118 



PRODUCTION 



represent a sum approaching 7 millions in value. If this be 

 deducted from the total value of the net exports of animal foodstuffs, 

 the balance then becomes rather more than 16 millions. It may be 

 said, therefore, that the people of Denmark in the year 1912, when 

 they had provided for their own requirements in animal foodstuffs 

 and had paid for their imports of feedstuffs, had a net balance in 

 hand of about 16 millions as a result of the year's working in animal 

 industries. 



As in the case of Holland, the exports of animal foodstuffs from 

 Denmark depend upon the maintenance of the imports of raw 

 materials in the form of feedstuffs and fertilisers, since these supply 

 what the country cannot well furnish from its own resources. A 

 cold temperate country such as Denmark produces fodder crops 

 admirably, but for the more intensive branches of animal indus- 

 tries, such fodder crops require to be supplemented by concentrated 

 feedstuffs, of which only barley is readily produced within the 

 country. In former times Denmark was much more markedly a 

 cereal producing and exporting country, but the fertility of the 

 soil was threatened, 1 and the facilities for importing food cereals 

 and feedstuffs have made possible the expansion in specialised 

 animal industries on the great scale of recent years. 



Since 1893 there has been a considerable increase in the ratios 

 of food-producing animals (sheep excepted) to the population, as 

 shown in the following table : 



TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBERS OF CATTLE, SHEEP AND PIGS AND 



OF " CATTLE UNITS " PER 100 OF THE POPULATION OF 



DENMARK IN RECENT YEARS. 



Not only was there a substantial increase in the ratio of food- 

 producing animals combined, to the population in the 21 years 

 covered by the above table, but this ratio was high as compared 

 with other European countries. This increase has rendered 

 possible an expansion in the exports of animal foodstuffs in recent 

 years. 2 Owing to the same cause there has been some decline in 



1 See U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau of Animal Industry, Bulletin 129, p. 7. 



2 Between 1901 and 1911 the number of cattle exported from Denmark 

 increased by 271%, and the quantities of butter, eggs, and meat and fats 

 respectively by 34%, 13% and 90%. 



With regard to dairy produce there has been a great increase in the milk- 

 yield per cow, which has been a powerful contributing cause in the increased 

 exports. The average animal yield rose from 2,200 Ibs. in 1866 to 6,600 Ib. 

 (estimated) in 1911. (U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau An. Ind., Bulletin 129.) 



