The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1921-07-26

weight from unstable portions,
the waste of cutting up, the trans
portation cost from the slaughter
house to the market, the additional
waste of cutting to the customers
order and the overhead of all, it is
pretty difficult to know what would
be fair price for a "piece of
meat" which. of course, is fairly
indefinite quantity.
The discrepancy as between one
and onehalf cents on the hoof and
thirty cents Eat the cart" is rather
lare: yesterdays issue told of
four cents refused for prime cal
ves) but it is undoubtedly mysteri-
Gus to the layman and in fact some
of the meat men don't know as
much about it as they ought.
When we consider that a beef
may be raised" in Montana, ship
ped to Chicago at a high freight
rate, slaughtered and dressed in a
packing plant, railroaded to the
East in costly refrigerator cars,
hung in a cold storage plant until
called for, trucked, railroaded or
expressed to the meat market and
then cut up piecemeal and sold to
fussy and pampered customers,
with plenty of poundage going
into the waste kettle or fertilizer,
there is considerable difference be-
tween the cost in Montana and the
cost in Felchville or Rutland.
AS to the farmer, especially the
Vermont farmer, he does not raise
beef critters enough to count, and
as for the retail price of meat he
has himself largely to blame for
that.
Howl Because he can raise good
beef right on his own farm and he
won't.
Don't pay?" That may be true in
a measure-if the farmer is going
to compete with the butcher or
packing house, but why not raise
enough for his own consumption?
"No storage?" Here is plan
worked out by Ontario farmers
which renders them independent of
the meat cart and the packing
house,
They organize a neighborhood
club or "ring," and employ local
butcher, who slaughters, dresses
and distributes the meat. About
a dozen or fifteen farmers agree
to furnish a beef critter alternate
", raised on their own farms, and
the local butcher cuts him up and
distributes the portions according
to rotation plan. The man who
gets the tenderloin today may get
a neck next week, but each mem
Der of the club gets a supply of !
beef regularly and there is no cost
except the first cost of raising the
critter and paying the butcher. |
Of course, Ontario is a beef
country and almost every farm
raises choice steers for market,
but with good Vermont calves 60
ing begging at four cents, live
weight, and meat prices what they
are, it does not look like good &C.
onomics for farmers to sell at four
or five cents and buy what meat
they need smetimes at prices as
high as fifty cents a pound for the
best cuts.
"Don't like native beef"
There's the real answer to the
whole problem. Rather than take
the trouble or change our ways
enough to develop beef cattle
strain for Vermont, we sell our
calves for a song, sell our milk
for price often below cost of
production, deplete our soil and
then pay thirty or forty cents a
pound for meat that we can raise
at cost.
incidentally, people whose stom-
achs are so delicate that they
must have "heavy western beef"
spring lamb or poultry
and who refuse to "bother" with
choosing and preparing the cheap
er cuts are not in position to do
much kicking. III
If they demand the best and
costliest food, they must expect to
pay for it. incidentally, this pro-
badly does not apply to Fletcher
Vile or the average Vermont rural
community, but it applies else
where and must be considered.
The Herald always likes to re-
peat what Theodore N. Vail said
a bout this question. 1t was a good
many years ago and to the effect
that Vermont must not only raise
meats and foodstuffs enough for
her own population, but must con-
tribute her part to feeding of
other states with greater centerS
Of population.
That proposition, uttered by one
Of the big men of the country, is
worth lot of thinking about
Rutland Herald.