CALF SUBSIDIES (UNITED KINGDOM) (AMENDMENT) SCHEME 1967 (Hansard, 6 June 1967)

§ LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORD
My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord, Lord Walston, for explaining the purpose of the scheme and to say a word of welcome to the intention to give this small measure of assistance to the farmers. I imagine that the intrinsic purpose of the increase of £1 a head in the calf subsidy is to increase the incentive to keep calves which now go for slaughter as soon as they are born or to decrease such mortality as occurs in calves and to rear them so that in due course they will make beef animals to add to our home beef supply.
May I ask the noble Lord one or two questions on this matter, which is of course of general interest to everybody; for we still import a large amount of our beef. First, would he tell us what is the present rate of wastage of calves which are slaughtered within three or four days of birth or lost at birth through mortality? Is it still of the order of 300,000 or 400,000 a year?—which is a very high figure, if we are still running at that level. Could the noble Lord also tell us what is the trend: whether this large wastage is showing a reduction? Could be also tell us what the Minister of Agriculture forecasts as the effect of this small increase in the calf subsidy in increasing the incentive to rear the calves to make useful beef? It is not just a matter of rearing calves; it may be that the farmer has to be a little more enterprising and imaginative in the mating of his cows in order to get a calf which will have a beef conformation and will make beef in due course.
It is evident that here is a very valuable potential source of more home-produced beef, which would be very welcome. I am sure that everyone would like to see it made use of. I would only observe in conclusion that this marginal increase in the rate of subsidy does not seem to have been a very original measure to increase the incentive. It would be interesting to hear from the noble Lord what improvement he expects as a result of it. With those few comments I am glad to support the Order.

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Nugent of Guildford—on this happy personal occasion on which I congratulate him on his birthday—for his relatively kind remarks about this Order. I will do my best to answer his two questions. First, he asked what is the present state of wastage of calves, and, second, what effect do we estimate that this increase in subsidy will have. I will deal with the second question first. It is never very easy to give an accurate forecast. There are so many factors which enter into it: the climate, the psychology of the farmer, the condition of the bank balance—which depends, in itself, very often on factors other than those connected with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Government of the Bank of England—and also the price he will get for his wheat and barley, the size of his harvest and matters of that sort. It is my expectation—I will put it no higher than that—that as a result of this increase in subsidy there will be an increase in retention of calves of something of the order of 100,000 calves this year. That expectation is based to a large extent on figures which really answer his first question on the present state of wastage.
Again, these are difficult figures to arrive at, but I think the most significant figures—those which in due course answer his question—are those of the calf certifications which have taken place over the last years; in other words, those calves which have qualified for such grant as has been available in the past. The noble Lord pointed out that this is not an original scheme; it had been thought of by previous Administrations. I have no shame at all in saying that it was a good idea, and because of that we are continuing to make use of it, and hope to make better use of it in the light of present circumstances.
In the year 1962–63, calf certifications amounted, in round figures, to 2,065,000. In the following year, 1963–64, this figure was up by 200,000. In 1964–65, there was an increase of 100,000, which was repeated in 1965–66, and again repeated in 1966–67. The total then was 2,558,000, with the addition of 83,000 under stage B of the scheme, so that the total figure would be not less than 2,650,000. On that basis we expect that there will be a further increase of 100,000 in the coming 279 year. The success of the scheme is shown by these figures, from which it appears that since 1962–63 there has been an increase of something over 100,000 calves per year.
That has entailed a progressive increase in the subsidy paid on calves. For steer calves, it remained constant for the first two years at £9 5s. 0d. It was raised in 1964 to £9 15s. 0d.; in 1965, to £10 5s. 0d., and this year to £11 5s. 0d. For heifer calves, it remained at the figure of £7 10s. 0d. from 1961 to 1964, when it went up to £8, and it is now £9. I hope that I have given the noble Lord the information that he requires.

VISCOUNT STONEHAVEN
My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord a question relating to rearing calves, which I have done in the past? The hill calf subsidy was £14 a year for two years. If a farmer keeps a heifer calf to breed from, he gets no subsidy for two years, and none in the third year until the heifer has calved. So that the £1 increase in calf subsidy is not sufficiently tempting, unless the next time that Her Majesty's Government are feeling generous they will consider subsidising the heifer calf that is kept for future breeding.

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, undoubtedly these are matters which should be taken into consideration, but I think that it would be misleading for me to answer a specific question on this complicated matter of hill calf subsidy. The primary object of this particular Order is to discourage the immediate slaughter of calves and to encourage farmers to keep them so that they can make a significant contribution to our meat supplies.