The Meat-Type Hog Program in Denmark

189. THE NEAT-TYPE HOG PROGffAN IW DENMARK I am going to beg the indulgence of yar people while I read some remarks, a thing that I much dislike doing, but reasons beyond my control pre- vented preparation and handling of this assignment without a manuscript. At the outset I want to congratulate the participants in the Recipro- cal Meat Conference for the excellent contributions you have made to the livestock and meat industry and to a better understanding of the use of meat. As a director of and past chairman of the Board, I am most appreci- ative and gratef'ul for your fine cooperation, and I know that other members and the administrative officers of the Board f'ully share that opinion. I should like to suggest that your knowledge, your opportunities for research, your close working relationships among yourselves, your potentials for improving and standardizing carcasses and cuts, and your many other ac- ceptable contributions enable you to give invaluable guidance to the livestock and meat industry. If you individually and collectively accept the challenge and fully activate your knowledge, you will aid in providing the best solution for a major segment of the so-called agricultural surplus problem. Even more important, you will assure better nutrition for 165 million Americans. We mst all take a more searching look at the livestock and meat industry and the imDacts of the changing times affecting it, like Rastus who went to see his girl friend. When she appeared in a new sack dress, Rastus said, "Lisa, is you in style or is we in trouble?" (Laughter) I think the implication is clear. May I preface my remarks on the topic you assigned me, "The Meat Type Hog Program in Denmark", by explaining briefly the why, the who, and the what of our European study trip last year, including Denmark. Producers Livestock Association, as most of you know, I think, has activated and conducted a meat type hog improvement program as a basic and in- tegral part of its broad marketing and integration program from producer to consumer. Basically, this system includes near-home livestock markets, centralized sale of hogs received at all of the localmarkets, standardized grades of hogs, including trademarked "Tend-R-ken" meat hogs; part ownership and con- tinual business transactions with a cooperative packing plant and a chain of supermarkets. These supermarkets, by the way, sell a substantial volume of imported meats in cans which comes from countries we visited. Why does this farmers' cooperative distribute meat in cans imported from other countries? Because the consumer wants it; because she requests it, for it is lean, tender, and uniform in quality; and because it is a good profit item. The desire of Mrs. American Housewife for tender, lean pork uniformly well processed is self 190. evident. Twelve years ago Producers Livestock Association recognized this fact and decided to promote the production of meat type hogs. For a number of years Producers marketing associations of Indiana and of the Cincinnati area marketed hogs through the centralized sales subsid- f&syof Producers Ljlvestock Association. Later a jointly owned subsidiary, Producers Swine Improvement Association was established by these three associations. Its purpose is to conduct and promote research to improve the production and marketing of meat type hogs. Its finds are derived from a volun- tary retainage of 2 cents per hog on the more than Z* million hogs marketed annually by the three associations Our swine improvement association gave financial support and guidance to development of the swine evaluation station at Ohio State University, and more especially to the station at Purdue University. We maintain a full-time man to help commercial hog producers secure meat-type seed stock from purebred breeders. The association helped to finance a study by Purdue University to evaluate Mrs. Homemaker's preferences for Tend-R-Leen pork. I have here some data from the study, but the complete manuscript has not yet been released. Producers Swine Improvement Association also has financed a three- year artificial swine insemination study being conducted jointly by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station and Ohio State University. We have conducted cutout tests on thousands of hogs at cooperative packing plants and sponsored other research projects as a means of improving the production and marketing of meat hogs. We have selected and trademarked the term Tend-R-Leen for meat- type hogs and pork and pork products meeting the association*s standards. Hogs are being marketed under the Tend-R-hen trademark which will be fran- chieed to slaughters and processors of hogs meeting Tend-R-Leen specifications. The European study trip last smr, financed by Producers Swine Improvement Association, was for the purpose of securing information which would, we