IRELAND. 



Next to Danish, Irish bacon is the strongest competitor of Canadian in the Britisli 

 market. It is many years since Irish bacon gained a foothold as a standard breakfast 

 meat and since the Irish farmers have continued a fairly regular supply of pigs while 

 the curers have kept up the quality of the meat, customers long since acquired con- 

 tinue to ask and use Irish bacon. It is not, therefore, owing so much to superior 

 quality as to uniformly good quality and regular supply that Irish bacon commands 

 a higher price than Canadian. During the past summer when Canadian bacon was 

 selling at T3 to 76 shillings per cwt., Irish was bringing 74 to 77 and Danish 76 to 79. 

 The greater popularity of the Danish is due to milder cure which the Irish curer 

 does not see fit to risk especially during warm weather. Canadian is even more salt 

 than Irish. It has to be made so in order to withstand the longer haul and delay 

 between factory and market. 



The production of pigs in Ireland for many years has been fairly constant. The 

 figures for 1899 and 1907 are practically the same, being a little over 1,300,000, while 

 during this period, and including 1908, the number has never fallen below 1,200,000. 

 These figures represent the number of living pigs at the time of the annual enumera- 

 tion the first week in June. 



Pigs are exported from Ireland, both alive and dressed, the quantity of the latter 

 gradually increasing. In 1904 half a million live pigs were exported, about 26,000 of 

 these being store pigs, the remainder fat. In 1908, the number was 387,476, only 

 about 16.000 of which were stores. During the same years the exports of bacon were 

 87.405.360 pounds in 1904 and 104,593,184 pounds in 1908. The exports of pork and 

 hams show less variation which indicates that the pigs of Ireland are being more and 

 more turned into bacon. There are about 35 bacon factories operated on a commercial 

 scale in Ireland and they handle about one million pigs per year. The co-operative 

 movement has set in. One well equipped co-operative factory is in operation in the 

 centre of the country and another is likely to be opened in the southeast at an early 

 date. 



THE PIGS. 



During recent years the Irish farmer, like the Canadian and Danish pig raiser, 

 has been working towards the bacon type of pig. There are three recognized breeds 

 in the country — the native Ulster, the Yorkshire and the Large Black. As boars, the 

 Yorkshires are much in favour, while as mothers the other sorts are very popular. 

 In form and aptitude the Ulster and Large Black are much alike. They are both 

 lengthy and deep of body, have large drooping ears and are hardy feeders, rapid 

 fatteners and the sows make excellent mothers. In order to preserve the Ulster breed 

 in its pure state the Eoyal Ulster Agricultural Society recently established a Herd 

 Book. Foundation stock was accepted on careful inspection as to breed type and 

 vigour. Already one volume has been issued containing the pedigrees of 54 boars and 

 166 sows. The Yorkshire has been a favourite in Ireland for many years. In Ireland, 

 as in England, bacon curers have distributed among the farmers a large number of 

 boars of this breed. Before the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction 

 was organized, the South of Ireland Bacon Curers' Pig-improvement Association dis- 

 tributed more than 2.000 boars of the Yorkshire breed at a cost of some $65,000. The 

 result of this distribution was very marked on the tj'pe and colour of pigs produced. 

 Heretofore black and spotted pigs were quite general, but the Yorkshire cross has done 

 away with much of this. Now the dark colour is again coming in to the chagrin of 

 some of the curers. The good doing qualities of the Large Black appeal to many of 

 the farmers, and the Department of Agriculture, through its premium boar scheme, is 

 distributing many hogs of this breed. 



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