Canadian round-up

Series

Series Name: Britain Can Make It

Issue

Issue No.

Date Released

1946

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 3

Summary

COI synopsis: In order to help feed the millions of starving people in Europe and Asia, Canada is shipping as much meat as she can spare, and to do this the Canadian people have voluntarily rationed themselves. An idea of the tremendous task which confronts the cowhands in driving the great herds to the rail-head is given in this item.
COI Commentary - Commentator: This is the most serious and urgent problem facing the post-war world today: how are the millions of starving people in Europe and Asia to be fed?
All over the world there is scarcity, but the great food-producing countries are doing all they can to save millions of hungry men, women and children from starvation.
There is meat in Canada.
Canadian Voice: The far west - between prairie and mountain - the foothills of Alberta. Beef on the hoof - tons of it! The slow dust rises - the ground rumbles - and the air is filled with the mooing of the half-wild cattle and the bawling of the calves. Above the noise is the ki-yipping of the cowhands.
These cowhands, tanned and nerveless and alert - are born to the saddle. They spend eleven hours a day on horseback at round-up time - always alive to the dangers of a stampede. They search the gullies and the river-bottoms, the hills and the rocky badlands, rounding up the strays - driving the great herd to the railhead for the trip to the slaughter-house and the larders of Britain and the Continent.
The calves are taken part of the way too - then corralled, branded, and turned loose on the range to grow sleek and fat. They will complete their trip to Europe’s dinner table next year!
The route of the cattle-drive is direct - no bridge here - so into the river they plunge - urged on by the shrill cries of the cowboys,
The herd floods into the corrals. In the last six months of 1945, Canada shipped well over half a million head of cattle.
The animals are fed after their long trip. Their weight and health must be maintained to the last, for they are the future beef ration for hungry nations.
Commentator: And so the herd, food for the starving, starts its long journey.
In the last six months of 1945 Canada shipped 121 million pounds of cattle meat to UNRRA and at the same time she sent 201 million pounds to the United Kingdom.
In order to do this the Canadian people have voluntarily rationed themselves -
Thank you Canada.

Keywords

Food and cooking; Animal husbandry

Footage sources

Canadian Film Unit

Written sources

The National Archives INF 6 /592 Used for synopsis
Central Film Library Catalogue 1948, p83.
British Film Institute Databases

COI Reference

MI 360/3

Credits:

Sponsor: Board Of Trade
Commentator: Colin Wills
Producer: Duncan Ross
Producer: Jack B. Holmes
Support services: Jean Hennessey
Support services: John Martin Jones
Editor: Len Green
Sponsor: Ministry of Information
Support services: Peter Hennessey

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name: British Film Institute (BFI)
Email: For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
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Phone: 020 7255 1444
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Address: 21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN
Notes: The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).
Series held: View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)

Record Stats