A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

A PRIZE HEREFORD BULL.

This became possible to an almost unlimited extent since the establishment of the “frigorificos,” seeing that the better prices brought about by the increasing demand induced capital to be employed in the grading up of the cattle and the improving of the breeds until they yield the greatest possible quantities of beef of the highest quality. The “creolia” or native cattle are rather thin and scraggy animals, although they are hardy and well fitted to survive without care or attention, but so great is the tendency to replace them by better breeds, that in time they are likely to disappear altogether. The “Saladeros” confine their attention to the “creolia” cattle and the establishments are generally primitive and dilapidated, the owners caring little about appearances, but compelled by the Government inspectors to keep their premises from becoming insanitary or too unclean. In the grounds which surround the buildings, rows of rough wooden fences are erected, upon which the beef is hung to dry in the sun, whilst the hides are pegged out flat upon the ground and dry-salted for export. In every part of the cattle area the presence of these hides, stretched out upon the ground or hanging over fences, proclaims the national industry, and even at the smallest hut or wayside shed one or two hides are sure to be in evidence. The banks of the Parana and Uruguay rivers are the true home of the “Saladero,” for in early times the sailing vessels that traded between Montevideo and Spain and the West Indies took cargoes of the “jerked” beef to the Brazilian ports and Cuba, there to be exchanged for the commodities that furnished freight for the homeward voyage. Montevideo became the most important port for these vessels, and the ease with which cargoes could be floated down the rivers to the port led to the establishment of hundreds of factories along the banks of the Uruguay and Parana rivers. In the Southern Brazilian State of Rio Grande, the “Saladeros,” protected by a high tariff, still flourish, but they have not enough cattle to supply the needs of their own country, although they slaughter an increasing number every year, and at the present time are not far behind Uruguay in their output. Argentina, on the other hand, is falling off in her output of “jerked” beef owing to the demand made by her “Frigorificos” for grazing land upon which to pasture cattle of a higher grade. In all, about one and a half million animals pass through the “Saladeros” of the three States every year, this large figure not including the cattle consumption of the factories engaged in the extract manufacture and canning business. This latter is another form of utilising the native cattle which are unsuitable for the freezing establishments, as well as the improved breeds which are constantly being introduced, and the industry has attained a very solid and world-wide reputation through the operations of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company, which was the pioneer of the extract and concentrated meat trade, and established the first factory for this purpose in South America.

Their business is so extensive that they now slaughter about two hundred thousand head of cattle annually at their factories on the banks of the River Uruguay, where they prepare their extracts—Lemco, Oxo, Concentrated Soups, Preserved Beef, Tongues, Beef Meal, and Canned Meat. No rivals come anywhere near them in output, for they utilise many times the number of animals disposed of by all their competitors put together.

Their factories at Frey Bentos and Colon are most extensive and adequately equipped, and are models of what such places should be, and very different from the native “Saladero.” Going through the various departments of these two factories, the visitor would not be surprised if told that he was in an engineering, joinery, or almost any kind of industrial establishment; for all branches of the modern workshop are carried on in different parts of the premises. Nearly everything required for upkeep and packing is made upon the spot in the foundries, machine shops, carpenters’ shops and the marvellous tin can factory with its elaborate machinery that is almost human. Here tins of various sizes are cut out, shaped and soldered for the packing of preserved meats, tongues, etc., whilst in another department the machinery for filling and hermetically sealing these tins is equally ingenious and interesting. Large coopers’ shops turn out hundreds of barrels for packing the by-products, such as hides, fat, and tallow. Boilers (mechanically fed), engines, pumps, and electric plant for light and power, occupy their allotted places, and the wharves in front, busy with steamers, sailing vessels, and barges, give the place the appearance of a town of no mean importance.

COLON.

The appointments of the slaughtering and flaying beds offer a marked contrast to the old-fashioned methods, and the equipment of the factory for boiling and evaporation is the outcome of experience and the highest engineering skill in its thousand and one details, so complicated as to be bewildering to the mere layman.

During the six months of the year when the cattle are coming in, the factories are in full swing, and the animals pour into the corrals by the thousand, to be driven through the “drives” or “races” into the small corral, where each one in turn is lassoed. The rope is then given a turn round the drum of a small electric motor, and the animal drawn firmly into a small box, the floor of which is a movable truck. The fatal stab is given just behind the hard ridge where the horns grow from the head, the executioner despatching the animals at the rate of two per minute. The blow is sudden, swift and sure, for the men who perform this task are skilful and their services well paid. It is no uncommon thing for one of them to earn as much as £200 during the six months of the year that the killing goes on, and still less uncommon for him to spend it all in the six off months, returning the following season practically penniless.

The animal having been despatched, the carcase is flayed upon the cemented beds which slope slightly to the channel which conducts the blood to a central tank. The meat is then cut up and the bones removed, the flesh being hung in a large, dark, funereal chamber, the walls of which are painted black. This, I was told, was to keep the flies away, for flies, it seems, detest darkness, although their deeds are evil.