STOCK AND PASTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20136, 22 December 1928, Page 20

STOCK AND PASTURES.

WORLD'S MEAT SUPPLY. MEETING INCREASED DEMAND. HINTS REGARDING LAMBING. BY H.B.T. Apart from the improvement of our pastures by the cultivation of better grasses, the more extensive and intelligent use oi top dressing, and the adoption of systems of rotational grazing, there would seem to be few avenues through which we can increase the number of livestock turned off A given area of land as meat. Yet the necessity for increased meat production was never greater in the world's history. Population is increasing at the rate of twelve to fourteen millions annually, and even the European population—tho principal meat-eaters of the world—is increasing by three or moro million earh year. Further, some Eastern nations, notaoly the Japanese and Chinese, have within tne last ten years developed a taste for meat, and it seems a safe prediction that meat will become a much more valuable product in the near future. The consumption of meat depends entirely on the buying capacity of the generarpubhe. With fixed wages, a certain propdrt'on only of the income can he spent on meat, and with a rise in price less of -"this food is purchased It is therefore that, it is to the tarmer's advantage to keep his meat products at such a that they will be demanded in increasing quantity by the consuming public, and to devote himself to producing a 'greater quantity. { Inadequate Farming Methods.

; |j Whib there are possibihtifes of an increase ir production as the result of better ifarnung methods, it is certain that these rwill not for long provide the extra meat required by the world's growing population if the present standard of consumption is to be maintained, and scientists arc searching for new methods of making ineat-producmg animals more 'prolific and more quickly maturing. The rate of breeding and body development of sheep has been subject to research at Cambridge for some time past, and some interesting discoveries and sugges tions for their practical application 'are made in papers recently published With a view to increasing the prolificacy of sheep, twin ewes have been mated to twin rams and it has thus been proved thar the potentiality for high fertility is inherited to a very great degree. It would apparently be possible to breed up a flock of sheep which would normally have a lambing percentage'of from 200 to 250 There are various objections u> the piactical application of breeding along these fines, however, the chief being that if selection oi ewes and rams is made primarily for prolificacy, other considerations of quality must necessary be given less attention, and wool, mutton, and constitution would puffer. Again, it has been found that twin' lambs and triplets develop more slowly during the first year of their liycs than do single lambs Best Age to Kill Lambs. Investigation was also' made along the lines of finding the best age at which to kill lambs. On an average, 140 Down lambs have been dealt with each year at Cambridgo. For each animal, tne rate of growth has been obtained by measurements and weights taken first at weekly and then at monthly intervals, until the animal is sold These details have been supplemented later by carcase measurements, including the separate weights of all the important joint and, other iparts •- of the carcase Some idea of" the amount, of work involved can be gathered from the fact" that upwards of 100.000 individual weighings have been made during the progress of the research lhe compre liensive and detailed information thus col- > lecied has been analysed, and many con \ elusions may be drawn w,hicb have a bear- \ ing on important practical problems. I For example, the data snow that live weight increase is not correlated with the 'increasing meat vajue of the animal, for ■{changes occur in tbe proportionate weights f>f the various meat joints. From the Aiutcher's standpoint, therefore, there is i4n ideal age at which to kill lambs, and fsi a breed of the Down type this ts at mouths old. Farmers in this country pi'lio have specialised in fat-lamb production have realised from practical expertSice that after that age ts reached the tlfmb starts to grow rapidlv at the expense ■ft its condition. jFinding the pertect jw.u lor Killing lat •ijjinbs was six months, the research ISorkers in this branch at Cambridge came the conclusion that there seemed to no reason why, with selection and feeding, the ewe should, not proPolice three crops of lambs in two years, . j- even two in one vear. 3 Benefits ol Double Lambing. 1 If sheep could be unproved it) this direction, the lambs could be economically /slaughtered at six months, and while the / benefit to the sheep industry would be enormous, any prospective shortage oi meat supplies "would be relegated to the distant future without having to increase the stock-carrying capacity of our land to any verv considerable extent. As a matter of tact, it re quite usual for wild sheep to have two lambings in twelve months.' Anywhere on rough country where sheen have gone wild, ewes can be seen with two lambs with about six months between thetri tn age. the ewe weans the first when the next is Lorn. It would be well worth while experimenting with a few old ewes of sound constitution, putting them to the ram early in March and again in September, thus having them lamb in August and January. The lambs born In January would, of course, need some special provision of fod der for tliein to be got fat off the motheis by Juno, but in this climate where growth can be had at any time of the year, provision of green feed in the nature of lucerno in the summer and barley or oats in the winter might be all that would be required.