Stagnating production of beef of Japanese cattle and factors of stagnation
1993
Suzuki, N. (Akita Prefectural Coll. of Agriculture, Ohgata (Japan)) | Tokue, Y. | Nyui, T. | Arai, K. | Takahashi, A.
Beef has strong demand. In particular, demand for domestic beef is high, because of its safety as food and a characteristic of Japanese eating habits to eat it after boiling in Sukiyaki and other dishes. However, production in reproduction farms has been stagnant due to pettiness of them, aging of labor forces, instability of the their incomes, etc. Although prices of calves have been rising substantially since 1984, expansion of production of them is extremely sluggish. Thus, a lack of supply of calves distresses fattening farms and this fact is clearly shown in the shipment records of Japanese cattle produced in Akita Prefecture in the project concerning improvement of management techniques of production of beef cattle which is being implemented by Akita Prefecture. These difficulties in fattening farming bring about reduction of enthusiasm for production and a decrease of the number of bred calves in fattening farms and naturally lead to a great crash of prices of feeder cattle, which in turn may put pressure upon reproduction farms and cause reduction in their production. Generally speaking, a rise and lowering of market prices have a function to regulate an increase of demand and an excess of production, respectively. As shown clearly in the above descriptions, however, if prices of calves are lowered and production of them is reduced although reproduction farms have not responded to the increase of demand by expanding their production, production of beef cattle will inevitably head for reproduction on a regressive scale. Accordingly, if these conditions are left as they are, production of beef cattle seems to intensify self-destructive aspects and it is assumed that domestic production of them may fall into a serious situation
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