TJie Cost of Producing L ive Stock 



291 



be produced only in limited quantities at a 

 given cost. If more cattle are wanted they 

 must be obtained at a greater outlay. The 

 supply of cattle in this country will at all 

 times be kept equal to the demand by foreign 

 importation, but as population enlarges the 

 demand will steadily grow, and the quantity 

 of meat consumed will increase as wages 

 rise. It follows, therefore, that the wholesale 

 price of cattle must be a gradually advancing 

 one. What means are there open to us of 

 meeting the difficulty? It is unlikely that 

 England can produce more cattle, except 

 at an increased cost, otherwise prices 

 would have remained at such a level as en- 

 tirely to stop foreign imj^ortation, for in the 

 latter case the cost of transit and the risks 

 of loss by disease have to be added to the 

 charges incurred by the breeders abroad. 

 So small, indeed, is the variation in price 

 which brings us cattle from other countries, 

 that a difference of from 5s. to los. per head 

 would keep foreign animals out of the Lon- 

 don market altogether. England, however, 

 is quite unable to produce sufficient cattle 

 for her own consumption, and absolutely 

 pays more for a supply from Scotland than 

 is paid for the transit of animals produced 

 on the continent. If the cost of transit from, 

 or the cost of production in Scotland could 

 be reduced, or if a larger number of cattle 

 could be produced in Scotland at the same 

 price, then Caledonia might furnish us with 

 the supply required to lower the price of 

 meat. Germany and the Netherlands have 

 for many years past supplied us with by far 

 the largest portion (about 70 percent.) of our 

 foreign cattle ; but of these two countries it 

 appears that Holland is a producer of cattle, 

 Germany like ourselves, an importer — that is 

 to say, that statistical research has shown 

 that Germany can only send us cattle which 

 she has herself first imported, whereas the 

 Netherlands, though they have prohibited 

 the importation of cattle since January, 1871, 

 were able to export more than 100,000 head 

 to this country last year, and a considerable 

 number into Germany as well. 



Now the only method by which we can 



increase the supply of these foreign cattle, 

 and at the same time obtain them at a reduced 

 price, is by diminishing the total cost of their 

 production to us — that is, by lessening the 

 price at which the owner can " lay down " 

 his beast in the meat market here. The total 

 expense incurred by the importer who brings 

 his beasts to this country is made up of the 

 cost of production at the place where the 

 animals are fed, the charge for transit to Eng- 

 land, and the profits required in a rather 

 hazardous trade. Labour and rents are the 

 two chief items in the account for breeding. 

 These, of necessity, must gradually increase 

 so long as we get our foreign supplies from 

 the neighbouring countries of Europe 3 there 

 is, therefore, very little hope of seeing a re- 

 duction under this head. The cost of sea- 

 passage to London is already so small — half 

 the price charged for bringing beasts by 

 rail from Scotland — that we can hardly hope 

 to see a further diminution cf the freight. 

 And, lastly, as the risks of the trade arise 

 from forms of cattle disease apparently in- 

 eradicable, we see very little likelihood of 

 being able to introduce foreign cattle into 

 our markets at lower rates than those which 

 already obtain. Denmark, Norway, and 

 Spain may, perhaps, be able to aid us, but it 

 must be recollected that the further we go 

 the heavier are the transit charges, and the 

 greater the risks of losses by disease. It is 

 to Ireland, and to Ireland only, that we must 

 look for the rehef required. That country 

 appears capable of breeding beasts in much 

 greater numbers than at present, and at a 

 very moderate cost, and the charges for con- 

 veyance to English ports are by no means 

 considerable. It would seem that England 

 did without Irish cattle at all up to 1759, 

 but a century later, that is in 1869, we were 

 importing beasts from Ireland at the rate of 

 450,000 a-year. In point of fact, she sends 

 us regularly more cattle than do all other 

 countries put together. This shows that 

 Irish breeders can raise cattle and land them 

 here at less cost than the foreign dealers ; 

 and that the trade can be extended is proved 

 by its absolute increase already, as well as by 



