KILLING THE CALVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18018, 17 February 1922, Page 7

KILLING THE CALVES.

BEEF-GROWERS' TROUBLES.

POSITION IN QUEENSLAND. Queensland cattle-owners are killing calves because under the present burden of taxation and the low price of beef it does not pay to rear them. ' It was explained that many circumstances have combined to make cattlebreeding unprofitable at present. Queensland has always looked to New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria to buy many tens of thousands of store cattle from it for fattening. This was especially the case with New South Wales which for three yearn, however, was drought-stricken, and did not buy stores. Except for a couple of months after the drought broke there has been no buying of store cattle from Queensland 6ince the drought—beef prospects were too discouraging. In addition, for the last 12 or 18 months, the meat export works of Queensland have done practically nothing in beef. There has been no outlet for either store or fat cattle. And so Queensland owners ask, "What is there to breed for?" Queensland owners are still selling some fats in Sydney, but the demand there is limited and the prices unsatisfactory. Heavy Queensland bullocks are selling for I about £7 in the Homebush yards, and it I costs about £2 10s per head to road, rail, ' and sell them. The return, consequently, I to the owner is absolutely unprofitable. I Prime beef was selling at seven farthings | per lb in the Sydney wholesale meat : market last week, and in the yards prune i heavy cattle *ere selling for 18s P er i 100,D " , • u,. On top of these low prices comes the . exceedingly heavy income taxes. It is assumed by the taxation people that the calf is worth £3, and the owner practically has to keep it three or even four years, before he cam get any return a I all from it. A sheep w growing wool i all the time, and, therefore, giving a •return, but cattle yield nothing until they I are sold. It was admitted that l taxn • tion were lightened, or if the system of taxing the producer were reformed to i meet the unique conditions of the pastoral industry, there would be some jnwntiw ,1 to continue breeding, in the belief that tithe beef export market would recover 1 earlv next year at the latest. Stockowners stated that to some extent the game trouble was being met with in New Smith WnJe?—taxation was tending to knock out the industry. But less was heard of it there, mainly because New South Wales is not a cattle State in the same sense that Queensland is.