BOBBY CALF INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21875, 10 August 1934, Page 15

BOBBY CALF INDUSTRY

Sir, —A paragraph relating to bobby calves in the Herald of August 2 includes: "The opinion was expressed that it probably would have been more profitable to have killed and skinned them on the farms and sent the hides to the market rather than the live animals." The above opinion must have been reached without a full knowledge of the subject. The bobby calf industry has been built up during the past five years and makes use of what was, prior to that, largely a waste product. Much capital is now invested in plant to deal with calves and a great many slaughterhouse workers find employment in what is otherwise an off-season. Considerable revenue is also earned by carriers and the New Zealand railways. The skins are superior to those removed on the farm and are building up a better reputation abroad. Many of these had been sold forward before the embargo was announced. The veal and edible sundries have established a definite place for themselves on the London market and the veil is the raw product of the rennet industry, which requires 600,000 annually for the Dominion make of cheese. We have not figures for the total value of the industry, but 800,000 were handled last season, giving a return of about £200,000 to farmers and large sums in wages through the meat works and carriers. Surely it would be an error of judgment to interrupt the continuity of this business and risk destroying it because of the low values now ruling due to what may be only a temporary embargo on export. N.Z. Co-op. Rennet Co., Ltd.