Warning Given Farmers «l

Warning Given Farmers «l

Against Cattle Thieves

With information* that thieves •re raiding pastures in neighbor* ing counties, the stock owner* in • Rappahannock, are given warning to keep a sharp look-out on their own cattle.

Most of the losses in the neighboring counties have occurred where pastures are along the road side, and the thieves apparently drive trucks up to the pastures and load the marketable steers and drive off.

This cattle-thieving is brought to attention from recent esses which follow s steady series of stealing daring the late summer. Fauquier and Culpeper county beef-cattle farms have reported, troible. In most cases, the trail of the thieves has been lost, with conditions almost impossible to catoh them red-handed.

A warning will post Rappahan* nock stock-raisers to be alert, and the hope is expressed they will catch anyone who attempts any thieving.

The above warning was issued from the offices of Commonwealth Attorney Rayner V. Snead and Sheriff J. W. Critter.

Farm Hog Slaughtering

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‘Farm slaughter of hogs'in Virginia is big business—valued at over $22,000,000 last year—and farmers stand to lose much of the profit if they don't follow some careful practices, warns George Herring, animal' husbandman at - V.P.I.

Herring saytf that during the peak slaughter season—December, January, and February—several hundred thousand head will bo killed. Some of the meat will be * lost. Five per cent of it, a conservative estimate, would amount to over $1,000,000. The extent of loss will depend largely on the weather, and the care in slaughtering of animals and in curing and storing the meat.

He says the spoilage and insect damage account for most of the annual loss. -1The

locker plants in Virginia, most of which are equipped to cure meat, have taken much of * the gamble out of the weather. They can do a good job any time if slaughtering is carefully done and they get the carcasses immediately thereafter. Meat at the plants can be chilled, cut, and then cured under controlled temperature with no danger of spoilage.

Herring says more meat is lost by not getting carcasses chilled > quickly than for any other reason.

Usually the best weather for killing is between Thanksgiving and Christmas when the days are short and the nights long and eool. Killing during that time also makes it possible to complete the - curing and smoking job before the skipper fly becomes active— generally in late February and early March. Night temperature* of around freezing are desirable , for chillipg carcasses, but it is best, not to let carcasses freeze. ...

Herring says the best plan is to kill one day, cbill tha carcass over nigbt, and cut it the next morning. Then apply the curing mixture to the cuts. A good job of trimming cant .be done with warm meat, and all the animal heat should escape before the earing mixture is applied.