YOUNG BEEF.

Patea Mail, 19 April 1881, Page 4

YOUNG BEEF.

The National Live Stock Journal has been discussing the influence of age upon beef. The conclusions arrived at are that in the British markets cattle arc generally killed too young for the best flavour—say when from thirteen to thirty mouths’ old. Moreover, they arc fed on turnips and oilcake, which, as regards the flavour of the meat, are far inferior to corn, hay and grass. But these farmers cannot afford to keep their stock until it matures on hay and grass : to make a profit they must force it with more nutritious food. Immature beef, though perhaps more tender than the flesh of well-matured beasts, is inferior in juiciness and flavour. This is an argument in favour of those breeds that mature early, for the earlier they mature the sooner will they give a superior quality of flesh. A well bred shorthorn steer is often as mature at thirty months as some other sorts at forty-eight or sixty months. There is a limit, however, both to earliness of maturity as well as to the extent to which we can force feeding without impairing the quality of the flesh. The West Highland beef, so much prized in England, is produced by grazing alone until the boasts are four or five years old.