More Meat and a Better Pasture

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 71, Issue 4, 15 October 1945, Page 339

More Meat and a Better Pasture

ENDEAVOURS by the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board to encourage reduced consumption of meat -locally and increased shipments to Britain have had f encouraging results this season, but the position in Europe, and particularly Great Britain, is still desperate. In this statement by Mr. G. H. Grigg, chairman of the Meat Producers’ Board, the position in European countries is reviewed and suggestions made by which farmers can help both themselves and the export market. THE British Minister for Food, Colonel Liewellin, made the following statement recently:— • “The New Zealand Government has decided on two steps to help the world situation, and particularly this country— reduce the butter ration from Boz. to 6oz. a week, which will save something like 5,000 tons of butter a year, and at the same time to reduce the meat ration from Is. 9d. to Is. 6d. a week, which will save some 15,000 tons of meat a year. It is a very generous action on their part, and I would like to say how very grateful all of us here are.” , Desperate Straits Later in his speech he says that the consumption of meat in Britain with the meagre ration of Is. 2d. per week amounts to 34,000 tons per week, so when he says “how grateful all of us are here” for an increase of meat amounting to three days’ supply in the year the very desperate straits they are in is brought home to us. On top of this comes the news that Britain is prepared now to cut their ration from Is. 2d. to Is. per week to conserve their supply and be able to release 76,000 tons to the starving people of Europe. Let us have a look at the meat position in some of the European countries. FRANCE: Home-grown supplies a very long way short of minimum requirements, possibly 200,000 tons. ' BELGIUM: Imported meat short by many thousands of tons. HOLLAND: Shortage of all classes of food; calling for immediate relief. LUXEMBURG: Reduction of over 30 per cent, of the cattle population. DENMARK: Shows a decrease from 1943 of over one third of pig population in 1944. GREECE AND YUGOSLAVIA: A total reduction of 40 per cent. Heavier Carcasses Last year the British Minister of Food, through Mr. Banks Amery, made an urgent request to the farmers of New Zealand for an increase in butter, cheese, and especially meat, and to encourage the meat industry the Meat Board altered the price schedule to induce farmers to turn out heavier-weight carcasses; that this move was fairly successful is shown in* the recent returns, which record an increase in weight of lambs in the North Island of 1.751 b. and of .751 b. in the South Island. The South Island returns would have been more favourable had not the weather . conditions been so much against lamb fattening. There is also an increase of 413,000 quarters of beef, 130,000 wethers, 60,000 ewes, and 150,000 lambs. Recently Mr. Hinton, who was sent by the British Minister of Food, asked us to try again to do everything in our power to raise the quantity still higher for 1946. With this in view the Meat Board are investigating every possible avenue, and have asked. Primary Production Committees to ascertain the number of horses available in each district, to see if there would be sufficient to make a shipment of horse flesh to

Europe; much as we in this country abhor the idea of eating horse flesh, it is certain that on many of the dinner tables in Europe it would be appreciated. However, an examination of the most likely sources for increased supplies reveals a much wider scope than there would seem to be at first glance. For instance over 40 per cent, of our beef is in the boner class, our wether carcasses average 561 b., our ewe carcasses 551 b., and our lamb 331 b. Every one of those classes of meat could be tremendously increased by the production of more feed, thus not only helping the serious food position in Britain, but also financially benefiting the average farmer.

Greatest Scope in Lamb

Probably the greatest scope for increased meat production and the one most easily procured is in our lamb. This, increase can be obtained without any grandiose plan, and by introducing or extending a rotation which will ultimately benefit the individual farmer and the country as a whole. The approximate average weight of our lambs is 331 b., while the Meat Board allows top price for lambs up to 421 b. This margin alone gives an opportunity to step up our meat supplies, for if the average weight were raised by say 51b. per head, an additional 50,000,0001 b. of meat or 22,321 tons would result. It is in our second lambs, however, that the greatest opportunity presents itself of stepping up very materially our tonnage of meat for export. .Farmers know that a lamb is classed second grade for one reasonbecause it has not sufficient flesh, or in other words the lamb is not fat. It is rather astounding to know that in the North Island the average percentage of second lambs killed over the last 10 years is 31 per cent., while the figure for the South Island is 28 per cent. Thus almost a third of our New Zealand. lambs are of second quality, with an average weight of approximately 271 b. Surely this is an avenue that should be explored—source of waste reflecting on the ability of the farmer. Second grade lambs are little better than stores and they are sent to the works simply because the farmer has failed to provide sufficient feed to finish them off. The solution is to provide that additional feed that will put the lambs into the works at 371 b. instead of 271 b., or, better still, at 401 b. However, if these 3,000,000 lambs which are now put through the works as seconds had a further 101 b. added to each carcass, an additional 13,500 tons of high-quality meat would be available for Great Britain.

Bigger Lambs, Better Soil

Let us view the question from the practical farming point of view. On nearly every farm today are worn-out pastures that require renewing or will require renewal in the near future. Why not then plan a rotation that will not only eventually result in a satisfactory grass paddock, but will give a handsome return to the farmer and a significant increase in our meat exports. Such a rotation would include rape or chou moellier sown this spring to increase the average weight of all lambs, and particularly those that in the past have gone off as seconds, and then to permanent or short-rotation pasture. The supplementary fodder crop would not only give the additional essential feed for the lambs, but would build up the fertility of the soil. The cost of the crop, if a farmer has his own implements and equipment, should be round about £2 10s. per acre, and this acre should finish off up to 40 lambs, so that the scheme is quite an attractive one and should be given close consideration by those farmers producing fat lambs. It is recognised that many of. these farmers already grow such crops as rape for topping off lambs, but the position should be closely studied to see whether or not a few more acres would step up their meat production, while to those farmers who depend entirely on grass and the fat lamb off the mother is commended a sound practical scheme which should be given careful consideration.