BABY BEEF.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 251, 16 February 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

BABY BEEF.

For some time past many competent authorities have been predicting a shortage of beef. The lositin n America has been felt so acutely tint even "Munsey's," a magazine usually devoted almost entirely to light literature, has devoted considerable space 'o this subject, and seme mcnths a„o published an extensive a title m whiei figures were given to demonstrate th.' serious wastage ruder present conditions. For some yens past New Zj<land has had in Mr John Allen, of Devon port, an earnest and ent'ii.siasti • advocate of "baby beef." In tlis.ussing the matter recently with a ie;:resentative of the Press, Mi. Allen declared that the adoption of the system of breeding and fattening stock for marketing ft two years of age, would lesult in doubling the production and put an end to the wastage Oi millions annually. Nearly all write s in New Zealand confi.se the two teims

"Baby Bet" and "Early Maturity.' The latter, of course, is bringing th anima.lt us ne;r as j.ossible to its ma ture growth by forcing it with artifi i. foods. It 15 explained how "this ea bo accomplished by intense cultivati t growing fancy foods which are to b fed by hand, for there is a gi«at wast age in field feeding." But Mr AUei makes bold to say tnat as soon as taes hand-feeding and for.- ng methods ar advocated the average farmer dismiss? the subject as not worth considering This confusicn of terms has repeated!, This confusion of terms has repeftt-edl, cropped up when tne questi n has beei disCuesed with leading gr..ziers and to] beef producers, it is no use trying t alter the m de or farming that is pre ralent unless one can show that wit! the same amount of labour and (fed in the open a:.- and the beast helping then.selves) tl e grazer by : little alteration of pro edure can pro duce mcro beet and secure an tn hanced value for his acres of grass, etc "The reason I l ave taken up this question," said Mr Allen, "is that in discussing it with even some of o:;r most intelligent farmers, it is appai ent thai lew rcaiiso the seriousness of the situation, and have not the faintest idea of the loss they, and the country, are thereby s staining eveiy year. They buy three and faur-ycav-oli steers "n sto:o condition ever year, fatten them in the ono season, and if not then the next, and never give a thought to the relative amount of food eons med. ' Mr Allen's eyes weie opened to the question s'me iiitcen years ago, when keeping four pi. keel steers back from a Jine of sixty prime two-and-n-half-ye rolds sold ftr export freezers. The majority of the line were bred on the property, and were grazed on the s.ime pasture. The four were the best of tho line, and selected to s.'o lir.w they would develop by the spring. They were turned back on th e same pasture, and a line of 18-months o'.d, bred the same way, were run with them. !n the spring the ; ounger cattle had retained their fat and grown well, but the four-year-olds fell off considerably, and were not what one would term prime. It was qi ito clear t' at tho older cattle requir ed better fe d in order to maintain their growth and retain their fat, cr. practically, lal to have the grass sti king o;.t both sides of the mouth if they wcr 0 he; t or* pasture. A couple of years after, while visiting Gove nment "experimental farms" in Canada and the United States,, Mr Allen made incmiries as t> their experience on the question, and steers were exhibited to him that had been treated for this very purpose. All the food given to them was weighc every week, and the steers weighed every week, and an accurate record kept. The result was most instructive. Excluding the birth weie lit, the steers maintained a pra tically uniform rato of gain until they became two years old, but the cost of gain in t' e so.on 1 stage, from two to tlnee jeirs old, was about double that of the first, and lor the third, fro-i three to four yens old, tho cost was about three times that of the first. And, most important of all, the extra cost of keeping is far from recompensed when it come-i to selling time. In proof of this Mr Allen is able to cite innumerable instances, but one example is sufficient to iliustr to j tho point. "A breeder of approxi- j mately 400 calves per year tells me,' - said Mr Allen, "that he . i ells his steers ; at two ears old. He was informed by tiie butchers (when selling his last line) that they were net properly finished, | but they realised £l6 je>' head, and th- 1 j s imo day three-year-olds that the but- j cher had no fault to find with realise 1 ' •i'lß, or only an advance of £2 for tae j third year. We stood discussing the sub- ! j-Ct when a pen of five-year-old steers ! were sold at £l4 17» 61 a head. The next pen was tine -yea: -olds of uho .& 1 tho sanio quality. They roalised £l3 ' 15', or £1 2s 6d for keeping the five- : year-olds two years, tl;is being ;i re- ! compense at th o rate of twopen eli .11- > penny per week lor keeping them ;l se- I cond and third year." In short, M j Allen believes "ftaby beef" to be tl;.- ! only solution of t 1 e beef problem, and ho hopes to see the day when the t< ou- j sands of acres of splendid grazing coun-' try whi-h wo have in tho North Is- j land will be used for this purpose, while j tho second and third class bud will b> I utilised for roaring tho calve..