BRITAIN’S BEEF SUPPLY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5488, 16 October 1929, Page 3

BRITAIN’S BEEF SUPPLY

PRODUCE FROM ARGENTINE.

CHEAPER THAN HOME KILLED.

“The Argentine, with its wonderful grazing lands and open climate, that enables cattle to be carried out of doors the whole year round, will always be able to produce the best quality of beef far more cheaply than the English, Continental, and American farmers possibly do, with their huge expenses for winter feeding,” said Sir Edmund Vestey, when interviewed by the London correspondent of Nacion, of Buenos Aires, in regard to the articles by Sir William Haldane published in the Times. “In my opinnon it is very wrong of Sir William Haldane to broadcast ideas that might induce the English farmei’ to venture into raising increased numbers of cattle on the idea that America will take Argentine beef in such quantities that famine prices for beef are going to prevail in England. “Nowhere in the world is there a body of men engaged in cattle production more alive to the probable future of prices than the Argentine estancieros. Sir William Haldane would be the first to admit that the frigorifico companies, with their wonderful installations for placing the meat and by-products on the world’s markets in the best possible condition, and their world-wide selling organisation, with the experience of a life-time behind them, are far more capable of advising Argentine estancieros upon the world outlook for beef than ever any private individual could be. The Argentine estanciero has always available the friendly advice of the frigorificos every hour of the day the whole year round. “Argentina has the capacity to produce an unlimited quantity of cattle of a quality that pleases the British public at a cost lower than in any other country in the world. The English farmer can therefore be sure that these joint interests of estanciero and frigorifico will see that cattle are produced at prices fair both to the estanciero and the British consumer, and in any numbers that the markets of the world will take.

“In my opinion the world outlook for cattle prices during the coming years is for prices that will be remunerative to the cattle-growing interests of Argentina. Owing, however, to the cost of stall-feeding through the long winter months in Great Britain, those prices will not enable the British farmer to compete, any more in the future than in the past, in the British markets, except for the usual small proportion of Britain’s requirements that calls for the best homekilled without regard to price.