Wonderful 

 Sausage 



Williamson Locker 

 Company Shows How 

 It Is Done 



M 



By CRESTON FOSTER 



Editor, lAA RECORD 



'AKING quality sausage is like 

 baking a klue ribbon cake for 

 the county fair — a lot de- 

 pends on the recipe and how 

 you follow it. And making 

 quality sausage may prove to be an im- 

 portant factor in the profit and loss 

 sheets for a locker plant with processing 

 facilities. That's why there is consider- 

 able interest in the sausage making proj- 

 ect being carried on by the Williamson 

 County Cooperative Locker Service at 

 Marion. 



So far one of the main things dis- 

 covered in the project is that the plant 

 can turn out fine sausage of a dozen 

 diflferent varieties. Some of the for- 

 tunate folks who have had a sample of 

 the product say that they have never 

 tasted such wonderful sausage. Care- 

 ful records are being kept of all the 

 operations involved so that accurate 

 cost figures will be available. With these 

 figures it will be easy to tell whether 

 quality sausage making is profitable. 

 Early indications are that it is. 



Quality sausage making is expected 

 to result in three major benefits for 

 the Williamson plant and other lockers 

 with processing equipment: (1) fur- 

 nish a profitable outlet for edible by- 

 products of locker processing; (2) 

 keep labor and machinery operating 



during periods that might otherwise be 

 slack; (^) give a wider outlet for 

 livestock, products of the area served 

 by the plant. 



Locker managers have found that 

 during the summer months, neither 

 labor nor processing facilities are fully 

 used in processing locker patrons* 

 products. 



If the locker plant is to stay in the 

 black, ways must be found to keep 

 busy. The processing department of 

 a locker plant cannot depend on the 

 locker rentals to keep it out of the red. 



Most processing departments also 

 have a capacity far greater than is 

 needed to handle the year around run 

 of locker patrons' needs. The manu- 

 facture of sausage products can be car- 

 ried on during slack summer months 

 when these products are a# their de- 

 mand peak. 



Farm Credit Administration fur- 

 nished a sausage maker to set up the 

 project in the Marion plant and teach 

 the techniques of the business. Man- 

 agers from other plants also have had 

 a chance to observe the operations. 



Sausage made at the Marion plant 

 will be marketed under the famous 

 Prairie Farms label, and will adhere to 

 the same high quality standards as 

 apply to the Creameries' dairy products. 

 It is anticipated that the Prairie Farms 

 statewide network of creameries may be 

 used as part of a marketing setup for 

 the sausage. 



The processing and packaging of 

 sausage at the Marion plant will also 

 be watched with interest because it may 

 furnish some facts on the wider use 

 of locker plants in the marketing of 

 fresh and cured meats. A large per- 

 centage of cooperative locker plants in 

 Illinois have slaughter facilities which 

 can be used more efficiently if the sale 

 of meat products is increased. 



You can see that the Marion plant 

 is pioneering for the other cooperative 

 locker plants in Illinois in this partic- 



(L^ft) Henry Under, left, sausage mafcer 

 from the Shenandoah Valley Packing Com- 

 pany, shows louren L, Fosse, Williamson 

 Covnfy Co-op locker Service tautage 

 maker, how to pock sausages. Under was 

 leaned to the fCA by his compcmy to aM In 

 research on sausage making. (Klght) Fosse 

 displcnrs a rock of tautage link* ready for 

 the smoke house. 



ular field of meat "processing. Credit 

 is due the directors and others who 

 have invested time, money and effort 

 in the Williamson County Cooperative 

 Locker Service plant and facilities. 



Last month new honors came to tlie 

 Williamson plant when it received an 

 award of merit for being one of the 

 outstanding plants in the state. The 

 award was made by the Locker Man- 

 agement magazine. To be eligible for 

 the magazine award, a plant must have 

 the highest standards of sanitation, 

 must maintain proper locker tempera- 

 tures, must handle all meats properly 

 and furnish a real service to the people 

 of the community. Manager Romeo 

 Caravaglia proudly framed the award 

 certificate and hung it in the plant 

 lobby. 



Insect Specialist Suggests 

 Fumigation of Wheat 



FUMIGATE your farm-stored oats 

 and wheat within six weeks after you 

 harvest it to insure your grain against 

 insect damage is the advice of insect 

 specialist H. B. Petty of the College of 

 Agriculture and Illinois Natural His- 

 tory Survey. Petty says insects can 

 cause more damage than most farmers 

 realize. 



Petty recommended a three to one 

 mixture of ethylene dichloride and car- 

 bon tetrachloride or a four to one mix- 

 ture of carbon tetrachloride and carbon 

 disulphate. Both are safe, efFective and 

 inexpensive. 



SEPTQ4BER. 1949 



17 



