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SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



striking feature is that, although the reduction in age is considerable, the 

 decrease in weight is comparatively small. This is shown in the following 

 table : — 



Dairy Stock. — The improvement in the yields of milk and butter-fat 

 in our dairy cattle is equally striking. Less than thirty years ago yields 

 of from 600 to 800 gallons of milk were considered high. The average 

 yield of milk per cow throughout the British Isles has been estimated at 

 or about 450 gallons. To-day an average yield of 1,000 gallons is by no 

 means uncommon in many herds, and we find that individual animals 

 have given up to 2,000 and 3,000 gallons in one lactation period. This 

 has been brought about by improved breeding, better methods of feeding 

 and management, and by milk recording. 



Poultry. — In the case of poultry we have improvements on a similar 

 scale. The average output per hen was estimated as being under 100 

 eggs not many years ago, now there are numerous poultry farms showing 

 returns of an average of over 150 eggs per bird, and the egg-laying contests 

 held by our Governments and Local Authorities show averages of 180 to 

 190 eggs per bird. 



Baby Beef.— The production and demand for baby beef has been 

 steadily growing since 1918 in the British Isles and in the United States 

 of America. 



Mr. Wentworth in a letter to me on December 21, 1927, says : — 



' It is difficidt also to say just what effect the demand for small joints 

 in America had in directing attention to baby beef production. Originally 

 I believe it was a by-product of the general trend toward a quick turnover 

 in farm finance, but it was unexpectedly intensified by the great changes 

 in demand which occurred during and just after the World War. This 

 demand first expressed itself so effectively that light-weight cows and thin 

 steers brought nearly as much on the market as quality animals. Then 

 the beef cattlemen discovered they could compete quite effectively and 

 still produce quality animals through baby beeves. I should say that at 

 present the demand for small joints is the principal incentive, but originally 

 it was the stimulus towards a quick turnover. 



' Our Beef Department estimates that there were about '5 per cent, of 

 baby beeves in 1900, about 3 per cent, in 1918, 8 to 10 per cent, in 1920, 

 and about 20 per cent, for the current year.' 



The Ministry of Agriculture in Northern Ireland in the years 1923-24 

 carried out a series of experiments (devised by Dr. G. S. Robertson) on 

 the production of baby beef with animals sired by pedigree beef Shorthorns, 

 pedigree Dairy Shorthorns, pedigree Aberdeen Angus and by the ordinary 



