NEW ZEALAND'S DAIRY HERDS

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1090, 31 March 1911, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND'S DAIRY HERDS

| A SCOTCH AUTHORITY'S VIEAVS; | ' Mr. James Dunlop, the Scotch Com-missioner,-sailed from the • Bluff for Britain this week. His "parting message to the farmers of New Zealand"- was: "Test your-cows, your herds, feed pigs, and grow lucerne." before 1 he sailed, Mr. Dunlop was interviewed by "a ''-'Southland Times" reporter. Since landing in New Zealand early in the year, he had been right through the Dominion. j Of Taranaki, Mr. Dunlop said that his ' investigations showed him that the dairy- ! ing industry there was going ahead very .-. rapidly, and he went over some very , fine factories (some.of the best ho had [ seen in a'ny country.), both butter and I cheese. The soil, did not strike him as ! rich, bnt the climnto appeared to suit [ it, and the' heavy rainfalls enabled it to i .be well and easily worked, green-feed, ! turnips, and mangolds all growing ex- •; ccedingly well. The land in the Auckland district, was drie'd up through the drought, but he found that the farmers wore getting a . splendid price, for their milk, inasmuch : as they obtained 7d. per agllon from the i. dairy companies, who distributed the milk in Auckland. That price,was equal \ to what farmers', received for supplying : milk"for distribution' in- tho cities in , Scotland. . '■ ■, i - The 'drought was upon the country .-i during Mr. Duhlo'p's stay. H*. mentioned : ; that'- for ; the first time after leaving :.-Southland ho-saw in Gisborne green ' -grass. Eain had fallen there in February, : and'crops- and grass were growing . tre- ' mendonsly. The-river flats' in' that' dis- : trict impressed him "as- being' extrapr- . ;■ d.iharily fertile and tho dairying ihdus- ) try was making very great strides there. . '. Whilst in Canterbury, he had particuj lariy .'admired the very fine country ' around Sefton and ■ Pigeon Bay, and also : some grand horses. In' tho : vicinities of . ;• Tcmuka,..AYaimate, and Oamarn, the fer- ; .tlld. lands had impressed, him, but at r Vn.lm'e«ston South the drought was: worse ■■' than, anywhere else; although- the sheep j!, fortunately .seemed to be still thriving, i-He had negotiated'the'Taieri Plain, and j reckoned drainage was deficient.. He had. i_.a' very good' impression of Southland. :' .To"summarise the impressions he-had f/formed as the result of his visit'he would ■'MJ* in tho .'first-place that. .New-Zealand ; appeared to have .perfected- the-co-opera- ;• tivo 'system.of production' and of. central \ factories. In .Scotland each, farmer made .'cheese at his own, farm'-instead''of sendi ing -milk to a co-operative, factory.' The : , different conditions' of tenure, rather : than conservative, adhesion- to- old prinyciples, were responsible for such order of things'-in Seotland. Thosc'on'the land ; "At Home" were only,, tenant.-'. farmers, '} and it was.-thouglit'that co-operative suc- '; cess would'actually be their loss as the j, landlords at 'the, end of the terms of ':■ leases would correspondingly increase tho -rents, and. so they (the farmers) would '■ in reality defeat their own,ends. . i l . He had been disappointed with most of ;, th'o herds of cows that had come under i his inspection, and he was convinced that ■there was not only room for vast improvement with the quality.of stock, but i that. the New Zealand farmer was not i getting the results he should from the i dairying industry. Good cows were nlany i all 'over the' Dominion, but the : number iof unprofitable enws was everywhere uniduly excessive. He had.a firm belief in : th'e principle of cow-testing, and no part ;of the'world had experienced better re--1 'units from adopting the system than the Av"cst of Scotland, whence he hailed. Also he found most of the dairy cattle in New : Zealand crossbred from many breeds. Tho s election that was made of bulls was inlso ridiculous and quite unworthy of idairy farming.:. Inferior crossbred bn'ils. iof whose pedigree the .owner knew and : .cared nothing,, were generally used, and . .the farmer seemed to be content as long ■ 'as the bull left the cow in calf.' He trusted that the New Zealand farmer -would be brought to realise that a pro;j)ev sire was the foundation of successful dairy-farming. He was convinced that it iWptrid- repay the dairymnn to take up a 'pure-bred line of tho best possible strain :nnd to stick to it.