NEWS AND NOTES.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15037, 4 August 1914, Page 3

NEWS AND NOTES.

IB YICTOBIAN DAIRYING PAYING?

KEW ZEALAND EXPERT'S OPINION.

■ - ' «1 was impressed with tho quality of tfceColac land/but not with the cows T saw " was the first comment of Mr wY Byrne, tho New Zealand expert - feWtest-ing, lent by the Dominion Government, when asked by the Melbourne "Argus" for the impressions ho ■ h3d formed during bis recent visit to : «. ***** strict of Victoria. "Perhaps I shouldn't say so, wlen the peo- • : -dIo treated mo'so well, but I saw very , cows: there. At the, Colac " > High School, I did see one with a 3401b J Sttor-fct record but there do not jeen. •' * t nf her sort m tho State. ! by your director of \ ISiSro show that. Dr. Cameron 7-fv*. tho average annual butter-rat re- " torn' at 1361b a oow. In New Zealand we are aiming at a 3001b standard, and aro going to reach ii by the aid of our fl herd-testing associations. "Is is not realised, I suppose, continued Mr Byrne, "that the Victorian • dairying industry is not profitable, coniidering the cost of production and the - average butter-fat return that has been quoted. On your land values, tho annual cost of a cow, including feed and labour, must bo about £0. In the Dominion, with land cheaper, the Government has fixed a basis of £7, but oar herd-testing associations regard £7 10s as nearer tho mark. I would fix it higher if I could. Taking butter at Is a lb. it means that a cow must produce about 1501b of butter-fat each year before it pays for itself. "With your " lforage of 1361b per cow, most of tho dairy berth cannot pay on their butter ' production. Of course, thero aro rei'lrns in skim milk and manure, and profits earned by rearing pigs and - calves, but money can be mado out of the* buttor-fafc and good wages paid. What do you see now? Tho cry is that ft does not pay to employ labour in dairjinC-. -A- fanner with sons to assist him in milking makes an apparent pro„fit, but who gets tho money? Is it to - bo wondered at that the sons go to the V city when they havo tho chance? [• "Breeding, feeding, and weeding aro toe cardinal principles of successful 7 dairying, and tho assistance of somo \ _ herd-testing j-ystem must bo recog- ?- niapd .If a dairy farmer is to be Sues' cessful nowadays, ho must run his . business on business lines. —c must as- ;- certain tho money-producing power of his dairy stock, and cull tho 'robbers.' Here are convincing proofs of tho benefits gleaned in three years' experience ,* by the Thames Valley Herd-testing _\s- *■*' tociation. One farmer found that a cow ho paid £14 1-ls for returned only ' lOOib of butter-fat in the whilo another that he bought for £7 15s gave a return of 3501b. For two other cows That ho paid £9 10s each for, thereipectivo returriK were 1001b and 3501b •of bntter-fat. In one case of herd-test-ing, forty cows returned a profit of £5 17a,a. cow; in. another,- forty,, cows -" Js-liowedT each a profit of only -is a cow. The second herd therefore, would havo * to be milked for nearly thirty years before l it gavo the same profit as tho first her would in one year. "To put it in a striking way as regards the proportional increaso in proJtts on-the same.feed and treatment, if tbo annual cost of a cow bo £7 10s, a .-return of * 151b, "of •*.-butter-fat would ;", 'ioean a profit of' ls;for the year. . Thus ,-,' ' another oow,, giving 1521b of butter- -*£ 'Ist, is 100 per;cent, more profitable in £-, her but Ir-priidnction. If, however, a k- return of 3011b bo'gained from a third jV row, she ia 15,000-per cent, moro prof*' htable than the first." Incidentally, Mr Pyrne mentioned V -tl.fi&'he had'been struck during his tour ti.. <>i tho. Western district with the neces- *■_■' (ity for moro shelter for stock, and with 7 the absenco of hay as fod,'cr in the win-tor. He thought that the farmers 1 'rere so well provided for by Nature that tlieso aids were evidently ne- '/ , . " .'.: 'Before returning to tho Dominion /'Mr Byrne visits' the Hawkesbury Agriinspected tbe .*-fteratib{M at the.*VES6rribee Keseaich t i Xirva\' t ißad later i-was taken .by. Mr. • 'Archer,"tbo-dalrying expert of the Vie- - "* foria'n'.Department, \o Mr G. ChirnAfde'#.prace*at'Werribeo. Thero he saw ' , *;jiur<j*-hred stock related to tho cows of . ■ ,o^o*of, the leading herds in his Association, hi New Zealand, and regarding 7 , which ho produced records that showed ~ ;an average re f urn for ten cows of 350 37 [ . _■ 16-*-©F*'baiter-fat each. With a smilc-t -_- Jfr florae* that this herd "•\7ha-tl ty-jeri'Jjailt'up by importations from "■"r - South Wales.