TWENTY THOUSAND PIGS.

Shannon News, 12 November 1926, Page 3

TWENTY THOUSAND PIGS.

SEASON’S KILL AT FEILDING. The utilisation of the Feilding Abattoirs by the dairy companies for their co-operative pig Exporting enteipiise has lod the Borough Council to bring the plant as up-to-date as possible, aijd accordingly they have just installed a de-hairing machine similar to that at Hawora. This Aveek members of the Borough Council A'isited the plant and Avituossed it in operation. ■ The first, impression one receives of the de-hairer, Avhich is a costly innovation, being priced at £450 in the United States, is that is remarkable how any pig, bnefe it!is thrust into the maw of the machine and comes in contact Avith the revolving' drums Avhich are studded Avith flat but. curved, iron scrapers, could be ejected on tlie other side of the machine not only intact and unscratched, but hairless. At- the first view of these revolving iron-studded drums, one imagines the contrivance to be a sausage machine of large proportions. . '

Tlie first procedure in the process is the driving of the li\ T e pigs up an inclined gangAvay to an eleA'ated platform where,they are dexterously hooked round the hind legs Avith a chain which is fastened to a sloAvly furiiing wheel about four feet in diameter. When the Avheel arrives at the height of its circuit a cunningly contrived Jiook engages itself upon a rail and automatically disengages Ttself from .the ucAvuAvard turn of the wheel. The pig is thus left hanging on the rail, ■along Avhich it is pushed a few feet to the next, and for. the'pig the last operation at the hands of the butcher. From there the carcase travels, still‘.on the rail, to the next phase of its transformation from a pig into bacon. The rail cm Avhich the carcases travel "ends' ove- the scalding tub into which, the pig is loAVcred for the length of time requisite for a good “scald.” That period over, the- de-hairer now enters upon the job by means of a slightly curved iron platform Avhich is loAverecl into the Avater and hoists the scalded carcase and deposits it upon, the drums Avhich revolve at 60 revolutions per minute. Its period of subjection to the rigorous treatment of the drums is not very long as the capacity of the machine is 120 pigs per minute so that each pig would pass' through in thirty seconds. At present, however, the machine is only Avorking at half capacity so that one minute elapses before the carcase is ejected .upon the receiving, table at the' far side of the machine spotlessly clean and devoid of all haii'. “Gambles” are then fixed in the usual method and the carcase is hung upon another rail from whenceit is ..wheeled rapidly to its next process, that of disemboAvelling and dressing, after which the. carcase is inspected, Aveighed and graded. : The Avliole operation, from the .time the pig arrives at the first platform to the time it is hung up, graded for export or home consumption, takes much less time than it does to tell, and Av-lien the staff acquire, greater skill and become more expert in the use of the de- ’ haircr the operation Avill be much quicker. Last week the‘machine put through 630 pigs,, of Avhich 'B2 per cent. Avere suitable for export Avhich speaks volumes for the quality of pig the farmers of this district are producing. According to Mr C. Hausman, Avhose work ■in connection with pig and bacon production is widely known, and who Avas present at the inspection, the Borough Council hopes to kill 20,000 pigs this season. At the present time about 14 dairy companies, including Cheltenham, Levin and Cambridge, have joined up in connection Avith the export scheme, as well as farmers from Masterton, Bulls, Manawatu, Apiti and. Wangaehu. In ansvvor to a query as to the price, the speaker said, that the farmers Avere advanced up to l-jd less than .the then ruling market rates on exportable pigs. The balance Avas paid as the pigs Avere sold at Home. On pigs that were unfit for export local market rates were paid promptly. At present the prices under the export scheme Avere returning the fanner 6d per lb and for home consumption GUI per lb. “It means only this,” stated Mr Hausman, “that the farmer, to getthe best of the business, must produce the right pig. Some of these,” and he pointed to a fine array of careases that were hanging ready for freezing, “are excellent and slloav a splendid conformity to the requirements of the London market. The light baooner of about 1301 b is, Avhat is required and on the export market it av ill return the farmer 7d to against 5} on the local market.” —Standard.