DEAR BEEF.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1081, 21 March 1911, Page 6

DEAR BEEF.

— * BULL BEEF BREEDING NEGLECTED. The family butcher aiul the head of tho family are warned that they will liavo to pay through tho nose tor beef during the' coming winter. The reasons for this unwelcome condition were pretty tully stated in yesterday's Dominion, and further inquiry made yesterday only goes to confirm the opinion that beef will l:c dear this winter—and it is not cheap now! One of the reasons tor this anticipation is the allegation that the bull calves of three years ago were killed almost indiscriminately in Taranaki, with tho result that steers are short to-day. The average dairy farmer in the big butter district has a limited area of pasturage which he maintains ill tho best condition ha can for his cows. He very rarely has enough pasture land to run steers. ' His neighbours are in a like predicament, so the steers are killed off as soon as they aro marketable. Another - cause of , the shortago is the drought which has affected the largo district between Christchurch- and Dunedin. There the pasturage, with tho exception-of favoured patches, dried up early in tlio new year, forcing farmers to sell their steers to the freezing companies to prevent a dead loss. Some time ago cattlo were bring shipped from Hawke's Bay to Canterbury and further south in large numbers, but few have been shipped during ■ the past three mouths, and owners aro still holding : in ( anticipation of better prices a'liltle latcr'oil.

Tho shortage and high local prices offering are severely curtailing the amount of beef killed for export. Tho amount to accounted for last year- was not very large, but this year it promises to be even less. New Zealand ap.nears to be dropping oft' as a -beef-producing country, I chiefly becausc the "black-nose" blood, so effective in milk producing, does not make for. tho best beef, and in all those districts where the Shorthorns, Herefords, and Polled Angus strains have lieen slighted for prolific milking strains, such as the Jersey. Ayrshire, and Holstein, the natural tendency has been to regard breeding for ))eef as a subordinate sideline. .With the high prices that will rule for beef this year, farmers with big holdings will bo found considering tho possibilities of converting portions of their estates into cattle ranches. After all, what is so good as a juicy steak?