The Rural Voice, 1983-03, Page 14L
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As the animals come out of the
scale, they are tattooed. The tattoo is
similar to a date stamper clerks use in
the grocery store to mark the prices on
goods. The only difference is that these
markers use a series of needles. The
marker is dipped in a dye to mark the
farmer's producer number on the back
of his pigs (each producer is issued a
number from the marketing board that
he uses when marking his stock and in
correspondence with the board).
The selling works quite simply. Pro-
cessors phone the OPPMB, in Toronto,
to buy the number of hogs they need
and at what price.
Watson keeps in touch wi' the
Toronto office, letting them k iw as
the hogs arrive. the number per tot and
their weight. Almost as quickly as the
hogs are unloaded, they are reloaded
back onto trucks arranged by Watson
and delivered to the processing plants.
It is fast paced with animals coming
and going all morning. At noon, the
selling stops and by evening, the
animals are at their plant and slaught-
ered.
In 1981, 4,029,049 hogs were sold
with an average price of 69.57 per
hundred weight and a weight of 169.1.
For the past year, 1982, the number of
hogs has increased to 4,203,305 along
with an average weight increase of
170.1. The price has increased to an
average of 83.05 per hundred weight.
There are a number of processing
plants in southwestern Ontario. Quality
Packers and C nada Packers are in
Toronto; Schneiders, Huff mans, and
Burns in Kitchener.
Hogs are sold by Dutch auction. The
buyers, the processing plants, watch a
teletype in their office which irdicates a
lot number given each farmer's load of
pigs. A price is set in Toronto by the
marketing board and drops by five cents
until a buyer hits a button. Whoever
hits first gets the lot at that price.
At Schneiders, the buyer will see his
letter pop up after that lot has been
sold, indicating he has bought that
particular lot. If the bidding stops and
there is no letter, this means another
processor bought the lot. The buyers do
not know who buys the other lots. The
next lot shows up on the teletype with
the opening bid and the auction starts
again.
The price does not fall more than one
dollar before the marketing board resets
the initial bid and starts the sale of that
lot again. This accounts for fluctuations
in market prices. Schneiders have been
buying hogs this way for close to
twenty years.
PG. 14 THE RURAL VOICE, MARCH 1983
"The Schneider plant, in downtown Kitchener,
workers who prepare 300 hogs per hour for the
The Schneider plant. in downtown
Kitchener, employs 2,000 workers who
prepare 300 hogs per hour for the
consumer. Hogs are bought, slaught-
ered and dressed all in one day.
The actual kill is a small part in the
chain of processing. Hogs are stunned
with an electrical charge and then bled.
Quickly, the carcasses are scalded to
loosen the hairs and a series of rubbers
take off the hair and as a further aid,
the carcasses are singed and slappers
remove the ash of the minute hairs.
After the mechanical removal of the
employs Z000
consumer."
hair. employees remove any hair from
the hard to get at areas, like double
chins. with a sharp knife to ensure that
nothing is missed. The animal is then
eviscerated. From start to finish it takes
42 minutes to dress one fat hog.
The carcass wilt hang for one day to
firm up the meat for cutting.
Henry Bergen, advertising and sales
promotion manager, conducted a tour
of the plant. Because so much of the
work area is refrigerated, both em-
ployees and visitors are given quilted
jackets to wear under their white lab