HEIFER OR COW?

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23972, 12 June 1943, Page 3

HEIFER OR COW?

(To the Agricultural Editor.) Sir, —I notice from two recent newspaper paragraphs that an important difference of opinion exists between farmers in general and stock firms on the one hand and abattoir officials on the other, concerning the answer to the question: “When does a heifer become a cow?” The matter at variance hinges on the classification of first-class and second-class beef as sold in butchers’ shops, in Palmerston North at any rate. The viewpoint of abattoir officials there is that a heifer becomes a cow when she has had her first calf, while farmers and stock firms consider her not to be a cow until she is approximately four years old—that is, after she has had her second calf.

In this connexion, it is interesting to note that in a ’“Farmers’ Quiz’ column in the “Digest of Digests’’ (April issue), the following test question is set: “When does a heifer change her name?” The answer given in this Australian publication is: “She is called a cow after she has had her second calf.” This indicates that the Australian viewpoint agrees substantially with that of the farming community in this Dominion. Is there not some way of clarifying the problem raised in the price tribunal proceedings at Palmerston North recently?— Yours, etc., J. VOSS. Spreydon, June 4, 1943.

Sir, —“Straggler’s” article, “Cow or Heifer?” is a point in case of the public paying for first-grade beef which should be cleared up, and a definite ruling given before prosecutions are made. I admire Mr Lawry, magistrate at Palmerston North, for commenting upon it in a recent case. A good dictionary describes a heifer as a young cow not yet calved, and would be an excellent basis for buyers of first-grade beef in female cattle. One speaks also of “a maiden heifer,” and this may mean a beast up to four years old which would not breed, and in the ordinary way might have had a calf or two by then. This is excellent beef. But such animals are rare, and in New Zealand, unless it is stationbred stock, the beast rising four years would be “young cow beef.” I, too, agree with "Straggler” that the aged cow should be classed as “inferior beef.” I maintain that a customer paying for heifer beef, the joint should be from a “maiden” heifer, which should be an animal two to three years old, and in rare cases up to four years of age.—Yours, etc., W. J. PARSONS. Burnside road, June 5.