The agricultural output of England and Wales 1925

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1757028552

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-135495

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: The agricultural output of England and Wales 1925

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: XV, 152 Seiten; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter IV. Number and distribution of livestock

Collection:: Economics Books

As compared with 1908 every county has now a larger number of dairy cattle per 1,000 acres. Number and distribution of * Other Oattle.”—As compared with the year 1875, the number of cattle, other than cows and heifers in milk and in calf, has also increased substantially, but there are important differences in the proportion of animals of different ages. Cattle of 2 years old and over, which numbered 49 per 1,000 acres of crops and grass in 1875, now number only 41, while cattle of under 2 years have increased from 64 to 93 per 1,000 acres. The number 2 years old and over per 1,000 acres of cultivated land was the same in 1908 as in 1925, but those under 2 years old have increased by 9 per 1,000 acres since 1908. The number of cattle over 2 years old in 1925 was 1,061,000 against 1,200,000 fifty years earlier, the corresponding figures for cattle under 2 years being 2,390,000 and 1,700,000. As compared with 1875 there is now an appreciable increase in the proportion of young cattle to the total, more particularly in Wales. Comparisons of numbers of beef cattle are by no means so straightforward as those of dairy stock. Cattle of 2 years and upwards may be assumed to be almost entirely for beef produc- tion, but below that age animals may be destined either for the dairy herd or for the slaughter-house. Even comparison of the animals of 2 years and over is not a reliable index of the numbers of cattle for beef production, inasmuch as the tendency of recent years has been towards earlier maturity, and an increasing proportion of the home beef supply has been obtained from younger animals, many of which never fall to be enumerated as 2-year olds in the annual returns. Hence the reduction during the last 50 years in the numbers of cattle, other than dairy stock, of 2 years and over, is not necessarily evidence of a reduction in the numbers of cattle intended for beef, as the increase in the number of cattle under 2 years may be more than sufficient to maintain the increase in the dairy herd and to supply as many animals for beef as before. In this connection, it is worthy of notice that a larger proportion of home-produced beef is now obtained from cows, but on the average these go to the butcher at an earlier age than formerly. Another difficulty as regards beef cattle arises from the seasonal movements of stock in the spring and autumn. The Ministry’s annual figures relate throughout to the month of June, but a similar census taken in the winter would show a different distribution, and it is consequently impossible to estimate the extent to which different counties contribute to the beef supply: 3. Sheep.—Change in numbers and decline in the arable districts —Tt will be seen from Diagram VI that the sheep flocks of the country have since 1867 shown fluctuations more pronounced than cattle, and less regular in character. The rapid fall in the flocks which culminated in the low average of about 18} millions in the years 1881-85 wag largely due to the ravages of liver-fluke and unfavourable weather in those vears. This was followed

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