1909.] 



Co-operative Bacon Curing. 



101 



entering Germany. At that, time there were a few bacon 

 factories in Denmark, but none were carried on as co-opera- 

 tive organisations. When it became evident to the Danish 

 farmers that their live swine which they had been, up to that 

 time, sending to the German markets, would have to be 

 utilised at home, they at once turned their attention to con- 

 verting them into bacon, and started the first co-operative 

 bacon factory at the town of Horsens. Since then co- 

 operative bacon curing in Denmark has increased very 

 largely, and in 1905 there were 30 co-operative bacon 

 factories. There has also been a considerable development 

 in the private factories, of which there were 24 in 1905, 

 making the total number of factories in Denmark 54. This 

 development was only possible because the Danish factories 

 managed to suit the taste of the English bacon buyers, 

 practically the whole of the bacon thus produced in Denmark 

 being sent to the British markets. In 1908, the imports of 

 bacon from Denmark amounted to 2,051,148 cwt., with a 

 value of ,£5*685,526. 



Bacon Curing Associations. — Co-operation was thus in- 

 strumental in causing a rapid development of the bacon 

 industry in Denmark, but there has been no similar exten- 

 sion in this country, and it is only recently that British 

 farmers have begun to consider the possibility of applying 

 co-operation to the bacon industry in the United Kingdom. 

 The first Farmers' Co-operative Bacon Factory was in- 

 augurated at Roscrea, in Co. Tipperary, Ireland, in January, 

 1908, and it was able, under adverse circumstances, to show 

 a successful record in its first year. The Roscrea Factory 

 has a nominal capital of ;£ 15,000, of which rather less than 

 £12,000 was subscribed, about £"7,000 being absorbed for 

 the site, buildings, and machinery. The initial expenditure 

 on these items left a little over £^4,000 for working capital. 

 Experience showed that this was too little, and that the 

 working capital of such a factory, having a capacity of about 

 750 pigs per week, should be at least £"10,000. With a 

 sufficient capital success may be assured, as by modern 

 methods it is possible to realise high prices for home-cured 

 bacon, and at the same time to utilise all the by-products 

 which arise in such a factory. 



