The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-05 00:00:00

THE QUEEN AND THE CONSUMPTION

OF LAMB.

Monday's Court Circular states :—" It has been re-
presented to the Queen that the announcement made
in the newspaper to the effect that her Majesty had
forbidden the use of lamb in the Royal household may
possibly produce inconvenience and loss in many
quarters—a result very far from the Queen's inten-
tions. Her Majesty therefore wishes it to be under-
stood that she has no desire to set an example in this
matter which would interfere with the ordinary course
of trade."

The Times has published several letters on the
subject of lamb killing, amongst others the follow-
ing :

Sir,—Perhaps you will allow a sheep-breeder and
one who views the great reduction of sheep in the
country with the gravest concern to have his say as to
lamb killing and its effect on the meat supply of the
country. It is true, as stated by Mr. Haig, that the
male lambs are for the most part the ones which are
selected for fatting, an they are by extra feeding
turned into meat some eight or nine months sooner
than they would be if they were left to the ordinary
method of fatting. The effect of the recent decision
of her Majesty will (if followed by others as it
almost certainly will be), on the farming class, be
twofold. First, it will at present throw on the
farmer's hands his fat lambs and the food he has ex-
pended on them as a dead loss, and in future it wid
reduce the meat supply of the country by these lambs
which have hitherto come into the market as an artifi-
cial food supply. Secondly, it will force those •farmers
who must Ave money to turn their young ewes (last
year's lambs) into mutton, and so further reduce our
already impoverished stock of breeding sheep, and
consequently materially lower the future food supply
of the country.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Whitehall Club, April 26.

R. G. WILBERFOROZ.

Sir,—The letter in The Times of to-day does not
convey any idea of the extent of the injury to the
farmer imposed by the Royal Proclamation as to the
killing of lamb.
Fully appreciating the good and kindly intentions
of our gracious Sovereign there cannot be a doubt in
the mind of most practical farmers that the order is
untimely.
Had it been promulgated at the beginning of the
year, the object might have been attained without much
loss; but as it has been issued just at the time lambs
are ripe for the butcher, brought to that ,londition
under adverse conditions of season, entailing a greater
outlay than usual, this order will be keenly felt by the
farmer as one more blow not only to prevent him re-
covering the many heavy losses from which of late
years he has suffered, but to entail increased trouble
upon him.
With lambs highly and carefully fed in order to
bring them to early maturity there would be a great
risk of loss in keeping them for stock purposes—a risk
enhanced by the expected scarcity of keep—exem-
plified by the heavy fall in price of store sheep at the
late Ilsley fair.
A sentimental feeling may be soothed by the idea
that less lamb will be slaughtered, but that the order
will help to increase the stocks in the country is;
under the circumstances, fallacious. The only effect
will be to considerably reduce the market value of the
animals, which must be sold to pay for cake consumed,
and save further cost of artificial keep, producing a
loss which will fall entirely on the farmer without
any adequate benefit to the public, as any such benefit
will be divided between the dealer and the butcher, as
is usually the case when any sudden interference with
the ordinary course of trade occors.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant, JAMES JOHN ARNOLD.
Bishopstoke.

The Live Stock Journal says : It does not appear to
be generally known that in some counties sheep ate
kept almost entirely for the production of early fat
lamb. In Dorsetshire, for instance, the wether lambs
of the Dorset Horns only are killed, except where
cross-breds are bred, owners making it a sine qua non
to rear as many ewes as possible. The off-going ewes
are sold to graziers residing in parts of the country
favoured with a genial climate, who fatten the ewe
and her lamb or lambs at the same time all of them
being turned into meat early in the spring. Sup-
posing the consumption of lamb was seriously
diminished, there would be no sale for the lambs
or ewes. On many farms the wether lamb cannot
be summered; and it is only with great difficulty
that their sisters can be kept healthy. The best way,
therefore, to increase the supply would be to encourage
the demand, and not discourage flock masters, who
have been accustomed to depend on the sale of their
early fat lamb to "turn their hand," and meet their
Midsummer accounts. To farmers who .breed say 400
in the expectation of disposing of the half of the flock
as early lamb, it will involve a serious loss, as they
will only be able to feed one-half if they are c )mpelled
to keep them all the year. It is obvious that the order
forbidding the service of lamb has been issued under a
misapprehension. The lambs sent to the spring
market are specially prepared for it, and to discourage
the production of lamb will, we are convinced, dis-
courage the most profitable part of sheep farming.

The effect of the discouragment of the production
of lambs which has been recently commenced in high
quartets was • discussed at a special meeting of the
Bucks and Oxon Association far Promoting the
Welfare of Agriculture held on Saturday afternoon,
at 1-Leaning. Ihe meeting which was presided over
by Mr. G. C. Cherry, Vice Chairman of the I3e,rks
Quarter Sessions, unanimously passed the following
resolution, :

(1.) "That while fully recognizing as most desir-
able objects to the country an increase in the stock of
sheep and in the meat supply, the meeting fully
believes that discouraging the consumption of lamb
meat is a very sure way of defeating both of these
objects."
(2.) "That the sudden diminution of the demand
for lamb meat will, inflict serious loss on those who
have arranged their farming operations for the pro-
duction thereof."