PIG INDUSTRY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1938, Page 3

PIG INDUSTRY

GRADING OF BACONERS PREMIUMS SUGGESTED THREE POSSIBILITIES OPEN (By M. J. Scott. 8.A., B.Sc., of the Dept, of Agriculture). Grading can be of value only if it improves the quality of our baconers. Only the producer can do this, and he will do it just as quickly as it is made profitable for him. The payment of a premium for good quality is, therefore, all important, and the first essential of any grading scheme must be the provision of a means by which such premiums can be paid. Three posibilities were suggested: (1), That the Government should pay a subsidy on all baconers of No. 1 quality; (2), That a levy should be collected on all pigs and returned to the industry as a premium on No 1 pigs; and (3), that the trade should undertake to pay the premium it receives for graded pigs when these are finally sold in England. The third suggestion is undoubtedly the soundest from a business point of view, but, because of the extent of the trade in exported pigs and the unknown amount of premium that would be received during the initial stages of grading, the payment <jf premiums to producers presented a real difficulty to the trade. They have undertaken to pay differentials between No. 1 and No. 2 of 3-Bd, and a similar amount between No. 2 and No. 3. In the circumstances it is obvious that the grading standards adopted must be acceptable to the English curers. The only standards accepted by them are the Canadian bacon standards, which have been put into practice here. Many producers would have liked to have had length included, but, as pointed out previously, length is not taken into account by curers. Length is only an (assurance that pigs are thin on the back, -and selection on a length basis is still the surest breeding point on which to concentrate if thin-back-ed pigs are to be produced. Since length is such an indicator, some will still ask why it was not included with measurements of back fat at the shoulder and the loin, but it was felt that its inclusion would merely add to the cost of grading. It takes as long to measure length as it does to measure back fat, and its measurement would almost double the cost of grading. The producer pays indirectly for the cost of grading, just as he pays for the cost of all other killing and marketing processes, and the avoidance of taking length measurement saves the industry, and therefore the producer, this unnecessary cost. REACTION TO; GRADING

Every innovation meets with a certain amount of opposition from the individualistic section of the community, who pride themselves on their ability to stand on their own feet and are sometimes described as being “agin the government.” At the moment several exporters, being unable to say what premiums can be paid for different qualities of baconers in England, are buying on a no-grade basis and naturally advance many apparently sound reasons why the producer should sell on a no-grade basis. Producers should remember that it takes two to make a bargain, that one usually has the better of it, and than an exporter cannot stay in business if he frequently gets the worst of the bargain. There are many reasons why producers should sell on grade wherever pos-

sible, most important being the value of the information he receives when pigs are graded. If sales are made on a no-grade basis no information is given to the producer about the quality of his product, and in the absence of that information he is unable to make any improvement in his pigs. This improvement is vital to the welfare of the industry, not because our product is so inferior to that of other countries, but because our competitors are taking active steps to improve theirs. Only the best is good enough; whatever is second best, however little the difference, is seldom eagerly demanded Prior to the introduction of grading, sale yards and per head selling, as opposed to selling at per pound, was the only way in which ‘value could be received for pigs of outstanding quality. These and pigs of known (to the owner) poor quality were the principal kinds of fat pigs offered for sale at per head, prices The owner of the better class of pigs obtained his premium this way, and the owner of the poorer class avoided the risk of rejection and loss. With the introduction of grading the circumstances are somewhat changed. Premiums Will be paid at auction for good pigs, but they can never be better than schedule rates for graded pigs. Similarly, the buyer of inferior pigs must make allowance for rejections and insure himself against loss. AVERAGE PERCENTAGES The following information about the average percentages of ones, twos, and three, etc., combined with a knowledge of schedule prices as published, should be a useful guide to the producer as to the value of his pigs. The average percentages of ones, twos and threes and second quality, for February killings were 54, 31, 13 and 2 respectively. The April schedule prices for these grades at 6 3-Bd, 6]d, 5 7-8 d and 5 respectively. On this basis the price for baconer pigs of this quality would be 6.4 pence per pound—approximately £3 15s for a pig of 1401 b weight. In localities where the average grading is poorer than the New Zealand average (say 45, 35, 15 and 5) the average price on the present schedule would be 6.34 d per lb, causing a reduction of only lid in the value of a pig of 1401 b dead weight. Where the quality of the pigs is below the average, the return on a no-grade basis may be better than would be’ realised on a graded basis, but why keep pigs that are below the average? While the present keen competition for baconers may be forcing the trade to pay more than schedule graded prices, producers would be well advised to look ahead, and, for the sake of a few shillings at the moment, protect an industry that is capable of expansion. This they can do by selling on grade and so finding out something about the quality of the article they are producing.