POSITION OF DAIRY FACTORIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3063, 26 April 1917, Page 8

POSITION OF DAIRY FACTORIES

i. OUTLOOK FOR NEXT SEASON. • \ .In tho oxports for tho past year i ttiere was an actual increase of 6600 tons of cheese,, and a decrease of only . 3uUO tonsof butter exported from the r Dominion. With a view to ascortain- • ing the facts, a "Manawatu Times", re- ( porter approached tho secretary of one of tho oldest-established . dairy, com- | panies in tho Manawatu. position is easily explained," said the secretary. "The fighting is not ajl done on tho Western front. ■ Our company may be taken as a re- • presentative typo of tho average dairy '• factory, in New Zealand, with an out--1 put of. from 250 to 300 tons of butter K nor annum. Lot mo tell you of tho ■ tight bur dairy company has put up against tho serious but unavoidable l drain made upon our. suppliers on ac- ; count of the war. "We have 125 suppliers on our books,.and of these three have, herds abovo 80 cows. Our average herd is about 20 cows, and our annual turnover about £40,000. Since tho outbreak of war our company has lost . the. supply of 600 cows sofely on aci count of labour difficulties, this representing an annual.loss in output of about 70 tons of butter. But this gives no indication of the strugglo that is going on ;to keep up production. The men who sell out are the men for whom the force of circumstances proves too strong. What of the faimer who. battles—and battles successfully— i against tho labour famine by the installation of machinery , and np-to-dato labour-saving appliances ? "That there is , a tendency,in some quarters to believe that the dairy farmer has a rooted objection to employing outside labour is quite contrary to fact," he stated,, "provided the ' labour is suitable. The ayorago farmer ; will not tolerate an unskilled man; ho reckons a man cannot? become an jeffi- , cient milker under twelve months, and rather than take the timo to instruct a newcomer, he infinitely prefers to do the work himself, with the aid of whatever* mechanical appliances he can obtain. I have no hesitation in saying that the average dairy farmer and his wife in this district do three men's work betw.een- them, and it is remarkable how in this way the production has been kept up. Unfortunately, it would seem as if the limit has been reached in the way of installing laboursaving devices, and tho outlook for the future is becoming serious. "There are not many First Division men among the suppliers. They have mostly gone to do their little bit. Our suppliers, with their wives and families, number about 600, and. I find that 22 of these families have still sons in the First Division. These 22 families milk 1020 cows. I have ascertained that, if the boys go—and there is absolutely no, reluctance on the vboye' part—ls of these' families will have to sell their herds or reduce them very considerably, and the probable loss to our factory wilt bo about 650 cows. In other words, it looks as if, during the next few months, we are going to lose the supply of as many cows as we have .lost altogether since tho outbreak of war,, the farmers not being in a position to combat the la-, hour, difficulty any further. Undoubtedly the shoe is beginning to pinch, but the pleasing feature is the cheerfulness'.with, which the prospect is faced. Probably'most of those who go out of dairying will run sheep, but the farms being small, and being essentially dairy farms, anything but a satisfactory return may be looked for. The dairy farmer is not grumbling much, hut the seriousness of the position from the dairy companies' point of view can hardly be exaggerated. However, we are not going to sit down and cry over it; my company has beon bringing a new typo of dairy farmer on to the export market—l call him the 'six-cow man.' He has not land to run sufficient cows to justify his carting milk to a factory, hut by collecting the cream at his gate, oiir company practically brings the factory to his front door. We receive cream ' from 300 cows, and in no caso doe'a

the supplier milk moro-tlum sis cows.

"Tho i-oturned soldiers who aro settling in tho district will help to coun-tcr-balanco matters and they will bo a very.material help. A few of them arc just n little, rostless and unablo to settle down yet, but I have- been grgatly impressed by some, of tho returned soldiers who have, como here. A, considerable number have had previous experience, and if dogged pcrsovoranco and hard work will bring them out on top. their success is assured. Some of them are- already supplying our factory, and this all helps. It would not surprise me if, owing "to; our* exceptionally favourable position, we aro able to maintain our output next season, but it would be idle to deny that dairy companies as a whole are facoU with an oxtromely serious position." '