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