io4 



Co-operative Bacon Curing. 



[may, 



with the best possible results. Perhaps the best method of 

 understanding the construction referred to will be to follow 

 the operations through a modern factory. 



Operations in a Modem Bacon Factory. — The pigs are 

 landed on a receiving platform, where they are first of all 

 weighed by the live weight, and suppliers can be paid on 

 that weight at once, if they so desire. If, however, they 

 prefer to receive payment on the "dead " weight, this is ascer- 

 tained usually the day following that upon which the live 

 pigs have been received. The dead weight averages about 

 25 per cent, less than the live weight. 



After being weighed the pigs are driven into the sties, 

 where they are allowed to remain overnight, and the 

 slaughtering is usually carried out in the morning. They are 

 driven, one by one, into the catching pen, where they are 

 shackled, or caught up by means of leg chains, a running 

 noose being formed by means of the chain being slipped 

 through a ring, and the noose thus made is passed over one 

 of the hind feet. This chain is then attached to a hook at 

 the end of a steel rope, which is governed by a hand or power 

 hoist. By this means the animals are hoisted to an overhead 

 bar, and, when they are in position, are slaughtered, the 

 blood being let out very quickly by the insertion of a knife 

 in the direction of the heart. From the time of the live 

 animals entering, to the moment the carcasses are suspended 

 lifeless, is not more than one minute, so that in the modern 

 factory this operation is very expeditious. 



The carcasses are pushed along the overhead bar to the 

 bleeding passage, and are allowed to hang there some little 

 time, after which they are pushed off the bar on to a dumping 

 table. This dumping table forms part of what is known as 

 a "Slaughtering Tack," which is the main part of a pig 

 abattoir. While on the dumping table the leg chains are 

 removed, and the carcasses are then rolled into a rectangular 

 scalding vat, capable of holding some five pigs at once. This 

 vat is partially filled with water at a temperature of about 

 180 0 F., and the carcasses are turned round and round in 

 this bath until the hair becomes loose. They are then, one 

 by one, tilted on to a scuttling table, where they are scraped 

 almost free from hair. 



