A GREAT BEEF BREED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 20

A GREAT BEEF BREED.

The Aberdeen-Angoia Cattle Society, which have their headquarters in Banff, in Scotland, seem to be pushing strongly the claims of their well-known Doddieo in foreign markets. There has just come to hand (says the Fanners' Gazette) a handsomely got up little booklet, well printed in the Spanish language on art paper and bound in a neatly-designed cover in gold and colours, bearing the embjems of England, Ireland, and Scotland, together with the combined flags of Groat Britain and tho Argentine, and entitled La Supremacia los Aberdeen-Angus. It contains a record of successes of the breed at various shows and exhibitions, and is copiously illustrated with loading typos of winning animals. With ifc has also been published a pamphlet in tho English language bearing as its title tho heading of this notice from which wo tako tho following extract:— In tracing the history of AberdeenAngus cattle within recent years, and in seeking to probe tho causes which have led to the increased popularity of the breed, and to its spread to all the great beef-producing countries of the world, there is brought homo with preat force tho remarkable manner in whicli this breed of cattle has withstood the severest tests of an ago whoso outstanding requirement is utility, and has outstripped all other breeds of cattle in tho practical application of these tests. The days are well within recollection when tho breed may have been said to have been pretty much a local one, but within the last three and a-half docades it has becomea commodity of international exchange—it has migrated from

its former narrow confines in the valley of the Don and in the old territory of the Angus, to the sunnier lands of England and to the rich pasture lands of Ireland; it has crossed the Atlantic, and provided for America the greatest of all her races of beef cattle; it has gained a firm footing in that great cattle-raising country of Argentina, and has demonstrated to the estancieros there that placed alongside any breed of cattle it surpasses thorn all in the realm of beef-production; it has found a home in the veldt of South Africa, and in the bush lands of Australia and New Zealand, and in both these far-off lands it is steadily working its way to increased popularity and greater favour. Such marked popularity, it must be confessed, must have some firm foundation on which to rest, and it will be the object of these notes to try to indicate some of the planks in that foundation —for the history of Aberdeen-Angus cattle in recent years is a history of test applied and test complied with, of successive victories opening up new outlets, and of these new outlets broadening out as fresh opportunities were afforded the breed for the demonstration of its inherent qualities of early maturity, robustness of constitution, reproductive powers in crossing with any other breed, and valuable fleshing properties. It will not be possible to do more tha.n touch tho fringe of this great subject. . , . The most important factors in tho spread of Aberdeen-Angus cattle have been tho growing demand for beef from early-matured cattle, and the quality of the beef which animals of the breed yield. The AberdeenAngus was the first of any breed to pros duce a champion for the London Smithfield Show—tho greatest of the British fat stock shows—at two years old, and it is the only pure breed that has produced a champion at one year old for the Edinburgh Fat Stock Show, which is the principal show of the kind in Scotland. These are no isolated examples, and they are Dot the only proofs that can bo produced iri .support of the claim for early maturity mado on behalf of the Aberdeen-Angus breed. There is no better standard of comparison than that provided by the entries at tho fat stock shows, and it is only by comparison that there can be found out the points on which one breed excels over another. Not only must the superiority of the breed be acknowledged as regards early maturity, but butchers —and, as tho emancipator of tho breed, the late Mr Win. M'Conibie. remarked. ,: rho pole-axe is the final verdict"—axe at ono as to the merits of Aberdeen-Angus cattle in meat production. The earca sea of Aberdeen-Animus cattle yield a larger percentage of meat and a larg-er percentage of the most valuable "cuts ' than the carcases of any other breed of cattle. This is the reason why they are so popular with dealers in meat in every country, and it is becauso they are the butchers' favourites that they aro making such steady progress in all the great meat-producing lands. |