BRINGING OUT BABY BEEF AND FAT SHEEP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 16

BRINGING OUT BABY BEEF AND FAT SHEEP.

A strikingly practical arliole liy “Salopian ’ appeared in a recent number of the English Agricultural Gazette on the above subject. The writer pointed out that the classes for “lxiby beef, - ’ or steers not exceeding 15 months old, at the recent Smithfield Show, were an object-lesson in early maturity, and again proved very clearly to what a great, extent the characteristic of early development has been fostered and encouraged by the Smil.hfield Club. By cutting out the classes for older bullocks and cows years ago, the club did much to encourage the fattening of younger animals; and the support given this year by exhibitors to the “baby” classes shows that this movement in favour of fattening cattle at the earliest age is in the right direction.

The weights of the youngsters exhibited Were decidedly good, and. so far as weight for age goes, the youngsters had the pud over any other cattle in the Agricultural Hall. Weights of Bcwt and 9cwt were recorded for animals of 10 months old, and a 13-months Hereford weighed over 10c wt. So that, in weight for age. no section of cattle gave, anything like so good an account. of themselves, inasmuch as in the classes for steers above 15 months and not exceeding two years the weights ranged round about llc-wl and 12cwt; while when it canto to ihose above two y&urs old arid not exceeding throe years the average Weight seemed to run from 13cwt to 15cwt, individual specimens, of course, drawingmuch more weight.

But what, we have to ask ourselves, if we lake to heart the lesson taught by the young classes at Smjthfield, is whether the system of carrying on beef stock to be three years old before it is finished oh to the butcher is’ justifiable. The only inference to be d rawn from a study ol file weights is that the most profit is obtained from the fattening of young animals at a year old or a few weeks under or over, as the Ouse may be; and that the older animals

show' little or no profit on being kept after •hat age. For example, suppose we lake a young sleer of about a year old, which weighs 9cwt, and at, say, 60s per cwt, he realises £27. The weight of a steer a year older runs out on the average at about I3cwt, which, at the same rate, amounts to £39, or an increase in vai ie of only £l2 on the second year; while if we go still another year, the weights run out to about IScwt, and, putting the beef at the same price, the result works cut at £45, or an increase of only £6 on the value for the second year, and only £lB for the two years. So it must be quite obvious that there must be far greater profit on a yo-ur.g steer which can be fed to scale 9c wt at a year old than on a steer of just three years, which on the average cannot be fed up to more than 15ew t.

The same remarks apply with equal force to the sheep classes, where, in some of the early-maturing- Down breeds, the pens of lambs weighed only about iewt less than the pens of wethers. It is questionable if, in the future, classes for wethers might not advantageously be eliminated, except in the case of the hill and mountain breeds; and, for all the support given to them, the classes for three-year-old steers in th# cattle section might also be struck out.

In the so-called “good old days,” the breeders used to enjoy growing their cattle and sheep on to a good age, and veryheavy weights. Five, six, and seven year old bullocks were the order of the clay, and three and four year old wethers; and a great delight was taken in their size and weight. No breeder or feeder can afford to indulge in that sort of tiling nowadays, and has no desire to do so even if hecould. The object now is to make the best use of every day of an animal’s life from its birth, so as to get the maximum amount of growth and development at the earliest possible age. Symmetry and quality, or the aptitude to fatten rapidly, are aids to early maturity. Those breeders who raise cattle io fatten must ask themselves in future whether it will pay them to permit any so-called “store” period in the lives of their young

cattle intended for beef. If a young steer is to be finished off to the butcher at under 15 months old it is quite certain that in those few short months there can be no idea, of any “store” period. These young steers must, be fed right from birth, and the calf flesh must be retained at all costs; for, if once that is lost, there is an end to any idea of baby beef. Our American friends realised this fact long before we did.

The system under which the great majority of the animals which are fed into beef dn England have been raised is this: In the first, place, they have not been sufficiently well reared as calves. Many get a very inadequate supply of milk, and are given just enough separated milk and gruel to keep body and soul together. Then they arc turned out to grass, and left out, exposed to all kinds of weather, and they lose that natural flesh which can never be replaced in after life by any amount of good feeding. Probably another yearpasses over their heads, during which they more or less fend for themselves, uniil such time as they are put up to feed, when all the work has to be done by the feeder, and everything which they have lost in the way of natural or calf flesh lias to be replaced at very considerable expense. This system cannot- last much longer, m face of the object-lessons at Smil.hfield and other let stock shows, where it is possible to see that young animals which have been well reared on a reasonable amount of now irailk, combined with such foods, both in quantity and kind, as are suitable to their growth and development, can be fed into half a ton live weight at a fraction over i2 months old. Any breeder or feeder who fails to rear his calves properly, and subjects his young stock to undue exposure and hardship, permitting the young- animals to lose that most valuable attribute to early beef—calf flesh, — has no one to blame but himself if he cannot, feed his stock to a profit. If beef-mak-ing is to continue to be a proposition on ihe farm, new methods will have to be adopted, and the system of management pursued will have to embrace feeding at high pressure from the earliest days of the

animal's life, so that the daily increase of weight will show a profit on llie daily amount of food consumed. We can no longer afford to lose a whole year of an animal s life to no account, which has been usual up to now.