LIVE STOCK STANDARDS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 255, 25 July 1944, Page 4

LIVE STOCK STANDARDS

When recently it was urged in these columns that, if possible, arrangements should be made for Dr. I. Clunies Ross to meet the farmers and discuss post-war farming prospects, we quoted this passage from an article which he had contributed some time ago to an Australian journal: “Not for them (the farmers) the sheltered development of an adequate home market, but rather competition on the hard and uncompromising basis of quality and efficiency against allcomers.” That might well be taken by those who advocate concerted effort to raise the standards of our live stock as the basis of their contentions. At the present time the demand is for quantity, but it would be a retrogressive step if that yvere achieved at the expense iof quality. During the discussion of this matter at the annual meeting of the Royal Agricultural .Society recently one speaker said:, “When we get back to normal after the Avar, quality will be the determining factor in the world markets, and if we have not got the quality avc will be sunk.”

The speaker applied to New Zealand primary production the. test which Lord Keynes some time ago applied to the British export trade, and for the same good reason, that primary production is vital to our economic stability, just as the export trade is vital to that of Great Britain. It could reasonably be expected that farmers throughout the country would be keenly aware of the importance of quality in their stock, but it is known that in many dairy herds there are cows which it cannot be economical to retain. The average production per cow is by no means high, considering the climatic conditions and other favourable factors. An average of 225.451 b. of butterfat per coav (1942-43 figures) must be capable of great improvement, with an addition to the aggregate returns without adding to the labour demand, and experience has shown that the improvement can be effected by a systematic policy of testing, culling, and careful breeding. Judging by the trend noticeable during the pre-Avar years the demand for beef cattle in the future Avill be for the stocky types that are classed as chillers. That calls for sound breeding, and if any added incentive is required it can be found in the fact that the Dominion will always -have to face strong competition from a country possessing marked advantages through its proximity to the great markets. That competition is as marked in the normal wool market, and it must ever be the aim of the producer to meet the requirements of the buying end of the trade. The strong position won in the lamb trade was the result of quality, of catering for the market, and it has returned producers a price that represents an advance on that obtained by other countries. It is essential that the standards of quality which had that successful result be carefully maintained, or financial loss will be inevitable.

Taken as a Avhole, the case for unremitting effort to raise the standards of our live stock is so strong that it should require no legislative or other support to make it effective. Stock standards cannot be raised by scrub bulls or nondescript rams, and it cannot be questioned that they should be raised. The Avelfare of the primary industries, and so of the Dominion itself, calls for it.