THE BOBBY CALF TRADE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4427, 19 May 1941, Page 4

THE BOBBY CALF TRADE

THE probability of the bobby calf trade being adversely affected in the coming season by the shipping position has already been referred to by the institutions dealing with the export of foodstuffs from New Zealand. Information has been received to the effect that Britain has excluded bobby veal from the selection of frozen meats she is prepared to accept, but the chairman of the New Zealand Cooperative Pig Marketing Association, Mr W- A. Phillips, is of the opinion that if the product is tinned it may be acceptable in this form. In the meantime the New Zealand Government has undertaken to buy all export meat killed to 20th September next, and so far there has been no indication that it may be found necessary or desirable to specially exempt bobby veal from this undertaking. In any case, because of the increasing consumption of rennet for the greater production of cheese, bobby calves will have to be collected, and Mr Phillips states that if the Government’s pay for the veal and offal at last year’s f.o.b. rates, and shipping facilities remain as before, then the price to the farmer will approximate that received last season. If, however, the veal and offal are not saved, and the Government does not pay for

them as if they had been saved, then the cost of collection and the price paid to the farmer will have to be

found from the market value of the remainder of the produce, namely, the skin, veal, and any boiling-down value. It has been proposed, and this proposition miay have to be considered at an early date by the institutions and companies affected, that owing to the abnormal shipping and market risks which will be involved in the handling of the product, it would seem desirable to collect the calves and defer payment to the farmer till the actual value is ascertained. It is of course desirable that the position should be considered in the light of it presenting difficulties, which are sometimes made to be duly overcome, but one point worthy of notice is that the United States of America will in her arranged programme for the assistance of Great Britain be able to considerably lessen the shipping difficulty with the aid of a considerable number of cargo boats.