I am not going to take up the time of the House at any length on the question which I gave notice I would raise on the adjournment. What is troubling the mind of a great many people is that this order restricting the export of store cattle was made by the Minister, and that so far no information has been vouchsafed as to why it was made, or as to how long farmers may expect it to continue. The operation of the order, as far as I am aware, has certainly been very unfavourable to small farmers and store cattle raisers. It came into operation on Monday last, and fairs held since then have been unfavourably affected. At the time I think the Minister was concerned about the animal population consuming food which might be required for human needs. The keeping of a considerable number of store cattle, as far as could be judged, was something that was perturbing. The Minister did not make the order without some reason, but the public have no knowledge of what his motives were. Whatever the reasons may have been, what is of considerable importance to farmers is to know how long the order will be in operation, whether for a week or for a month. A condition of uncertainty like that, especially in view of what farmers have gone through in the last year, and up to the opening of the ports for the export of stock, leaves them in a very perturbed frame of mind. There is the added consideration that men who are able to go into the markets to-day are given the opportunity of buying store cattle definitely at a figure under their real value. I have no doubt that a number of men who can do so are going to the markets and buying cattle from farmers at a figure considerably less than that they would have to pay if the export markets were still open. These cattle will probably be held for a month or six weeks, or for whatever period the order remains in operation, and when exports are resumed, those who have been able to speculate, and able to hold the stock, are going to make much more than the producers. All I seek is to get from the Minister some clarification of the order, the reasons for its imposition, and when we may expect that trade will move freely again and the restrictions will be removed.
Adjournment Debate: Export of Store Cattle.
Certainly the order could not have been imposed at a worse time, especially as regards store cattle, as we were hoping in the new year to get rid of stores. The trade is now, unfortunately, restricted, and fodder for young cattle is very scarce this year. That is a consideration in the case of many farmers, who have not the amount of fodder they had in previous years. If they have to keep young cattle for a considerable time I do not know what the position will be. There is a scarcity of fodder and accordingly cattle will waste and will not be profitable when selling. As the last speaker pointed out, advantage has, unfortunately, been taken of the position of owners who had to sell, having no other alternative but to stall-feed for some time. Cattle are being purchased under market value. That is a terrible blow to farmers, who cannot afford to lose. It would be of interest to the House and to the country if the Minister could make a statement as to when the order will be removed.
I am glad that Senator Baxter has raised this question because there appears to be a lack of understanding of the order and also of information with regard to its duration. The position is that we found ourselves early in January with quite a number of fat cattle, mostly grass-fed cattle. At that time exporters were inclined to export cattle as stores, and the position was very bad, because some of the cattle exported as stores were bracketed on the other side as fat cattle. Accordingly a good deal of confusion arose. There was a tendency to export fat cattle as stores rather than as fats, and we thought it necessary to get rid of the fat cattle of which there were large numbers here. They were grass-fed cattle and would go back in condition if kept any longer. To get them into proper condition again would mean that they would need to be fed on grain, and we felt that we had no grain to spare. The owners were also under the impression at that time that there would be an increase in the price of fats, and they were holding on to them. We worked hard to get an increase in the price but failed. When we found that it was quite definite that the price would not be increased we announced that there would be no increase until April 24th, and that no cattle would be allowed to be exported during the month of January, except fats.
We thought that the owners, having the information that there would be no increase in price, shippers with that information would only export fats, and that there would be a big clearance during January. I hope that we will get all these cattle out. It looks as if they are all going. This week there was some difficulty in filling the ships with cattle, but I think there will be enough to keep the ships going until the end of the month. When that period is over the shipping of stores will be resumed on a much bigger scale. There will then be no restriction on the numbers going out. There will be a restriction on stores as regards age. Senators know that stores allowed out since the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease had to have two prominent incisors up and a third appearing. Senators may not know much about the dentition of cattle, but it means that cattle had to be at least two years and three months old, and sometimes older, before they got the third tooth. I think we may get the age reduced somewhat when shipping is restored in February. We are making an attempt at the moment, and I hope we will meet with success. If so, the way will be open for some months from February 1st on for a very big export of older stores from about two years upwards. There will not be so many fat cattle then.
Does the Minister mean from February 1st?
Yes. I do not think there will be so many fats then, as the number of grass-fed cattle will be exhausted. Probably we will not have so many stall-fed cattle to dispose of, or not very much more than we will require for home consumption, and that the export of stall feds will be small. Senators will be very interested in some figures I have. As they know there was a very restricted export of cattle in 1941. The stoppage began on January 17th and it was not until July 11th that exports of livestock for immediate slaughter commenced again. There was, however, quite a considerable amount of exports in the form of dressed meat and canned meat. As a matter of fact our exports for 1941 were only about 200,000 less than those in normal years preceding it.
What were they?
About 450,000 went out in the form of live cattle and meat. I only saw the figures a few days ago and I was rather agreeably surprised. I thought we had a much bigger number of cattle awaiting export. If the export of stores is resumed on February 1st it will not take very long to deal with the surplus. It looks as if the position will become normal within a few months. It is hard to say what effect the dentition regulations will have. We have not had experience of them before. It may mean that we can only export cattle from two years upwards. I do not know whether our own feeders in the midlands will create a sufficient demand to keep up the price of smaller cattle. Probably they will, and be able to keep cattle moving all the time, by taking smaller animals of 15 or 18 months old from counties like Cavan and from the west, and feeding them for six months and exporting them. Then the trade may settle down to normal and be I hope quite good.
The Seanad adjourned at 9.10 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Thursday, 15th January, 1942.