HC Deb 30 July 1951 vol 491 cc939-40
18. Mr. Crouch

asked the Minister of Food the number of fat cattle above the weight of 13¾cwt. and above the weight of 15¾ cwt., respectively, which were purchased by his Department during the year ending 1st October, 1950; and the number in each category since a deduction of 5s. and 10s. per live cwt. was made for fat cattle above these weights, to the most convenient date for which figures are available.

Mr. F. Willey

as my Department does not as a matter of routine extract the weight ranges of animals it purchases, the information which the hon. Member seeks will necessitate the examination of the records of the individual weights of about 2¼million animals, a task which, I fear, would take two to three months. Perhaps the hon. Member would care to have a word with me as to whether a sample check would meet his purpose.

Mr. Crouch

in spite even of this very small amount of information that he has, does the Parliamentary Secretary agree that if we had not had this deduction the extra meat would have been very valuable during the last few months?

Mr. Willey

perhaps the hon. Member will accept my offer to meet him and discuss the matter further, but this deduction was made because over-large animals resulted in wasteful cutting and they required excessive trimming.

24. Mr. Geoffrey Wilson

asked the Minister of Food if he is prepared to discontinue the penalty deductions of 5s. and 10s. per cwt. on fat cattle of the South Devon and British Frisian breeds above the weights of 13¾ cwt. and 15¾cwt., respectively, in view of the large size to which these breeds naturally develop.

Mr. F. Willey

no, Sir. It would be impracticable to make price concessions for particular breeds.

Mr. Wilson

does not the Minister agree that in view of the shortage of meat it would be desirable that these two breeds should develop until they are what the farmer would call "ripe," which they do not do at the figures mentioned? Could not a special concession be made to these large-sized beasts?

Mr. Willey

This is a matter of which we are not unaware. We discussed it with various herd societies and it was agreed generally that it would be impracticable to do this.