Le progrès technique permettra-t-il de séparer à leur tour les productions bovines du système de polyculture-élevage ?

The industrialization process of beef production is already under way on a large scale in some countries especially in the U.S.A. In Europe, units specializing in the production of fattened cattle are still relatively undeveloped. On the other hand units producing calves for slaughter have taken on a certain importance over the past few years. This development is conditioned by the evolution in food technology : cereals, the means of intensification and industrialization of American beef production, are too expensive in Western Europe to allow such a development. The dehydration of fodder provides a means of developing this production. The second factor limiting the industrial development of beef in Europe is to be found in the difficulty of finding supplies of calves. II is difficult on a large scale to convert dairy-herds into herds or cows for meat production. The possibilities presented by the obtaining of twin-births may soon help to vrovide a partial solution to this problem. Some precautions could allow disastrous experiments to be avoided. The search for balance in the management of public slaughter-houses is not Utopian. But it will be difficult as long as local authorities do not seek advice concerning building and management for meat specialists.