SELLING DAIRY HERDS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3061, 24 April 1917, Page 8

SELLING DAIRY HERDS

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln reference to the statement often made by dairy farmers,'that if their labour is taken by the authorities they will sell thoir "herds, this is not a. threat but a necessity, ..for no dairy farmer can carry on without adequate labour. But I see a military advocate makes the statement that he does not think the country will suffer if farmers, or at least some of them, turn their dairy farms into sheep farms, because, although it would mean a reduction in butter, also cheese, there would he an increase' in mutton and wool. Not so. The sheep' would find grazing under any circumstances. But what will become of the thousands of: dairy cows that will be in the market' in the spring? They, will be bought up by the graziers for the back country, and the runs and turned out to raise their calves arid to fatten. The gTazier will receive about £3 for tho calf,- so would the dairy fanner.. But what hecomes of the buttar-fat from the cow? It is practically lost, also the-butter-fat tax. The cow would) retain enough milk to feed her calf,- the rest would dry off. The cow would,, after tho calf is raised, fatten and he killed for beef. So every herd of cows so sold means a prop knocked from under the:'dairying industry, which it has taken so. long to build up. And most people say the cost of the war must come from the land. Kill the goose, and where are you? Now for the sheep. Just imagine} sir, the waste of first-class land in getting rid of dairy cows to be killed, and putting sheep in their place. It is a well-known fact that good dairying land is not always good sheep land.' And why? Because it will carry the sheep so thickly it soon becomes foul,- and lung-worm and other diseases soon become prevalent. And what a terrible waste of butter-fat, and when-fats of all descriptions are becoming so scarce in the world, and will become-more so. And when the war is over (let us pray, soon) where will we get our dairy cows? For wc will lose herds that it.has taken years to build up by selection and the uso of high-pricedl bulls. Men must be obtained, that is admitted, but a man reared up on a dairy farm is an expert. The dairying industry is an essential one, thousands of men in towns are not producers, women could do their work, and I maintain that everv man in New Zealand to-day should be a producer or a soldier.—l am, etc, PRODUCER.