The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-11
How the Animals Are Killed, the
Meat Frozen and Prepared for Ship
ment TO European Markets.
THE SHEEP OF THE ARGENTINE
THE COUNTRY NOW HAS MORE THAN
ONE HUNDRED MILLION OF THEM,
And Produces a Hundred Pounds of
at $1,000 and Bulls at $4,000.
copyrighted. 1898. by Frank c. carpenter.>

copyrighted, 1898. by Frank C. Carpenter)
BUENOS AYRES, Nov. 9.-How would
you like mutton chop two months old?
Hundreds of tons of such meat is sold in
the markets of Europe every month Some
of it comes from Australia, not a little
from New Zealand. and of late great deal
from the Argentine Republic. 1t is shipped
in frozen state, and, if properly cared for,
will keep for year, and taste as fresh and
juicy at the end of that time as when cut
from the dying sheep
We ship vast quantities of beef to Europe
every year, but the passage across the At
lantic is so swift and the waters so cool
that the meat is merely chilled and kept in
cold storage. In going from the Argentine
to Europe the ships must steam over the
seething equator. It requires from twenty
to thirty days for the voyage and all meat
must go either alive or frozen. Living ami
mails are expensive freight, and the result
is the Argentine is now freezing its NUT
ton for shipment. 1t has millions invested
in frozen meat factories, and it has one es-
adjustment which is said to be the largest
frozen meat factory of the world.
Before describing my visit to this place
lcI HE ten you SOIuetulilS Oh the ATRenIIneS
as sheep raisers We know a little as to
their grain output. Their wheat, when they
have fair crop, makes our wheat fall in
the markets of Europe. Still, the wheat
farms are a bagatelle in the consideration
of the products of the Argentine. These
people are stock farmers rather than grain
farmers When a locust invasion comes
there is considerable distress. but should
stock famine occur the country would have
a panic. At present not l per cent. of the
Argentine is agricultural The soil is in
many sections thin and poor. The grain pro-
ducing areas are limited. The pastures
however, are the largest of the world. No
such extent of grazing lands exists any
where else, and the area of the stock farms
increases every year. The character of the
grasses improves by pasturing them with
sheep and cattle, and the f1ocks and herds
steadily grow 1t is estimated that one
half of the republic is adapted to sheep
raising. This makes an area of sol, 900 square
miles, a territory greater than ten States
the size of New York
A GREAT INDUSTRY.
How many sheep the land will support Is
not known, but the number will run into
the hundreds of millions. Some parts of the
province of Buenos Ayres in which four
fifths of the sheep of the Argentine now are
will feed two or three sheep to the acre,
and other parts further south need from
two to four acres for a single sheep. The
average in Buenos Ayres is 592 sheep to the
square mile, or that number to a section of
land. The total number of sheep in the
Argentine is now O5,0OO,O00, more than twice
that of the United States. 1t is enough to
give every family in the country a flock of
100 sheep, and have some millions for ex-
port The sheep, however, are not divided
up in this way They are in the hands of
comparatively few. 1 know Of men who
each own 100000, ana there are one or two
nabobs who have, 1 am told as many as a
million.
The usual size of flock of sheep num-
bers from 1900 to 1900. This many are put
| in charge of one shepherd, who watches
them on horseback, letting them Craze
about as they please. The sheep are never
| fed They live out of doors from one year s
end to the other. They get all they need by
grazing, for there is such thing a
barn or stack of hay on an Argentine stock
farm. The sheep wander off grazing in the
direction whence the wind blows in the
morning, and they return in the evening tc
sleep about the hut of their shepherd. In
some cases the fields are fenced with wire
hut the greater part of the sheep farms are
| the pampas as the Lord created them. 1t is
| the herder's business to keep his sheep from
mixing with those of other fiocks, and to
| see that they are free from diseases. He
| also keeps off the dogs, and has the general
care of the flocks. For this and his work
at shearing time he is paid $16 to $50 gold a
month, or he may work on the shares for
one~fourth of the profits. The Argentine
| shepherd has a life which is dreary in the
| extreme He lives in a mud hut away out
| on the prairie. He may have garden, but
as a usual thing, he is too lazy to make one
and his chief food is mutton, his employers
allowing him to kill enough sheep to supply
him with meat.
A GROWING BUSINESS.
| Raising sheep for mutton has until now
| not been done by the Argentines. In the
| past their profits have been from the wool
| hides and tallow. Sheep and cattle were
and are still killed for their skins and tai
! low, the meat being thrown away. Where
| the fiocks have multiplied too rapidly thou
sands of the older sheep have been driven
over the rocks into the sea. They have al
times been used for fuel, and in the days
| when the Spanish ruled this country ar
| edict was published making it a crime to
| drive living Sn6ep INTO the IlT6S Oh the DrICh
lxilns. At present it is estimated that the
Argentine Republic raises one and one-hali
| billion pounds more meat every year than
she can consume, or enough waste meat tc
| give every man, woman and child in the
world a full pound and have hundred mil
hon pounds or so to spare.
1t is this great surplus that has brought
about the establishment of big meat factor
| ies-factories which turn out millions OF
dollars worth OF beef extracts every year
and factories for freezing meat so that II
will not melt until thawed out for sale tC
the retail butchers of Europe.
The chief branch of the industry now is
in frozen mutton. Frozen beef is also ex.
ported for such meat is not so good wher
thawed as when fresh killed. The mutton
tastes as juicy and as sweet as though
! fresh from the fields. and / am assured
that the frozen article cannot be distin.
guished from that OF old England.
How fast the business is growing can b
seen by the comparative shipments of the
| last few years. In 1883 only 81 900 worth OF
| sheep carcasses were sent across the ocean
In nine months OF last year the sales
I n