believed, accelerate our swine improvement and marketing program. We selected Mr. Cliff Cox, an economist at Purdue University, and Professor Wilbur Bruner of Ohio State University, to accompany me. Cox concentrated on the economics involved in production, slaughtering, process-I&. ing, and exporting of hogs and pork and the translation and evaluation of them in terms relating to the eastern Corn Belt. Professor Bruner sought to evaluate and compare methods of progeny testing and selective breeding, and,of course, to compare hogs, carcasses, and standards used in hrope with those we are using in the eastern Corn Belt. We made studies in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and England. Our trip for this study was timed to accept an official invitation to attend the International Progeny Testing Conference at Copenhagen that was under the sponsorship of the FAO- EAAP. Mr. J. L. Lush, of Iowa State College, was also an official participant. Twelve western European countries actually participated in this conference. You likely will be more interested in that conference as a criterion of the developments over there in swim improvements than developments in any one country. I should say that Denmark was a foremost leader in the conference. However, let me add here that we find that the United Kingdom is very alert, 191. progressing rapidly in the progeny testing work and in the coordination of sales of hogs and pork. If my friend from Canada has any concern about the cooperatives handling large numbers of hogs in Canada, he needs only to go to the mother country and ascertain what the Fat Stock Marketing Cooperative is doing in handling about 80 per cent of all the hogs slaughtered in Great Britain With the assistance and cooperation of the government. The 67 progeny testing stations in Western &rope represented in this conference have an annual capacity of 30,000 to 36,000 pigs. Nine larger, n6yw stations are under construction and others are planned. Progeny testing is increasing gains; is inrproving feed conversion; and is developing a program of selective breeding. It is resulting in the production of a meatier, more de- sirable, and more uniform hog carcasses throughout Western 'hrope. That is not my opinion alone; it was briefly the summary of the conference. Probably more important is the fact that the cow~triesare working together, freely exchanging research information, alllea4ing to an interns- tional rela'kionship for coordinating their efforts ia supplying the European markets, and expanding their invasion o#' foreign markets, inclpding the United States. & nam who is considered the father of the program in Denmark, 1 shall not mention his name; rpdst of you know him, does not hesitate at all to say that it is their obdective, of necessity as they increase swine improvement, to extend their exports to sll countries. Denmark is a foremost influ- ential leader in this internat&malprograrizt Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Eugland are eying forafgn markets, too. As regards Denmar&, -&he soil is virtually Denmarkts only raw ma- terial. Its chief asset is ifx people. They are home and arts loving. They are neighborly and cooperaeively-minded, the rural people probably especially so. Only 20 per cent of the $ million population are fanners, and they are on 212,000 farms, small fa-, One-half of the total number of fanns have less than 25 acres, and le'ss than 2 per cent of all the farms are 1SO acres or more. Agricultural products account fot two-thirds of all Danlsh exports- about $830 million in 1956. Twenty-five per cent of the exports were bacon, pork or pork products, 25 per cent butter, and 8 per cent eggs. Wring 1957 Denmark produced about 7,COO,OOO hogs. They told us that 6,000,000 would be better under present conditions until they can further expand their foreign markets, ours included. At that time we were sending pork and pprk products into and were opening up markets in about 40 foreign countries The 7,000,000 hogs which they produced in 1956 were slaughtered by 78 bacon factories. Sixty-two of these are cooperatives that slaughter 88 per cent of the hogs. Sixteen private plants slaughter 10 per cent, and small butchers kill 2 per cent. Bacon factories do primarily slaughter and curing of sides for export to Great Britain, That is the Wilshire side. The English bacon i6 first stitch pumped and held in brine four days, dried four days, then wrapped four to a bundle for shipment to &gland, where it is dry smoked before being sold. Some cooperative plants do processing and canning, and three cooperative canning factories buy cuts and carcasses from the cooperative bacon factories. They keep each project pretty well on its own bottom over there, and do not subsidize one with another. However, most of the canning is done by private firms.

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