At The Furrow’s End

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 164, 1 October 1927, Page 25 (Supplement)

At The Furrow’s End

Brazil’s Beef Industry

With revolutionary troubles settled, and internal conditions becoming more established, Brazil, according to pressent indications, intends making a serious challenge to Argentine for its supremacy in the cattle-raising industry'. The Government is doing everything in its power to popularise the industry and is urging tliat it should be restored to the position it held prior to 1921, when the disastrous cattle pest gave it such a setback. Brazil’s chief advantages over Argentine are given as follow: The cost of fencing in the Argentine is ten times greater than in Brazil, as the fence posts have to be brought from the pampas in the north of the country’, whereas in Brazil the ranches can get all the fence posts he wants simply by sending out men to cut them down. The lack of superficial water in the Argentine causes great expense in the erection of drinking troughs, and even then the water supply is often salty, which affects the fattening of stock. Brazil’s water supply is excellent. Another expense incurred by the Argentine is the erection of shelter to protect the stock from sun and bad weather. This is not necessary on the Brazilian ranges. When the cattle pest broke out in Brazil in March, 1921, exportation ceased without warning and large herds had to be sold at a sacrifice to meet ranchers’ obligations. Many ranchers who had just begun to buy pedigree stock to improve their herds had to go in for coffee growing. Lately, however, Brazilian ranchers have been greatly encouraged by the prices their beef has been fetching on the London market. The meat is said to be well adapted to the London trade, both in quality and in size of quarter. The local ranchers believe that they will be able to compete successfully with the Argentine, because Brazil has more cattle than the Argentine and ranching conditions are excellent here. According to the latest figures, Brazil has 34,271,000 cattle, as compared with 30.000,000 in the Argentine. Brazil’s export is, however, negligible in comparison with that of the Argentine.

A Sound Proposition

The popularity of the Jersey continues unabated. At no where has this been indicated with greater force this season than at the combined Waikato pedigree breeders’ twelfth annual fixture, held at Claudelands over the week. Out of a total entry of over 400 bulls, a large percentage were Jerseys which, subjected to keen competition, easily topped the market. Despite serious competition from other breeds, the* Jersey will take a lot of shifting from its position in the eye; of the average farmer as the most economical butter-fat producer. The breed certainly has much to commend it in the mild climate of the North. Small, compact, and good to look upon, the iitt T .e animals have a high average butter-fat Neither are they heavy feeders compared with many other breeds. Experience goes to prove, in fact, that for the smaller butter-fat man, especially, the Jersey is well up among the best propositions. One outstanding factor in its favour is that there is always a market for a good Jersey and it can always be depended upon to bring a comparatively high price. Another commendable feature about this week’s Waikato sale was the demand for good bulls. The Waikato, even to-day, is one of the world’s richest and best dairy farms, and there is no doubt that the adoption of a better bull campaign would.soon do much to make it the highest producing area in the world. Everything is in its favour. It has the climate, the soil, and the men. All that is required now is better and more economical methods and no recurrence of inflated land values.