SAVING CALVES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 434, 17 October 1947, Page 5

SAVING CALVES

Sir-In view of your paper’s sympa‘thetic attitude toward the "Aid to Britain" campaign, I was surprised that ‘Mr. Armstrong’s proposals were accorded ‘so much publicity (Listener, September 5). Far from alleviating distress, a ‘policy of saving more heifer calves this season would only serve to aggravate matters in what will ultimately be an over-supplied market. To-day, in every . market affected by the past war the emphasis is on increasing production, and the logical conclusion is that by 1950, when the produce from these heifers would be marketed, the world food situation will have returned almost to normal.. In spite of all well-meaning forms of subsidy, the old law of supply and demand still prevails, and before long we will be selling on a competitive market. OBritain’s need for food is

immediate, and if, in the future, surpluses necessitate the re-introduction of a quota system, our present rate of production will be used as a basis for negotiation. Every extra calf means approximately 40lbs less meat for British dinner tables and, while admittedly not equal in quality to England’s traditional "Roaste Beefe," this would form a welcome addition to the British diet to-day. Furthermore, the normal allowance of whole milk to a calf in the first six weeks of life would make about 12-15lbs of butter, apart from the skim milk consumed which could be devoted to the pig feeding. The solution lies not in increasing our livestock, but in better feeding of existing herds. A great number of cows are

dairied on semi-improved land and are inadequately fed. To produce to capacity a dairy cew must be fed to capacity, not for a few months per year, but every day of her life.

R. A.

ANDERSON

(Okaihau)

\inis letter has been abridged.-Ed.)