11/12/2002 
AutoFOM classification: Comment by Ansgar Tubes, member of the ISN committee
The following comment is made by Mr Ansgar Tubes, on the article
AutoFOM: Abattoirs get advantage for themselves in purchasing, published by Dr. Albert Hortmann-Scholten in the SUS magazine (no. 5/2002):
I found some satisfaction indeed when reading Dr. Hortmann-Scholten’s articleAutoFOM: Abattoirs get advantage for themselves in purchasing
. The results described in this article completely tally with the experiences I made myself with the AutoFOM classification – which were negative without exception! My own fatteners, at an average share of 54.7 percent in lean meat and at a carcass weight of 92.4 kg at that time, raised – as a rule – 2 to 3 pfennigs less per kg in carcass weight than they did after FOM classification. When, in the final analysis, I cancelled my cooperation agreement with the WESTFLEISCH abattoir, effective immediately, they tried indeed to have me believe I were one of the very few pig feeders only who would suffer losses on the income due to the AutoFOM classification.give away
A field trial, the results of which were published recently, tells something quite different! And it does completely confirm my view that WESTFLEISCH – as well as any other abattoir where meat is classified and paid for according to the AutoFOM system – has not invested and won’t invest millions for the development and installation of the AutoFOM system just in order to pay more money to the pig feeders in the end.
Due to the results of the field trial mentioned above, the question must be allowed what makes professional pig feeders go and sell their pigs to sales people who use the AutoFOM unit for the classification of meat. Are they really so loyal that they disregard leniently any financial disadvantage? Me, at any rate, I don’t have any money to just
, because, if you compare the system to the well-tried ways of classification, 2.5 to 3 cents are missing per kg carcass weight, bearing in mind the high prices we did have sometimes in the past. So, with complete justification one can say that one or the other company in the slaughtery industry, paying according to the results of the AutoFOM classification, earned a fortune or was able to at least make some money to get healthy again in economical respect. And the pig feeders again went away empty-handed!classification by needle
WESTFLEISCH claim that the AutoFOM classification were the fairer system of payment. Which seems to be right at a first glance. But please, keep tabs on the fact that the pig feeder does have to be satisfied with a strongly limited weight corridor, compared to the
: namely, according to the share in lean meat it’s just 3 kg instead of 18 to 20 and more kg with the well-tried classification system per mask. So, if I am just over or below these 3 kg, I will have to accept the first deductions – which are real good, partly! – from the average of the lot of no matter which part I take (leg, loin, etc.). This way, it is demanded from the pig feeders that – using sort of an x-ray view, which I do not have – they sort out the meat more precisely and, above all, more often. But I cannot see that this would be appreciated in any way. Quite to the contrary! Sorting the meat out more often might lead to the fact that the pig feeder will have to accept a more unfavourable tariff at the cattle dealer or the haulage carrier.
I do think that the AutoFOM classification system is an innovative development as regards the recording of the carcass and the correct way of marketing afterwards. But if the system of evaluation and payment of carcass pigs according to the AutoFOM system does result in less instead of more payment to the pig feeder, I see the warning signs! In Denmark, the AutoFOM classification system has been applied for some time now, if I am informed correctly. But there they do not take the value for the various parts as a basis for payment, but rather the share in lean meat which is determined by the AutoFOM unit.
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