kingdom]
A G R I C U L T U R E
the range was from 28s. lOd. per cwt. in Leeds to 34s. 6d. in Edinburgh. In the case of third quality cattle the lowest average was 24s. 6d. per cwt. in Liverpool, and the highest was 31s. 8d. in Glasgow'. These examples illusTable XX.—Nos. of Animals Weighed in 1898-99 under the MarJcets and Fairs {Weighing of Cattle) Act. Cattle:— Entering markets Weighed ..... Prices returned with quality distinguished Sheep:— Entering markets Weighed ..... Prices returned with quality distinguished Swine:— Entering markets Weighed ..... Prices returned with quality distinguished
1898. No. 1,263,991 138,652 102,299
1899. No. 1,236,091 139,482 103,613
4,691,619 49,953 40,460
4,681,602 48,643 42,154
363,370 1,614 1,437
455,056 2,205 2,070
trate the kind of information which the Act is competent to elicit. The number of fat cattle which were reported as having been actually sold by live weight at an agreed-on price per cwt. or per stone—a most commendable innovation—v7as greater than ever before in 1899, and amounted to 16,844 head. The weighing of store cattle for sale is, like that of fat cattle, slowly extending. Early Maturity. In the fattening of animals for the butcher the principle of early maturity has received full recognition. If the sole purpose for which an animal is reared is to prepare it for the block—and this is the case with steers amongst cattle and with wethers amongst sheep—the sooner it is ready for slaughter the less should be the outlay involved. During the whole time the animal is living the feeder has to pay what has been termed the “ life tax ”—that is, so much of the food has to go to the maintenance of the animal as a living organism, independently of that which may be undergoing conversion into what will subsequently be available in the form of beef or mutton. If a bullock can be rendered fit for the butcher at the age of two or three years, will the animal repay another year’s feeding ? It has been proved at the Christmas fat stock shows that the older a bullock gets the less will he gain in weight per day as a result of the feeding. With regard to this point the work of the Smithfield Club deserves recognition. This body was instituted in 1798 as the Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society, the title being changed to that of the Smithfield Club in 1802. The original object— the supply of the cattle markets of Smithfield and other places with the cheapest and best meat—is still kept strictly in view. The judges, in making their awards at the show held annually in December, at (since 1862) Islington, North London, are instructed to decide according to quality of flesh, lightness of offal, age, and early maturity, with no restrictions as to feeding, and thus to promote the primary aim of the club in encouraging the selection and breeding of the best and most useful animals for the production of meat, and testing their capabilities in respect of early maturity. At the first show held (at Smithfield) in 1799, two classes were provided for cattle and two for sheep, the prizes offered amounting to £52:10s. In 1839 the classes comprised seven for cattle, six for sheep, and one for pigs, with prizes to the amount of £300. By 1862 the classes had risen to 29 for cattle, 17 for sheep, and 4 for pigs, and the prize money to £2072. At
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the centenary show in 1898 provision was made for 40 classes for cattle, 29 for sheep, 18 for pigs, and 7 for animals to be slaughtered, whilst to mark the importance of the occasion the prizes offered amounted to close upon £5000 in value. In 1900 there were 36 classes for cattle, 32 for sheep, 18 for pigs, and 7 for cattle and sheep to be slaughtered, and the value of the prizes was £3894. The sections provided for cattle are properly restricted to what may be termed the beef breeds; in the catalogue order they are Devon, Hereford, Shorthorn, Sussex, Red Polled, Aberdeen-Angus, Galloway, Welsh, Highland, cross-bred, and a section for Kerry, Dexter, and Shetland. It will be noticed that such characteristically milking breeds as the Ayrshire, Jersey, and Guernsey have no place here. Provision is made, however, for all the well-known breeds of sheep and swine. In the cattle classes, aged beasts of huge size and of considerably over a ton in weight used to be common, but in recent years the tendency has been to reduce the upper limit of age, and thus to bring out animals ripe for the butcher in a shorter time than was formerly the case. The latest important step in this direction was taken in 1896, when the senior class for steers, viz., animals three to four years old, was abolished, the maximum age at which steers were allowed to compete for prizes being reduced to three years. The cow classes were abolished in 1897, and in the schedule of the 1900 exhibition the classes for each breed of cattle were (1) for steers not exceeding two years old, (2) for steers above two years and not exceeding three years old, and (3) for heifers not exceeding three years old. The single exception is provided by the slowly-maturing Highland breed of cattle, for which classes were allotted to (1) steers not exceeding three years old, (2) steers or oxen above three years old (with no maximum limit), and (3) heifers not exceeding four years old. As illustrating heavy weights, there were in the 1893 show, out of 310 entries of cattle, four beasts which weighed over a ton. They were all steers of three to four years old, one being a Hereford weighing 20 cwt. 2 qr. 4 lb, and the others Shorthorns weighing respectively, 20 cwt. 2 qr., 20 cwt. 3 qr. 21 fi>, and 22 cwt. 2 qr. 18 lb. In the 1895 show, out of 356 entries of cattle, there were seven beasts of more than a ton in weight. They were all three to four years old, and comprised four Shorthorns (top weight 21 cwt. 1 qr. 18 lb), one Sussex (22 cwt. 3 qr. 7 lb), and two cross-breds (top weight 20 cwt. 3 qr. 24 lb). In the 1899 show, with 311 entries of cattle, and the age limited to three years, no beast reached the weight of a ton, the heaviest animal being a cross-bred (AberdeenAngus and Shorthorn) which, at three years old, turned the scale at 19 cwt. 1 qr. 5 Eb. Out of 259 entries of cattle at the show of 1900 the top weight was 19 cwt. 2 qr. 3 lb in the case of a Red Polled steer, aged two years eleven months, the next being 18 cwt. 2 qr. 6 lb for a Hereford steer two years eight and a half months old. Useful figures for purposes of comparison are obtained by dividing the weight of a fat beast by the number of days in its age, the weight at birth being thrown in. The average daily gain in live weight is thus arrived at, and as the animal increases in age this average gradually diminishes, until the daily gain reaches a stage at which it does not afford any profitable return upon the food consumed. At the centenary show of the Smithfield Club in 1898 the highest average daily gains in weight amongst prize-winning cattle were provided by a Shorthorn-Aberdeen crossbred steer (age, one year seven months; daily gain 2'47 It)); a Shorthorn steer (age, one year seven months ; daily gain, 2'44 lb) ; and an Aberdeen-Shorthorn cross-bred steer (age, one year ten months; daily gain, 2'33 lb). These beasts, it will be observed, were all under two years old. Amongst prize steers of two and a half to three years old, on the
