The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1915. BACON CURING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 160, 11 March 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1915. BACON CURING.

(With which is incorporated The Tai hapo Post ';u3 Waimarlno News.)

The directors of the Bunnythorpe Dairy Company have approached the Oroua Freezing Company suggesting that in connection with the meat freezing works they are about to erect tliey should also make provision for baconcuring. From the freezing company's point of view, if there are not any great difficulties in the way, the adoption of such a suggestion might prove profitable, more ©specially as the dairy people offer to take up a considerable number of shares. The profits on bacon-curing has bo-en discussed on several occasions in rather plain language, but farmers are in a helpless position, because they have no other market for their pigs. No farmer today would think of going into pigkeeping only so far as to use up byproducts that are not useable in any other way. In spite of this, he finds that it is not possible in these times of high prices for everything but pigs, to breed, raise and fatten the animals for fourpence halfpenny a pound, which is all the bacon factory buyers will give him. Even if the freezing company gave a penny a pound more there would still remain a handsome profit at less than the present retail price. Farmers cannot now get anything like what is fair or adequate to recoup them, let alone return them fair remuneration in tlie figure they are compelled to sell at. In their communication to the Oroua Freezing Company, the Bunnythorpe dairymen say that it is practically impossible to fatten pigs at the price, and they stress the point that there is a vast margin between what farmers receive and what consumers pay. The

pany in 'their own interests, find for] the encouragement of production in the district, with a proposal to take up a certain quantity of shares if baconcuring is made part of their works.scheme. Farmers would, of course, have to give some sort of a rough guarantee as to the number of pigs that could be supplied. If, owing to low prices in the past, there are scarcely sufficient at present, that could Y)p> easily remedied before the works ai-w ready, and dairymen would, with large ly improved conditions almost at their doors, find pig breeding and fattening a highly profitable pursuit where skim milk abounds in plenty. They should be ready to increase their stocks with a good bacon producing class of animal, more especially as we are assured that a good deal of valuable pig feed is wasted. Our suggestions are inspired only by reading a short paragraph that appeared in one of our contemporaries, but it seemed something that might profitably apply in our own district, if it were practicable to include it in the meat freezing scheme. It seems to be what is required to make our meat works all they could aspire to be in encouraging every aspect of meat production throughout the wide territory the Otaihape works are going to serve.