102 



Co-operative Bacon Curing. 



[may, 



Forming a Co-operative Society. — No better example of 

 the methods necessary for the formation of a co-operative 

 society could be given than the Roscrea bacon factory. The 

 shareholders in this factory consist of some 2,800 members, 

 the majority of whom are small farmers. At the commence- 

 ment, when the subject of a co-operative bacon factory was 

 discussed, a provisional committee was formed, and under 

 its guidance the whole, of the district was canvassed for 

 support, and this support was freely given, so that the 

 number of shareholders reached the large figure mentioned. 

 The society was then registered under the Friendly Societies 

 Acts, and shares were issued at £1 each. Subsequently the 

 provisional committee elected a directorate, and they carry 

 on the factory in much the same way as in the case of a joint 

 stock company. 



The principal difficulty in such a factory arises from the 

 inability to guarantee a constant supply of pigs, and this 

 was met by the subscribers being asked to sign a guarantee 

 under a penalty, that they would supply all their pigs, of 

 the weights required in the bacon trade, to the Roscrea 

 Bacon Factory. This was intended to defeat any unfair 

 attempt to induce farmers to sell their pigs at intentionally 

 enhanced prices to other bacon factories. As a matter of 

 fact, such attempts were really made, but it is to the credit 

 of the Roscrea shareholders that they refused to accept any 

 such offers. 



In fixing upon a site for a bacon factory, it is well to bear, 

 in mind that it is usually in dairying districts that large 

 numbers of pigs are available. The modern method of pig 

 feeding has shown that a combination of separated milk and 

 cereals is by far the best fattening material, and the future 

 of the bacon curing industry is, therefore, to a large extent 

 in the hands of dairy farmers. 



The Breed of Pigs. — The first care is the breed of pigs. 

 There are in the United Kingdom six well-known breeds 

 which lend themselves to bacon curing. These are : — 

 (1) Large White Yorkshire, (2) Middle White Yorkshire, 

 (3) Berkshire, (4) Tamworth, (5) Large Black Suffolk, (6) 

 Large Black Sussex; and, of these, the most useful for bacon 

 curing purposes are the Yorkshire and Berkshire breeds. 



