DOES POULTRY FARMING PAY?

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2145, 30 July 1907, Page 1

DOES POULTRY FARMING PAY?

PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF LARGE BREEDERS.

Recently the “Weekly Press” of Christchurch published an article expressing the opinion that poultry farming as a sole means of livelihood was not a profitable occupation. This attitudo brought' forth a storm of denunciation form enthusiastic poultry keepers and as a result the agricultural editor opened his columns to special correspondance on the matter. The following are some of the letters that have appeared.— ' Mr A. J. Hewett. manager of Mr. Chamberlain’s farm at Fonui Island. Wl Dearlsir-Yours of the 25tJ. nit duly received. He all your questions, we do not care to publish our accounts, and it is not likely it we could not make it pay that we should still keep at the business year alter year. _ To your first question—Can poultry farming be made to pay? I answer, yes, most certainly it can, and not only be made to pay. pay better than any other farming there is. I can make more off 120 acres of poultry than most country settlers do off their' farms of 200 acres; also the capital required is small; from £4OO to £SOO would start anyone with a big plant, not counting the purchasing of the land. I don’t say anyone can make poultry farming pay. because they are not all suited to it. Von must have a knowledge of the business if you wish to avoid many losses at the start. Many people without any knowledge whatever of poultry fanning start the business, . thinking it will be an easy way of making a living, and then, when they fail say

that it will not pay, when they are to blaiiio, not the business. Another tiling, there arc hundreds of utility poultry- fjirms all over tho world, many of which I visited last year in America,. England and Australia, where they have told me they were doing well. Is it likely they would all Tcoop going if they did not pay? People won’t keep working year after year just to have tlie pleasure of supplying other people with eggs. Wo keep about . 2500 birds here, nearly 1000 of which are Runner Ducks. All our eggs and poultry are sold through the Auckland Farmers 00-operativo Egg and Poultry Company. All yours are not alike. You are liable to got bad years with poultry the same as you are with -sheep and cattle, so that you cannot say for certain what profit you should make per bird. In a year like the present, grain and meal are almost at famine prices which, will greatly curtail the profits. But mostly, not counting labor, you should make 5s profit per bird. Labor, when you pay for all that is done, and do not touch it yourself, costs about 2s nci bird.

Ro the number a man should keep to gain a living it is impossible to say; it depends upon tho kind of layers his Jowls are. One person’s 'might average 200 eggs per bird, and another’s only 60, and one man with more knowledge of tho business might make twice tho amount out of the same fowls as another.

Again, to the main question, “Will poultry pay?” I say “Yes,” most emphatically, and pay better than an equal amount invested in any other farming. It is seldom that wo make less than 50 per cent, on tlie capital invested in the business. Trusting that this may be of some use to you, I am, yours sincere!*, ANDERSON J. HEWETT. Ponui Island, Auckland. July Otb, 1907.

Dear Sir, —1 have your letter on the* subject “Does poultry farming pay?” In my case, at any rate, poultry farming pays—which the same 1 mean to maintain.

I ave a manager who looks after 1300 head of poultry, excepting at time, when he obtains additional help. I keep a strict record of all costs of foods and other expenses, and the returns from the larm, in addition to paying for labor give me a handsome profit. As an instance, last August, when eggs are supposed to be scarce, the fowls laid 15,142 eggs which realised £65, and the net profit on that month’s operations was (not less than £4O. The eggs go to Dunedin, and I usually get from Id to 2d per dozen more than ruling prices because the eggs are guaranteed fresh.—Yours faithfully, E. AV. BROOKE. Dear Sir, —It is no esy matter to contradict the “Weekly Press” in its blunt statement that “no person in Now Zealand is making a. living from poultry,” for the simple reason that no one appears to be agreed as to what constitutes poultry farming. Evidently the “Press” poultry farmer is one who transfers himcelf to a bare piece of land, breeds several hundred fowls, and makes a living entirely on market fowl meat and eggs. Here and there a few can bo found approaching this description, mostly men of some means, who are doing more than a living at it. Personally I have no experience on those lines. lam making a living entirely out of poultry, and intend to keep at it, and do better, but poultry farming, as I understand it is not confined within the above narrow limits, and there is no need that it should. I can explain best by describing the following:—l bought a property on which it would have been impossible to make a living at sheep, dairy or general farming, but thought I could do so with fowls if properly planted in shelter hedges. These were planted. This incidental work now. adds an cxt'ra value to my property of at least, say, £IOO, over and above the cost of planting. Is this to be included in “poultry farming?” The shelter tree is an accessory to poultry, same as fowls to a fruitgrower, to keep' down insect pests. The runs being large, shelter was needed inside, so I planted apple trees. These trees wdl add directly to my income, and indirectly to the. value of my property. Is this to lie included in “poultry farming?” Why not? There is the fancy, or stock, and eggs shipping part. Every poultry man derives more or less income from sales of breeding stock or settings. Then, of course, the main source of income, the production of market eggs. On the above lines, poultry pays, and pays well. What follows I hope will bo as convincing as a balance-sheeet. Up to 1900 I had been employed as worknig contractor in one of the building trades. About £2O represented then the whole'of my property. I gradually launched out poultry breeding, and have now been devoting all my whole time to it for the lash three years. Within the. period 1900-1907, got married. AVe are now five in family. My banking account is small, debts practically nil. Plant and dwellings I would not sell for £BOO. A very -modest sum, no doubt. My only income is from sales of market eggs, breeding stock and settings. I must say that it takes more cajntal than is generally thought when one has to depend on poultry from the start. The safest way if to grow from a small start. In a big start, one is liable to spend the whole of the cash, wrongly, through lack of experience. Then, when the latter is gained, the cash is gone—too late to mend. The horror of the “Press” for poultry farming appears to rise from the same source as a well-known judge:—The bogey man carting a barrel Fill of hotel scraps and grease make them poultry sick—and no wonder. ■ But this view belongs to last century. AVe ha,ve long hours, no doubt, hut a good part of the overtime is as good as a picnic to one interested. The “Press” • anti-poultry . campaign, while it may benefit those who would otherwise start’, “deluded by mists,”, it will only stop many good men who could become happier more prosperous and hopeful than they are now.-Yours, etc.,