The greatest fault of poultry buying as conducted in this country is
the evil of a uniform price. After chickens are dressed the
difference of quality is readily discerned, and the price varies
from fancy quotations to almost nothing for culls. The packer pays a
given rate per pound for live hens or for spring chickens. The price
is paid alike for the best poultry received or for the scrawniest
chickens that can be coaxed to stand up and be weighed. The prices
paid is the average worth of all chickens purchased at that market.
All farmers who market an article better than the average are unjust
losers, while those who sell inferior stock receive unearned
profits. The producer of good stock receives pay for the extra
quantity of his chickens, but for the extra quality no recognition
whatever is given. To the deserving producer, if quality was
recognized, it would result in a greatly increased stimulation of
the production of good poultry. Any packer, if questioned, will
state that he would be willing to grade chickens and pay for them
according to quality, but that he does not do so because his
competitor would pay a uniform price and drive him out of business.
The man who receives an increased price would say little of it,
while the man who sells poor chickens, if he failed to receive the
full amount to which he is accustomed, would think himself unjustly
treated and use his influence against the dealer. A recognition of
quality in buying is for the interest of both the farmer and the
poultry dealer, and a mutual effort on the part of those interested
to put in practice this reform would result in a great improvement
of the poultry industry.
Cold Storage of Poultry.
The growth of the cold storage of poultry has been phenomenal.
Poultry is packed in thin boxes that will readily lose their heat
and these are stacked in a freezer with a temperature near the zero
point. The temperature used for holding poultry are anywhere from 0
degree up to 20 degrees. Poultry is held for periods of one to six
weeks at temperature above the freezing point.
Frozen poultry will keep almost indefinitely save for the drying
out, which is due to the fact that evaporation will proceed slowly
even from a frozen body. The time frozen poultry is stored varies
from a few weeks to eight or ten months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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