BABY BEEF SCORING

Southland Times, Issue 20525, 29 June 1928, Page 4

BABY BEEF SCORING

DEMAND FOR TINY JOINTS. LILLIPUTIAN STOCK WANTED. Altered social conditions are having their effect on the size of joints ordered from the butcher. Will their trend in time mean that an altogether smaller farm stock will have to be raised by breeders? asks the Belfast Telegraph of May 12. Discussing this possibility Messrs W. Weddel and Co., Ltd., in their fortieth annual report, state: —Everybody wants smaller joints nowadays, but there are not enough small joints to go round. There has also been developing a decided objection on the part of the public to these parts of the carcase which require extra trouble in cooking. These changes are attributed to the altered conditions of social life since the war. The growth of motoring, the increasing popularity of picknicking, the extension of flat life, gas cooking, the enormous increase in the number of women in business, smaller families, cinemas, wireless, and the generally more varied social life now enjoyed by the people, are said to have resulted in a decline in cooking and an increase in the consumption of prepared foods. Where cooking is necessary the popular demand runs on steaks, chops, and small legs and shoulders. To meet the new conditions, breeders, stock-raisers, and distributors will be obliged to alter their methods. Small-sized, early maturing animals will have to replace the present types. To a small extent the Argentine growers are meeting the situation by fattening up young steers from about the age of twelve to eighteen months. The product of these young animals, which goes by the name of “baby beef,” meets a ready demand on this market at top prices.