§ Mr. Charles Morrisonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many calves were slaughtered from 1st January 1973 to 31st December 1973, from 1st January to 31st October 1973, and from 1st January to 31st October 1974.
§ Mr. BishopThe information available from public and licensed slaughterhouse returns is as follows:—
UNITED KINGDOM CALF SLAUGHTERINGS Thousand Head 1973 1974 January—December (inclusive) 141.7 — January—October (inclusive) 113.0 N.A.* January—September (inclusive) 93.9 252.7 † *October figures are not yet available. † Includes provisional figures for July, August and September 1974. For comparative purposes it should be noted that calf slaughterings in 1973 were unusually low. The current calf slaughtering rate is more comparable with that of the 1960s when the national herd was much smaller.