MEAT FOUND TOO FAT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31162, 12 September 1966, Page 1

MEAT FOUND TOO FAT

For the West German market New Zealand lamb and beef are too fat, according to Professor Joachim-Hans Weniger, of the department of animal science and animal genetics at the University of Gottingen, West Germany.

Professor Weniger, who visited Lincoln College last week in the course of a world study tour, said in Christchurch at the week-end that he had seen New Zealand lambs imported into West Germany.

They were very even in' conformation but they were too fat for the market. With the consumer conformation did not count so much. West Germans ate • little lamb or mutton —only about a jib a head a year out of a total of about 1401 b of meat of all sorts—but he believed that they might eat more sheet) meat in the future to compensate for a shortage of beef. Professor Weniger said he thought that West Germans could recognise good quality in lamb. He added that he himself preferred lamb to beef. Pig Meat Eaters Nearly 50 per cent of the meat that the West Germans ate was pig meat, he said. This represented about 661 b a year and they also ate about 401 b of beef a head. But while West Germany produced nearly 100 per cent of its requirements of pig meats and more than 100 per

cent of its requirements of milk, its output of beef represented only 85 per cent of its requirements, he said. Being short of beef was something that West Germany shared with almost all of the Common Market. It was likely to be a continuing trend because of the rising consumption of beef and the structure of beef production in the area.

Ninety-eight per cent of all beef produced in West Germany came from dual-purpose animals, he said. Similarly, the Netherlands and Belgium had no special beef breeds and in France only a small proportion of beef production came from special beef breeds like the Charolais. Remarkable It was remarkable under the circumstances that West Germany was able to produce so much of its own beef. Thirty-eight per cent of all animals slaughtered for beef production were young bulls between one and two depending on whether they were stable or pasture fed. Only 3 per cent of slaughterings were of steers. The bulls were favoured on account of their greater growth rate and better feed conversion and were favoured by butchers and packers because of their production of lean meat. On average these bulls had no more than two to five millimetres of fat on the thickest part of the back fat. There was nothing against them for taste, he said.

With their use on the small number of big farms in view, some Aberdeen Angus had been imported but because beef from Aberdeen Angus, Hereford or Shorthorn cattle was too fat it was unsaleable in West Germany and these cattle could only be used .in crosses.

The Charolais and another French breed had been imported for experimental purposes. Although results had been good, the difference between the French breeds and dual-purpose breeds in Germany selected for milk production and muscling was not so important as to make use of the French breeds obligatory. As beef production was associated with milk production in West Germany the prospects of increasing beef production were fairly limited, he said.

. Asked about the possibility of New Zealand beef finding a place in Germany to help make up for the shortage in home production. Professor Weniger said that New Zealand cattle were good but again they were too fat for West German and Common Market requirements. Professor Weniger emphasised that the correct grading systems for meat could play a vital part in getting farmers to produce the right sort of meat for market requirements. The world trend was for lean meat.