MEAT PRODUCTION

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21194, 17 August 1940, Page 19 (Supplement)

MEAT PRODUCTION

BRITISH MARKET NEEDS VALUABLE INFORMATION A valuable contribution to the knowledge of New Zealand meat ' producers has been made by Mr Sam S. Timbs, of Wanganui, wellknown meat authority, in a booklet, i entitled “Judging, Grading and Pro- j cessing of Fat Stock and Sundries ! for the British Market.” Mr Timbs j has judged six consecutive Dominion j chilled beef championships at the Wanganui Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s shows and has been very intimately associated with the beef trade in the Dominion for many years. Starting as a retail butcher in England, he was later a fat stock buyer in New Zealand, then a manager of a freezing works, later a retailer again in England and again a retailer in Wanganui, j Discussing the different classes of i butchers in England, Mr Timbs states that the family butcher is the real backbone of the trade. It was quite

common among this class for the ! business to be in the same family for many generations, the family owning their own premises, which almost always included a slaughterhouse. They personally purchased all live and dead stock. This family butcher was New Zealand’s best customer for the Southdown type of lamb and twotooth mutton and for chilled beef, the same finish and age that he purchased alive for his English meat trade, viz, under 2£ years old and about 6401 b carcase weight, just nicely covered with selvedge fat, but not gross. Veal was the most expensive and luxurious meat this man handled but his trade today confined him to study first age and size. The cash butchers’ w r as a different type of trade from the family and in many country towns there would be found the two trades handled in the one shop, but it would be in a modified form from the city shops. Cash buyers were the buyers of every class of meat that would show up attractively under the bright lights, nothing overfat would do. but eating quality was not studied so much as price and attractive looks. The author deals in a comprehensive and interesting manner with the meat trade at Home and also covers production in New Zealand. Well illustrated and containing much practical information for the producer, the publication should serve as a valuable guide book.