220 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



in our arable acreage will be the inevitable consequence, and Brifcisli 

 agriculture will not only have a future but will be able to provide a steadily 

 increasing proportion of our national food requirements. 



Changes in the Live Stock Industry. 



For many years attention was directed mainly to improvement in 

 shape or conformity of flesh-producing animals and in the production of 

 animals which would carry more flesh, especially upon those parts of the 

 body which yielded meat of the highest value. Great attention has also 

 of recent years been directed to early maturity and quality in the produc- 

 tion of beef, mutton and pork. 



In the case of dairy cattle, high yields of milk and butter-fat were 

 the chief aim, and, in poultry, large egg records. 



The change in live stock (cattle, sheep and pigs) during the past thirty 

 years is extraordinary, and is directly attributable to the influence of 

 pedigree sires in the development of fine quality and early maturing 

 animals. 



In the British Isles during the seventies of the last century cattle— 

 chiefly 3, 4, 5 and 6 years old — were slaughtered for beef ; from 1890-1910 

 it was usually 3 and 4 year olds — the 5 and 6 year old cattle having 

 practically disappeared ; and from this period to 1920 the age became 

 reduced to 2 and 3 year olds, while now there is a considerable and 

 growing demand for beef cattle from 12 to 18 months old. 



Between 1871-75 and 1921-25 the proportion of store and fattening 

 cattle in England and Wales under 2 years of age increased from 58-6 per 

 cent, to 69 per cent. 



This great alteration in the age at which animals are slaughtered 

 is mainly due to the steadily growing demand for small joints of beef which 

 has arisen since the Great War, and also to the desire for a rapid turnover. 



Similar changes have taken place with mutton. Formerly the demand 

 was for 2 and 3 year old wedders ; now it is almost entirely confined to 

 lambs and yearling wedders. 



The demand for small joints of mutton has increased so much during 

 recent years that large areas of pasture in Great Britain and Northern 

 Ireland, which formerly carried 2 and 3 year old wedders are now stocked 

 entirely with breeding ewes or 1 year old wedders. Two and three year 

 old wedders are almost animals of the past. 



This growing request for small joints of mutton is also influencing 

 breeders of commercial sheep in their selection of breeds. In certain 

 areas in Great Britain and Northern Ireland Black-Face ewes have become 

 extremely popular, even in lowland sheep districts, and are being mated 

 with Border Leicester rams, because the joints of the progeny, being small 

 and of fine quality, command a higher price per pound than those of the 

 larger breeds. 



Thirty years ago pigs were usually 12 months old before they were 

 ready for the bacon curers ; to-day they are being killed at from 6 to 7 

 months old. 



In the United States of America exactly the same changes have taken 

 place. Mr. Edward N. Wentworth, director of Armour's Live Stock 

 Bureau, Chicago, writing in the Monthly Letter to Animal Husbandmen, 



