New Zealand consume £3,000,000 worth of eggs per annum, the speaker was of the opinion that if wa had similar grading laws in our Dominion we could possibly increase our production by £1,000,000 annually. This would place the poultry industry on a more solid footing, and help to provide work for the unemployed who will adapt themselves to poultry keeping. It would also mean increased cereals for feeding t the extra flocks, thus keeping the I farmer. One of the greatest troubles I is 11" fact that prices tend to run I too high in the winter and above the purchasing power of the average housewife, and in the flush season ■ eggs are often below' the cost of ! production. It is the intention of

the Government to give a guarantee or subsidy for all eggs exported from the Dominion this year, the amount set aside being £IO,OOO, and it is hoped that the producers of the Dominion will succeed in trebling their exports, and bringing into the country dn extra £75,000. The ob-

ject of exporting is not with the idea of making huge profits, but with maintaining the local market at a payable price for eggs during the flush season. If the winter price is kept at a little lower rate the demand for fresh eggs will not fall off to the same extent as it does when eggs often go above 2s 6d a dozen. At the close of the address, for which Mr. Jarrett received a hearty vote of thanks, a number of questions were asked and satisfactorily answered.