GENERAL FARM NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 283, 19 August 1918, Page 8

GENERAL FARM NEWS.

' A note of warning in regard to rivalry in -the dairying; industry that would ! come from Australia in tho future was sounded by Mr. H. E. Pacey in Auck- ' land 'a few days ago. It was claimed ;' that Queensland-manufactured butter j was as good as any in the world, and ' certainly the befit in the Antipodes. He i felt justified in saying that he had no ambition for changing places with them i so far as factories and equipment were i concerned. When over there recently I ho saw one or two that were up-to-date, ■ but the majority were deplorably out of date. They were, liowever, awakening to , the necessity of -pasteurisation and inodi ern methods'. In New South Wales, how- : ever, they had done wonders during the ■past two years by adopting modern meth- • ods; and now 5 per cent, only of the out- : put was classed second grade, as com- ! pared with 50.per cent, a few years ago. , There had been marvellous improvement, ■ and New Zealand would have to look for ; rivalry from that quarter in tho future. : The necessity for care- would have to be : understood by tho farmer as well as in : tho factories.

i A farmer in the Peel Forest district i says that ho has been a, resident of that ; locality for 13 years, and this winter was \ the worst he had experienced there. They i had four snowstorms in eix weeks, and • tho enow covered the ground to a depth . of from 2ft. Gin. +o 4ft. The snowfalls ' were invariably followed by very severe i frosts. Only last Friday week he was • obliged to pour Jiot water on his door ' before he could open it to get outside. The weight of snow broke down all the ; snouting on the buildings, cutting' it ] clean off at the supports. The losses in ; stock were small when the nature of tho '. winter was taken into consideration. In the hilly country a good number of sheep '■ were lost through getting covered in : drifts.

! The Ihird annual report and balance- ■ sheet of the Tararua (Ballance) .Co-op-erative Dairy Company shows that the j milk delivered at (he factory was : - 3.520.0921b==.; it contained 147.4firi.SHbs. I of butter-fjij. and produced 393.2331h5. of j cheese. The average test was 3.86. The ! quantify of milk required to make onn : pound of cheese was 9.73, and one pound :of butter-fat produced 2.651b5. cheese. j .After paying an advance to suppliers of ) .£12.288 is. 7d.. equal to Is. Sd. per ID. i of butter-fat, there remains a credit to v profit and loss of J21599 17s. 2<L, which f Tour directors recommend should be ap- : propriated as follows: By the payment. ■ <rf a dividend of fi per cent, on enm'tal ! paid up, which will amount' to JKSI Is. \ 7d., the pavment of a bonus to supI/pliers of 2{d. per lb. of huHer-M snp- ' plied, amounting to .£1332 !K Rd., and j that the balance of MM 4s. lid. be writ- ■: ten off buildings and plant. The avfr- ' age Tiavment for the season w>ll thus be ■ Is. IOJd. per lb. bnf.ter-fat. Every snp- • plicr is a shareholder in the oomuaiy, ' and with a fpw exceptions, each holds his full qnota of shares. Shares are beine 1 allotted to those not holding their full i r(uoti. All export cheese was f aken by the Imperial Government at 1()d. per lib. f.0.b.; R93 cases am still in store

[ awaiting shipment.