FARMERS SPEED-UP

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 19, 15 October 1937, Page 26 (Supplement)

FARMERS SPEED-UP

Mechanisation of Agriculture It is often said of the priraary producer that he is not efficient, in that he does not make'use of machinery to the same extent as does the manufscturer, and that his costs are * therefore higher than need be. While such a charge niay have had a strong foundation of fact a decade ago> the farmer to-day, whatever branch of agricultural activity he may be engaged in, can refute this. Those who are following tfends in present-day farming know full well that the farmer is wide awake to any fresh developments in the mechanisation of agriculture, and, once a new machine or implement has proved its worth, he will not be long in adopting it and recommending its use. The following official figures for the years 1926, 1930 and 1935 illustrate clearly the place that the machine occupies in farming, and shows how farmers are appreciating the value of machinery in farming operations •—

1926 1930 1935 Electric motors — Number ••• 19,584 19,169 22,117 iiorse-power 12,631 28,638 40,848 tion engines — Number ... 19,534 19,169 22,117 , Horse-power 61,706 58,052 67,66" Portable or traction engines — Number .. 832 817 •— liorse-yower 5,456 5,076 — Agricultural tractors — Number . . 2,025 3,891 5,349 Horsepower 32,360 59,217 84,867

threshing Machines . . . 327 444 030 Milking machines — Plants ... 16,391 20,415 25,630 Capacity . . 58,648 72,147 90,073 Cows in milk on holdings e m p ioymg milking machines .... 729,772 967,131 1,359,534 Cream separators 45,765 48,3.02 55,920 Shearing mar 1 chines — Plants .... 5,949 7,394 8,174 Stands ... 18,797 21,482 22,982