PIG GRADING

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20274, 17 August 1937, Page 2

PIG GRADING

PRODUCERS’ PROTEST. NEW BCHEIVIE OPPOSED. LOWER i\. ~ PREDICTED. "The members of our association are very concerned at the repercusa na 1 will follow the Institution or the new "Government grading scheme," commented Mr I*. O. Bonharn, secretary of the Auckland Pri>vindal Buttermilk Pig Producers’ As- i sociafion in an interview to-day. ire to Institute a ‘finest selected’ grade over and above the present tlrst grade and with ected* grade and first grade certain carcase lengths and baekfat measurements arc laid down for various weights of i carcases.” “A Grave Mistake.” "The view of my association Is that ' the Minister of Agriculture has made i a grave mistake in not concentrating on i improving the present first grade by ! classing as second grade some 10 per cent, to 15. per cent, of the worst kinds of carcase which, during last ■ season, were passed as first grade by . graders employed at various export ' slaughter houses,” he said. "It is felt j that the fatteners of pigs will react J most unfavourably to the action of the i department in ir.stituing this "finest I selected" grade at a time when there i is no unanimity of opinion as to the I best type of carcase to produce when constitution, virility and quick fattening propensities are given full consideration and before the effect of the 2d per pig levy is felt in the education of the average farmer. It*is l’elt that the industry will experience another period of uncertainty j and reduced prices such ns followed I Die rigid Government grading of unexportables and rorulemned just after j the then Prime Minister’s return from : Die Obi Country some two seasons ' ago. The members of my association i feel that once the true position is ! placed before them, the farmers of | this country will not allow the institu- j fion of this new system without some I very strong protest being voiced.’* j Unable to Fill Quota. Mi* Bonham stressed that among the ' members ol r e association were some of the most progressive m*»n in the in- j dusfry. who had import,*. 1 many hun- 1 dred-s of pounds* worth of expensive | sto.-k from overseas, the bipod of which bad been the means of effecting I a marvellous improvement in the j quality of pigs over the last four or j rive years, and he expressed the hope ! that the publicity given to the views of his association would cause farmers of the province to take a more inter- 1 esteil view of a system of grading i which would reduce the overall price of baconer pigs considerably. Mr Bonham mentioned, in conclusion, that during the season Just concluded New Zealand was unable to produce enough baconers to All the quota allowed her by Great Britain and hfs ; association felt that farmers should not ; be ** thrashed with the grading stick ’’ j at a time when New Zealand cannot | produce enough pigs for the English market and when the education of the farmer by the expenditure of the levy J is not even started.