October 12, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
15 
analyses of beef and veal show that beef contains more 
fat and less water than veal, the proportion of protein 
being approximately the same. It is possible to avoid 
this difficulty by expressing both the fodder consumed 
and the meat produced in terms of calories, a caloric 
being the unit in which the heat and energy producing 
value of food is 
measured. Thus an 
ordinary man doing 
ordinary work must 
eat food enough to 
provide him with 
about 3,400 calories 
per day, and an 
ox weighing about 
1,000 lb. on a 
growth ration rc- 
(juires about four 
times that amount. 
Worked out on 
this basis the num- 
ber of calories in 
fodder required to 
produce one calorie 
of meat suitable 
for human food is in continental veal about 12 calories, 
in prime steer beef about 18 calories. 
Proceeding in the same way, but in most cases with 
less satisfactory information, we have been able to 
work out the following figures lor the number of calorics 
of fodder required to produce one calorie of human focd 
in the form of : 
Milk from good cow yielding 800 gallons per year . . 5.4 
Milk from bad cow yielding only about 300 gallons per 
year . . 8.7 
Pork and bacon. . .. .. .. .. .. 3.6 
Veal, young as slaughtered in England . . . . 8.7 
Veal, six months old as slaughtered on Continent . . 12.0 
Mutton, slaughtered at about 12 months . . . . lo.o 
figgs from good hens averaging 150 eggs in a year . . 14.0 
Baby beef slaughtered at 16 to 18 months . . . . 14.0 
Primcsteer beef slaughtered at 2 J to 3 years. . .. 18.0 
These figures 
Tn-rnJAiS. 
Good cows and well bred ]iigs are excellent " converters.' 
Sheep fattened for slaughter at about a year old are 
moderately good. Three year old oxen are most un- 
economical. If therefore our national policy demands 
that we shall produce from the fodder at our disposal 
the largest possible amount of animal food for our popula- 
tion, there is no 
doubt that we shall 
achieve this end by 
utilising this fod- 
der for the pro- 
duction of milk and 
pork and bacon. 
The production 
of milk entails the 
keeping of cows 
which must bear 
calves. Approxi- 
mately half the 
calves will be males 
incapable of pro- 
ducing milk. To 
obtain the maxi- 
mum amount of 
human food from 
these males by the minimum consumption of fodder, 
we ought to fatten them for veal at an early age. To 
keep them for three-year old steer beef is from a national 
point of view, most extravagant of fodder. 
But veal production entails the use of large quantities 
of milk, a fodder which itself vi produced by the consump- 
tion of other fodders. It may therefore be in the long 
run more economical of fodder to rear our male calves on 
milk substitutes and to fatten them off at about 18 months 
old for baby beef. This would certainly be more econ- 
omical of fodder than to keep them until three years old. 
In the facts stated above one point only has been con- 
sidered — namely, economy of fodder from the national 
point of view. When the question of profit or loss to the in- 
dividual farmer is taken into account, other and more com- 
plicated issues are involved, such, for instance, as the re- 
lative cost of the fodder required for producing milk, pork, 
and bacon. 
are rear- 
ranged in 
Fig. 4 which 
show graphi- 
cal 1 y the 
number of 
calories of 
human food 
produced 
from the con- 
sumption of 
1 ,000 calories 
of fodder by 
various ani- 
mals under 
different 
conditions : 
It will be seen that animals 
cicncy as " converters " of 
vary greatly in their efTi- 
fodder into human food. 
hope to be able to give the results of 
gation of these and similar points at a later date. 
veal and 
such articles 
which are 
ccono m i c a 1 
of fodder as 
compared 
Av i t h the 
coarser fod- 
der required 
for providing 
a growth 
ration for 
steers which 
are being 
kept on for 
three year old 
beef. We 
our investi- 
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