The Dairy Industry.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 299, 22 June 1895, Page 2

The Dairy Industry.

— _^.. -_ Referring to continental « ompetitors in the British market, Messrs Weddel and Co , of London, in the pamphlet recently is&uod by them, wiite as follows : — "The low prices of daiiy product) this season have brought into great prominence a question that has been occupying the minds of many far seeing colonial shippers fur the last few year?. Put into popular phraseology it is expressed thus, " Can wo compete with the Dane in the struggle for British markets? Shall we be able to oust our coutinen.al competitors and supply all the butter Great Britain needs?" These aro moment ous questions and raise many important considerations, but tlu-y ate not a?ked alone by tho > ustralLn or thu Now Zeuhinder. The D^ne and the Swede are both busily engaged ovci the same problem, only they necessarily are looking at it from tha opposite standpoint, " Can we com- ' pi tD with Australia and New Zealitti.l ?" is the question being askid all ovi'T Denmark und Swed.n; and no very cous >lmg answer ha^ ye 1 - leeri vouchsafed to them. It in very natural under the circumstances oi: abnorally low prices, which now prevail, that great anxiety should be shown by all the competitors for the British hatter market, but it more particularly occupies the thoughts of the Danes, Speeds, and the colonists, because each has recognised Ihe other as a very powerful competitor to be seriously reckoned with. The issue, however, is being somewhat misrepresented by the form it has assumed. It is not simply Danish versus Colonial competition that is at present waiting a solution. The subject is not merely national, it is econo= i mic. ' The contest ia between the man who can make a profit by laying down i in the British market at ninepence or tenpence per lb ; be he Dane, or Swede, or Colonial, and the man who '. cannot do so except at a loss. If two men are at the same cost for their raw material, freight, and expenses, ; and one gets for his manufactured article a shilling per lb, while the other receives only tenpence, it is easy to see which will die first. In the contest for supremacy in the British market the man who can supply the best butter at the least cost will come out triumphant, no matter in what country he resides. The colonial dairyman, therefore, should turn his attention to the improvement of his • butter, and endeavour to discover the most economic conditions for its manufacture, transit, and sale. It is very interesting to study at what price your opponent ean sell bis goods, but it is far more useful to employ your own energy in ascertaining how you can make the best article at the least possible cost. The conditions of the farmers in Denmark and Sweden on one aide, and Australia or New Zealand on the othe>', differ so very much that it is most difficult to estimate the prospects of the one agaiust those of the other, consequently all information concerning the Danish or Swedish buttermaker's methods, expenses, &c, should only be received as affording a very rough guess as to his capabilities of successfully meeting his competitors. Some of the prominent features that favor the Danish and Swedish dairymen are — (1) Proximity to his market in the United Kingdom ; (2) Milk and butter being paid for monthly, little capital is required to carry on his business ; (3) The land is mostly his own ; (4) His herds are small and his expenses for labor nil, his own family doing all the work ; (5) He enjoys all the benefits of co operation ; (6) The freight on his butter is only about 20s to 25s per ton. His principal disadvantages are — (1) Cost of cattle, milch cows being worth Lll to LI 4 ; (2) Extra expense of keeping cattle during winter, which lasts five or six months.