BACKWARD SPRING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20050, 23 September 1939, Page 15

BACKWARD SPRING

DAIRY SUPPLY SUFFERS AUGUST A BAD MONTH SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT NOW GISBORNE’S NEED OF RAIN The lack of rain in the Gisborne district ever since the start or the i.pung has retarded dairy production, and aunougn supplies are picking up now they are scni a long way below normal. Dairy farmers are most disappointed wun the season. Following trie exceptionally low returns during 1938-39 they were looking lonvard to and have been preparing tor a greatly increased output. The herds came out ot the winter in very fair order, helped by a providentially mild winter until early in July, and following a long rest the cows _ were ready to leap away in production, if sufficient pasture growth had been provided. From the start the weather was dry. The weather has been mild ever since the beginning of August, apart from a few short cold snaps of no exceptional severity, and had there been only an average rainfall there would have been a good growth and an exceptionally big increase over the butterfat supplies of last spring. Pasture growth, on the Hat lands during the past few weeks has improved from that in August, and some larmers now have not much to complain of in this respect, but at the same time there has not been the big flush usually expected at this time of the year. Improved Quality The dry conditions have been a help to quality, and a substantial improvement in the standard of the cream being received at the factories is reported, this compensating in some degree for the failure of the quantity to increase as it should do. Both" dairy companies in Gisborne report in almost identical terms in regard to the backward supply. They also report that the monthly payments made this week were on the same basis as during the past season, namely Is 2d per lb. buttenat. Although they h.ave had no indication of what the guaranteed price wilt oe for the current season, they are working on the assumption that i.t will not be below that of 1938-39, which was un a basis of 14.89 d per lb. oi. butter, f.o.b. While the growth on the fiats has pick, d up somewhat during the past lew weeks, aidpd by the occasional showers, the hill country is still backward in most parts of the district, except in Toiaga Bay, where almost normal conditions prevail. Sheepfarmers are suffering as a result of the lact of growth, and m the southern areas, particularly on the borderline between the Wairoa and Gisborne districts, some mortality is still occurring among cattle as a result sometimes of over-stocking.