U.S. Visitor’s Views On Lamb Market

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 15

U.S. Visitor’s Views On Lamb Market

In the opinion of Dr. W. S. McGuire, associate professor in agronomy at the Oregon State University at Corvallis, New Zealand will not win markets for lamb in the United States by pretty advertisements in magazines and newspapers. He considers that it is a more basic “grass roots” problem.

With the present low per capita consumption of lamb in the country, he said. America's own sheep population could meet the demand. The problem was therefore to raise consumption, for when that was done the market would automatically follow and if, say, per capita consumption was doubled then there would be a terrific market for New Zealand lamb and it could mean that little would be left for Britain.

Dr. McGuire sees the need to get among the people to teach them how to cook lamb and how to recognise good quality lamb. He knows Mr A. P. O’Shea, the new North American representative of the Meat Board, and believes that, if anyone can, Mr O’Shea will be able to make progress in establishing markets in the United States.

The American visitor was at Lincoln College in 1951 doing graduate studies on pastures under Professor J. W. Calder. In 1952 he married Miss Joan Stoddart, daughter of Mr G. Stoddart, of Lincoln, who is now farming at Kaituna Valley, and he was back in New Zealand in 1956 to attend the International Grasslands Congress. He has recently come to New Zealand after two months at Sydney University. He has spent three or four weeks of his stay in New Zealand visiting research stations and agricultural colleges. One of the reasons why he and his wife decided to settle at Corvallis in Western Oregon was its similarity to New Zealand in climate and topography, Dr. McGuire said. About a third of the state in the coastal region had a similar climate to South Canterbury, being in about the same latitude north as Timaru was south. They used the same species of pasture plants and in many cases the same varieties; there were also similar weeds and similar problems

of fertility. There was a good deal of hill country that required superphosphate and molybdenum. Dr. McGuire said that they used New Zealand white clover in irrigated pastures, subterranean clover and a perennial ryegrass that was very similar to the New Zealand grass, but the main grass was tall fescue which was considered to be a weed in New Zealand. It was his opinion, however, that the tall fescue he had seen growing in New Zealand was not the same grass as they grew in Oregon. The tall fescue of Oregon was less harsh and was not responsible for foot troubles with stock. Stock did well on it provided it was grazed and not allowed to get rank. Corvallis means “heart of the valley” and it lies in the Willamette valley, 130 miles long and 30 miles wide, where seed production is the main enterprise. Dr. McGuire said that 90 per cent of the ryegrass seed produced in the United States came from this area. Little rain fell for three months in the summer following 40in in the rest of the year so that pasture plants came into seed head with plenty of moisture. Excellent harvesting conditions then favoured the production of clean, good quality seed. Supplementary Sheep are supplementary to seed production and are used to clean up seed area. They grazed on seed areas during the winter. Dr. McGuire said that lambs out of Romney or Cheviot ewes by Suffolk or Hampshire rams were taken to 451 b or more carcase weight on improved pastures in four months to four months and a half. On the Oregon coast, Dr. McGuire said, there was some “cow to the acre” country where cattle were milked the year round for butter and

cheese supply as well as liquid milk. Heavy reliance was placed in the winter on hay and silage, and concentrates were also fed. A recent development in concentrate feeding was that as the cow took her place in a herringbone type shed an electronic device allowed feed down a pipe in proportion to the milk she delivered. Oregon is a beef-cattle producing State, but before he left home. Dr. McGuire said, his butcher had his coolroom filled with Australian and New Zealand lean boneless beef for mixing with surplus fat from quality loctN beef so as to manufacture into beef mince and hamburgers. When cattle prices had gone down more than a year ago he said that the reason given had been that there was a surplus of steers being raised for slaughter, but when prices had failed to increase in recent months, the blame had been put on imports. On the staff of Oregon State University with him is Dr. Murray Dawson, of Christchurch, a graduate of Lincoln College, who gained his doctorate of philosophy from Cornell. Because they had worked together and both knew the people at Lincoln College, they looked on their university and Lincoln CoL lege as very much sister institutions with much in common, he said. Dr. McGuire has been accompanied on his visit to New Zealand by his wife and family and for two months two of his three children have been pupils at Tai Tapu School.