PRODUCTION OF MEAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18680, 9 April 1924, Page 14

PRODUCTION OF MEAT.

CARCASE COMPETITIONS. EARLY MATURITY SYSTEM. One of the most interesting and instructive features of the Smithfield show is what is known as the carcase competition, and it is a feature, with amplifications, which might he introduced with advantage to the agricultural shows in New Zealand and particularly at the forthcoming Royal. Show. The idea is to offer prizes for. the best types of animals on meat points and early maturity, and one feature might be added, and that is cost of production together with quality. At Smithfield, which is really the world's show standard for meat, the classes included cattle, sheep and pigs, and these were further divided into age sections. For instance, in cattle there were divisions for steer or heifer not exceeding fifteen months old; steers over fifteen months and not exceeding two years old; steer above two and not exceeding three years old, and for heifers not exceeding three years old. It is interesting to note that the championship was awarded to an animal one year, ten months and three weeks old, the carcase of which weighed 112 st. lib. This goes to show what we have often contended in these columns, that the finest type of beef animal can be and should be finished off at under two years. In the other classes, none of which included animals over three years old, there were killed and dressed carcases weighing from 112 st. to 1245t., which proves that the English farmer knows how to produce high-class meat in a very short time. It is somewhat surprising to find that in sheep the prizes went to carcases weighing up to 701b. and 80ib, and that in the lamb classes some of the weights of the prize-winners went from 501b. to 581b.. while none of the mature sheep were over two years old. Astonishing Eesults.

In pigs, the weights were astonishing. The carcases best suited for bacon from animals ranging between five months and three weeks old to five months four weeks and one day old ranged from 18st. to 23st. and several four and a-half months old carcases weighed from list, to 14st. Some time ago we waged a campaign in our endeavour to show our fanners the folly of keeping beef cattle for five, six, and eight years. Cattle cost so much money for each year of their keep, and, as we frequently pointed out, they by no means increase in selling value in proportion to their age. As a matter of fact, well-fed animals practically reach their maturity at two years, and beyond that age their increase in weight is remarkably small.

Many cattle have been raised in N*w Zealand which, at a year old, have weighed from five to six hundred pounds, and many two-year-olds have weighed from eight to nine hundred pounds, but there is no record of any animals at four years old weighing from sixteen to eighteen hundred pounds. One of the heaviest beef animals ever raised in Now Zealand was the famous bullock raised at Kaitaia on papsalum grass by Mr. Evans and sold to Mr. Hayr, of Auckland, after being awarded numerous prizes as a champion beef animal. It was sold as an eight-year-old for £27 10s, when its carcase weighed 19631b. Mr. Hayr estimated that particular bullock cost him £150.

It is estimated that well-fed beef animals nearly double their value between one year old and two years old, but between three years and four years they j nearly double their cost of keep and only increase in soiling- value in a minor de"gree. Some time ago we published some instructive figures illustrating these facts from the great meat firms of Chicago, and any farmer who likes to do a little arithmetic can work out what he loses by keeping cattle or any other type of animal beyond the period of their maximum gain in weight and quality. It is like keeping a dairy cow which only yields 1501b. of butter-fat when one might be kept yielding 3001b. In the South Island and some parts of the North Island there are farmers who have learned the art of raising early-mat-uring lambs and profitable mutton, but there is throughout the Dominion a large majority of farmers who believe sheep and lambs require no other food but grass, and when they have an exceptionally favourable season they can raise a fair proportion of freezers on grass at a moderate cost, while during the greater number of seasons they have to sell or keep most of their stock as stores. No animal responds to good feeding so well as the pig, and there is little doubt that, if our farmers attained the art of feed, ing- porkers or baconers which some individuals possess, we could make this animal assume a very important position in our list of exports. Good breeding is one of the essentials in successful stock farming, but good feeding gives more important results. Meat for Export. The raising of meat for export which is so great a feature of New Zealand's agricultural industry cannot be carried on successfully unless economy in production is practised and the matter of early maturity is undoubtedly one of the most important factors in economy. It is, however, not only a question of raising the greatest' weight of meat in the shortest time, the problem of finding and using the most economical food must receive consideration. Too many so called experts persist in the statement that pasture is the most economical and effective of all stock foods. This is a comfortable belief for most farmers, but after all the quality of the pasture must be taken into consideration and the cost of the pasture, too, in relation to the stock carried or meal produced. When good bush country could be purchased at £1 an acre, and turned into pasture at a cost of about £3 an acre the farmer could afford to use a considerable amount of grass to fatten one animal. With pasture at £15, £20 and more an acre the case is entirely different. | Roots and fodder crops which can fatten off eight or ten times as much stock as the best nasture , with a less drain upon the fertility of the soil must largely take the place of grass for putting the finishing touches on meal animals and this is the line good feeding which means economical feeding must take.