MILK YIELDS RISING

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 13 May 1961, Page 13

MILK YIELDS RISING

Importance Of Industry

Milk yields for town milk supply locally were steadily rising in keeping with the increase in population, so that some 15.000 cows were required to produce a constant 23.000 gallons a day, the chairman of the provincial dairy section of North Canterbury Federated Farmers (Mr J. W. Overton) said in his report to the section's annual conference. Within the next 12 months tanker collection would be introduced in Christchurch, he said. Additional modern dairies were being built on farms for the new service and most existing dairies would need modifications.

Local butter production this year had shown an increase of about 200 tons on last year, and the season’s output was estimated to be 2990 tons. “It is very difficult to convey to the man in the street the huge amount of butter and cheese exported annually,” Mr Overton said. “Last season 80.000 tons of cheese and 170.000 tons of butter left our shores for overseas markets, earning for New Zealand roughly onethird of our total income from exports.” Herd improvement was gathering momentum, and production figures were still rising. The South Island butterfat production average of 3341 b even beat the dairy stronghold of Taranaki with its average of 3141 b, Artificial breeding had aided this increased production, and of the national dairy herd of 1.7 m cows. 490.000 were artificially mated last year. It was expected this figure would rise by 90 000 this year Conception figures with two-year-old deep • frozen semen were almost equalling results of natural mating, he said. “Providing the Dairy Board, in its enthusiasm to increase production, keeps firmly in mind that type must go hand in hand with increased production. then all will be well.'' Mr Overton said.