William Frederick Bailey

“ As the total number of horned cattle in Ireland in 1911 was 4,711,720, it is evident that the rearing of stores and fattening constitute the most considerable part of the cattle industry. A very large proportion of the cattle exported to Great Britain are stores. In 1911 the numbers were 269,527 fat cattle to 390,041 stores. This export trade in stores enables English and Scotch farmers to devote their land to the production of food for fattening the cattle brought from Ireland. ”

“ The economic revolution that took place in Ireland after the Famine is shown by the relative movements in the number of the people and of the live stock. Between 1851 and 1911 the number of persons on each 1,000 acres of land diminished by [2] over 30 per cent., while the number of cattle increased by over 60 per cent., and sheep and swine increased over 88 per cent, and 35 per cent, respectively. The number of milch cows in 1854 represented 43 per cent, of the horned cattle in the country. ”

“ It must be remembered that Belgium and a great part of France are devoted to small farming, carried on under the pressure of a strong competition and land hunger, and with, as a rule, a low standard of comfort. The competition for farms is very great. A professor in Louvain University related to me an instance in his own experience where the occupier of a holding happened to got a cold, and immediately over 30 of his neighbours took the first train to the town in which the landowner lived to put in applications for the farm. ↑ Agricultural Statistics of Ireland, 1911. ”

“ It must also be remembered that often a larger return, both in the number and value of the animals, can be obtained from stock-rearing in conjunction with tillage, than by a sole dependence on natural pasture. ”