PROFITABLE DAIRYING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 522, 1 June 1909, Page 10

PROFITABLE DAIRYING.

.... • AS A VICTORIAN SEES IT. , "Every' dairy farmer should strive to_ obtain ss much remuneration from his herd as. his circumstances will pernnt," " . M'Fadzean. Dairy Supervisor of Victoria. "To materially increase the' profits from lus business without malting a corresponding expansion in the cost of production should bo his daily thought; for such.on increasing oi the returns cannot but bo satisfactory. Vt lien, therefore, a dairy fanner is so locatedjtiat ho is' within reasonable distance of'a; constant demand for fresh millc at. a payable price, he should endeavour to, get a due shore or the trado availablo. Occasionally cases may ( be met with, whore special circumstances preclude the possibility of making this lino or business . fit in with somo other work 'on a fifrm; and in such instances, .the opportunity must bo lot pass. As a general thing, however, it must bo conceded that, Should a dairy farmer continuo to separate his milk for cream-selling or butter-making, when ho could as easily take part in the. wholesale milk supply business, he is not taking-full advantage of'his opportunities.. _ , . "A gallon of standard milk is worth from 3d. to 4d.. according to the season, if separated or sold on,its butter-fat content. But that same quantity of milk is worth from 6Jd. to Bd., and even much more, m a period of .scarcity, if sold wholesale as fresh milk for'Miousehold consumption. • Of course, tho cost of handling and marketing the latter, is somewhat greater, and the principal features which tend to vary the cost of-producing those, two lines of dairy produce.may here,, bo briefly commented on. The milk seller must cool his milk carefully and deliver it daily, whereas tho cream or butter seller ihas only to get his produco to tho railway station 'twice in.each week. The former is also not able to improve his land as cheaply by_manuring as is tho man Trho utilisos his skirii ipilk in tho. raising of pigs or.'calves. Allowing, however, for theso disadvantages thcr© still remain several faotors, oiiher tihiwi. the difference in actual cash returns, which are almost sure to obtrude themselves- speedily .under the . milk supplier's notice , to his ultimate profit. 'More often than not tho necessity ! for reaching tho railway station with the milk at a fixed hour daily , will introduce a I regularity into the daily work of, tho farm ; .which it would othorwiEe bo difiicult to oh- • tain; and the result is beneficial in manj 1 ways. Special attention also must be giver to improving the standard of the herd in the | way of persistency and consistency of milk ing; for cows that will give a regular supply 5 of milk 'ovcr a long period 1 are , valuablo for this work.' If the supply of mill i is to be sustained with a regularity tliat 'wS ! be satisfactory to both buyer and seller, il •, is further necessary that the cultivatioi ' methods of the. farm be systematic;. whil< tho area cultivated must bo sufficiently ex tensive to ensure a supply' of succulent foddei for tho milkers throughout tho.year. Witl ■ theso items provided for, and in a", suitabli v locality, the 1 wholesale milk supply busines; : call bo made much the more profitable of th< . two branches of dairying."