Quantity Of Butter Graded Affected By 'Dry' Weather

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 46, 19 May 1950, Page 5

Quantity Of Butter Graded Affected By ' Dry ' Weather

Extremely dry weather in North Auckland and inadequate rainfall in the Waikato have had a marked effect on the amount of creamery butter graded for export in New Zealand for March, 1950. A decrease of 2573 tons is shown compared with the corresponding month of the previous year, according to figures issued by the Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture. Figures for cheese for March, 1950, showed an increase of 364 tons over those for the same period the previous year.

Creamery butter graded for export for the eight months ended March 31, 1950, was 133,256 tons compared with 127,690 tons for the same period in 1949, an increase of 5566 tons: The figures for cheese for the same eight-month period showed an increase of 5741 tons.

If the figures are converted into butterfat, equivalent, there is an increase of about 5 per cent in butterfat graded for the eight months compared with the corresponding period of the preceding season. The figures refer only to butter and cheese graded for export and, because of diversions which may take place from time to time, they are not necesarily a true indication of production trends.