MEAT MARKET IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27055, 2 June 1953, Page 12

MEAT MARKET IN BRITAIN

Smaller, More Compact Sheep Wanted

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, June 1. The need for farmers in Britain to produce smaller and more compact animals for the meat market was emphasised by Mr G. C. G. Clifton, president of the Evesham Association, in a speech. He said that the meat the butcher wanted was the kind his customers demanded. At present the Government was responsible for all meat supplies, but he was looking to the future. He had not the slightest doubt that the fanner had got to produce smaller and more compact animals carrying more flesh. There had not been much incentive for them to do this because, in recent times, they had been paid chiefly on bulk weight. But it was a fact that nowadays the customer wanted smaller good quality joints and, unless farmers could produce compact sheep and lambs, they were in real danger of losing the trade to New Zealand. The ideal was a very fleshy animal weighing not more than 601 b. Anything over this became wasteful, and not in demana. The tendency was for housewives to buy smaller joints and to have them more often, he said. When the butcher was free to make his own choice of meat he would pay for a compact animal rather than a bulkier animal. Because of rationing, many of the younger housewives were not accustomed to large joints, and this was a further pointer towards producing the smaller animal.