44 



tion throughout the year. Apart from this the farmers are guided in the number of pigs 

 fed on the production of milk. Since this is fairly constant throughout the year, it follows 

 that the pig stock is, as a rule, about the same from month to month and from season to 

 season. 



The affairs of each association are managed by a board of directors elected by the mem- 

 bers. The directors choose a manager and secretary. The manager, subject to the super- 

 vision of an auditing committee, has complete control of the business buying the hogs, 

 hiring the help, curing and selling the bacon. He is a very carefully selected man and gets 

 a good salary. The managers met by the Commission were very brilliant, hard working 

 men, keenly alive to all the details of the work. Some of them at least go to England once 

 or oftener each year to study the market and endeavour to extend their trade. 



Necessarily the co-operative factories in Denmark vary in size and capacity. Seven or 

 eight factories have capacities for handling about 20,000 hogs per year. These are the 

 smaller plants. One of such, situated at Hasloe, gets its pigs from a radius of about 15 

 miles. About 18,000 are received by wagon and 2,000 by rail. A large factory was visited 

 at Frederikssund having a capacity of 50,000, or 1,000 per week. Others again run higher. 

 The value of such a factory fully equipped with modern machinery is from $60,000 to $70,000 

 and requires a working capital of $50,000. The association owning this plant has a member- 

 ship of 3,000. The capital ($110,000) was raised in a local savings bank at a rate of interest 

 of 4 per cent, the whole to be paid back out of the yearly dividends in from 20 to 30 years . 

 In accordance with the general system over the country the shareholders guarantee the bank 

 for the loan to the factory according to the average supply of pigs. 



The cost of handling pigs is larger in the smaller factories. According to the experience 

 of the Danish Co-operative Slaughteries during the past ten years the expenses as regards 

 interest, management, labour, etc., was as follows: 



In a factory with a supply up to 10,000 pigs $1 10 per hog. 



15,000 to 30,000 pigs. . 1 00 



30,000 to 60,000 " 85 " 



60, 000 to 90,000 " 070 " 



90, 000 to 120,000 " 060 



The small and medium sized factories handling up to 60,000 pigs have less expense 

 than the larger ones on railway freight, and also lose less through shrinkage from live to 

 dead weight. These factories are also able to command higher prices for their offal articles, 

 as a limited quantity of these can always be sold locally. On the other hand, larger factories 

 have often to sacrifice offal on account of over-supply. The co-operative associations con- 

 duct retail local stores in which all classes of their products are sold. These provide a 

 profitable market in many by-products that cannot be shipped with advantage. 



Following are the values of offal articles, such as heads, feet, lard, entrails, bones, 

 tongues, etc., in factories of different sizes: 



Factories 10,000 to 20,000 $2 00 to $2 25 per hog. 



20,000 to 60,000 (when making sausage) 2 10 to 2 40 



over 60,000 (when making sausage) 1 75 to 2 00 



The factories near large cities, such as Copenhagen, generally obtain from twenty -five 

 cents to fifty cents more per hog for their offal than the factories farther away. Larger 

 factories have an advantage over smaller ones in being able to secure a broader recognition 

 for their particular brand of bacon, lard and other articles. Smaller ones find it difficult to 

 get recognition as they have not sufficient of the different selections to make an impression 

 on the market. These have often to sell their more or less irregular shipments in the open 

 market, and, in many cases, unbranded. The medium and larger factories when well 

 managed secure a reputation for the products bearing their brands, which gives them an 

 advantage of from twenty-five to fifty cents per cwt. more than the smaller factories secure. If 

 they then do business direct, principally with retailers, they command fully twenty-five 

 cents more per cwt. than when the goods are sold through agents. So far comparatively 

 few factories in Denmark, sell direct to the British retail trader. The goods are shipped 

 f. o. b. at the buyer's risk. 



