36 BULLETIN 1266, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the high-quality, bacon-type hogs which the English market de- 
manded. For this reason, the success of a killing and curing plant 
was almost wholly dependent on the producer. One great contri- 
bution which cooperation has made to the Danish bacon-factory 
industry is that the producer has become directly interested in pro- 
ducing and delivering the type of hog which the English market 
demands, and pays the best price for. and which consequently yields 
the greatest return to the producer. 
These difficulties experienced in marketing hogs prompted the 
farmers in the vicinity of Horsens 30 to form the first cooperative 
bacon-factory association. Cooperative enterprises had already won 
the confidence of the farmers through the cooperative creameries. 
A factory was erected at Horsens, Jutland Peninsula, in 1887, with 
1.218 members, and 24.000 hogs were slaughtered the first year. In 
1915 the association had over 5.000 members, and slaughtered SS.000 
hogs. In 1916. after 25 years of successful operation, the plant 
was rebuilt and now has a capacity of 3,000 hogs per week. The 
members are under contract agreement, bound to deliver their hogs 
to the factory and to guarantee necessary loans for a period of seven 
years. Although the loan for building capital is made for a 7-year 
period, the amortization plan is based on two 7-year periods. The 
members are jointly and severally liable for any deficit, and such 
deficit would be apportioned among the members according to 
deliveries. However, the members have never had a deficit to pay 
during the 36 years. If a member violates the delivery pledge, he is 
fined 10 Danish kroner ( S2.*5S at par) per hog. 
The cooperative movement spread rapidly the first few years. By 
1890 there were 10 cooperative plants. Farmers in the different sec- 
tions of the Kingdom became eager to establish similar plants. Sev- 
eral of these early plants during the first years experienced consider- 
able difficulty, largely because of the lack of sufficient hogs to operate 
at minimum cost and because of the scarcity of qualified men for 
managers. There were few leaders who understood the trade as well 
as the technical side of the bacon industry. This struggle retarded 
the erection of many proposed new plants in the nineties. 
.^:nee the beginning of the twentieth century the cooperative 
bacon factories have been established and operated on a sound 
basis; they have had sufficient volume of business and trained busi- 
= and technical management. The decline in pig production in 
1918-19 was a tremendous handicap to most plants, but this has 
been corrected as the supply of pigs has come back to pre-war 
basis. There are now -lb' cooperative bacon plants, with 167,827 
members. One of the cooperative plants is owned and operated 
by the Consumers' Cooperative Wholesale Society of England. In 
the meantime, the number of private plants has declined — there were 
21 in 1912, but 5 of these have either gone over to the cooperative 
plan or have discontinued operation, as in 1023 there were only 16 
small private plants. 
The number of bogs slaughtered in Denmark has increased stead- 
ily until in pre-war years (1911-1911) 2.500,000 hogs were slaughtered 
annually in nil the cooperative and private bacon factories. As 
:■ s.-Ti. S.. ! ■ - _ -;. 1887-1912. 
