ON THE LAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 August 1921, Page 3

ON THE LAND.

| AUSTRALIAN DAIRYING. j BETTER CONDITIONS THAN U.S.A. SYDNEY, July 23. 1 According to one dairy farmer who ? bias an intimate knowledge -of climatic conditions for dairying in both , Australia and the United States, the f<>ilmei-| has everything to gain by r the comparison. “The farmers hi Am. • erica- have nothing that the farmers [ | here do not possess; but the farmers in l ' Australia have something that the Far- , tners in America cannot purchase for • 1 any money—a climate. Here we can •'grow; lucerne, clover, corn, oats, and sorghums quite as well as they can ! grow them over there. (Ye have no long snowy winter and do not find ice in our wafer troughs for six months in the year.’’ In these words Air Ray ! Sanderson, of Lydholme, Bundnnoon. sums tip*the position as he sees it in a report to the select committee of the Legislative Council on the improvement of agriculture. Afost of his 13 years of practical farming, lie said, had been iit the United States and Canada, bielly among Friesian cattle, and the changes within that, time had 'been very marked. AYithin the space of a few years the transformation that had taken place in the dairying States of America had been wonderful. He bad seen whole districts covering scores of square miles ; with little log buildings, with the syt- | tiers milking a few -'•rub cows, and

within ten years he had seen the sam settlers living in luxury, owning fhei own motor gars, and having their borne lighted with electricity. The changes that had taken place i: Minnesota and Wisconsin since he firs went to the United States were prat;

tically unbelievable. In whole district twelve years ago land —cut .over lan they called it could be bought In 15 dollars an acre. It was land tic in iMissibilitios. Only a few years he lure it had been a liimliennan’s parr disc, us shown by the armies ol stump which marked the trail of the ax but it had a .deep soil full of humus Mot) without much money, but win saw tlm possibilities of this country bought it from the lumber oompanie at the price mentioned. They scarifiet the gtmind In-tween the stumps am sowed clover and rye grasses, whirl grew splendidly.. The settlers. Air Sanderson continu ed, having prepared the .country, bought what was then termed (lain cows, small scrubby cattle which wort gentle and milked fairly well, lhet made butter, and lived on the proceed.of the sales while they cleared the laud and Imilt their little log hints and hous'es. But provincial Governments s-ooit saw the dairying was the backbone of these States- and to further the industry thov employed what were tailed field men. These held men, were lie ‘-aid, nicked men who had made good in farming life, and who were good mixers with farmers. Those demonstrated to tin* farmers the value of the pedigree bull, ind the need for discarding the “hoarier” cows. They showed how, by phtling the feed these hoarders eat into fie cows that were producing at least a Mimll profit, the farmer would get a jetter result from fewer head, and thus ncrense his income and reduce his la-

1 hour cost. In tliis way -ilus were introduced. and their use gradually extended and as a result, "in the beautiful valleys of Minnesota and Wisconsin, with their splendid farms, com fort aide homes, and c<unlortabfe bains lor the cattle, the very air had a smell of prosperity. The whole aspect ot the country is a monument and a tribute to the dairy cow.” ■‘Why. then,” Air Sanderson asked, •‘Joes Australia not make greater headway ill the dairy industry.'” Answering his own question lie said we needed a good solid practical method for enlightening the farmers such as they had in America. We needed someone solid enough to push the. truth home io these men, and to bring about better methods of feeding and earing for rlieir stock, after seeing that they were on the road to the better stock. Conservation of fodder in silos or ns - hay should be dinndd into the farmers, together with the gospel of good sires, the testing of all raws and the elimination of boarders. ‘‘lt seems to me that the initial step rests with the Government. A most important feature is that the men who are appointed to instruct the farmers must he good men. Given the necessary instruction, and being inspired bv the essential enthusioii, the farmers and the cows will do the rest and this country will become uhat it should be one of the greatest dairying countries’ in the world.” i