£908.] 



Cost of Producing Beef in Winter. 



255' 



gone through some trials carried out between the years 1895 

 and 1902 by the Royal Agricultural Society of England at 

 Woburn, and find that in seven trials, including 74 animals — - 

 Hereford, Homebred, Irish Shorthorns and Blue-greys — 

 this figure of 16 stone, or 2 cwts., in 16 weeks is upheld. 



The next point is the cost of feeding. Taking the foods given 

 in the Norfolk trials at present prices, I find that each beast 

 would cost ys. 4^. a week, made up as follows : — 



An average of — s. d. 



8 lb. of cake or cake and corn a day, 56 lb. a week, at £j per ton ... 3 6 



8 hay and straw as " chop "* a day, 56 lb. a week, at £2 per ton I o 



112 lb. of roots a day, 7 cwts. a week, at ys. 6d. per ton ... ... 2 6 



Attendance (at actual cost in Norfolk) ... ... ... ... ... o 4 



Straw, not charged for ■ ... ... ... ... ... ... ... — 



7 4 



As in the East Lothian experiments, the cost was rather 

 under ys., it will simplify matters if we take ys. a week as the 

 basis of our assumption, without charging for litter. 



Now comes the difficult question of ascertaining what per- 

 centage of the live-weight is put on as carcase weight or beef. 

 It is interesting to note that in the Norfolk experiments of 

 1810, given in the footnote on the previous page, the whole 

 increase is taken as beef, but this is, of course, a mistake. Sir 

 John Lawes,f writing to Mr. Stephens, says, that by very 

 careful examination he came to " the conclusion that two- 

 thirds of the increase of fattening stock was ca case." With 

 the large and somewhat mature animals usually fattened by 

 Norfolk, East Lothian and other " winter-grazing ' farmers,. 



1 do not think this is enough. 



I find that if you take fresh stores of 8 cwts. at 52 per cent, 

 as given by Sir John Lawes in his tables, and make them 

 become 58 per cent., or " fat," when weighing 10 cwts., 82 per 

 cent, of the increase is carcase. J If again you take fresh 

 stores of 10 cwts. as 52 per cent., becoming 58 per cent., or " fat," 

 when weighing 12 cwts., the percentage is 88 per cent. These 

 figures lead to the following results : — 16 weeks' keep yields 



2 cwts., or 224 lb., of live-weight ; 88 per cent, of 224 = 197,1b. 



* Half hay, half straw at commencement, all hay at end of feeding period, 

 t Bath and West of England Society's Journal, 1 898-1 899. 



X 58 per cent, is just over the 8 — 14 given by the butchers' stone of 8 lb. to the 

 imperial stone of 14 lb. 



