Farming Column

Hokitika Guardian, 17 September 1932, Page 8

Farming Column

NEW ZEALAND WOOLGROWER. There can be no denying ..the fact that the wcqlgrower in New Zealand ha?, good reason for . despondency in ipsj),!i.J of,the prices he is at present, obtaining for his produce. He, is not alone in his misery, however, for wool vaines the, world over, have depreciated and his wool-growing brothers in other countries are, beset with the same serious difficulties. The present conditions cannot remain indefinitely. The ,“come back/’ to better wool, prices ’may, be prolonged jinthe, case qf this depression as coiqparcjl with former .depressions, be(.apse,,.in this depression 'as compared .Wii/tir former depressions, becapse. in , ( thsi depression there , are many unique, difficulties involved which had not.,to be contended with.. previously and this is a fact no matter,. what some people say to the contrary. Quite a lot has appeared in print recently,, and much, of it is from authoritative sources,, respecting. /a certain reffeiency in quality of. v New , Zealand cross-bred wools, as required by the Bradford mills. Seemingly,, there is some truth in all that has been written but whether .or .not,. in producing wool as in all things, there is always room for improvement..and there are, many woolgrowers in the Dominion who will be well advised if they’ pay more attention, to quality, and this very naturally involves the, health aridgeneral well-being of their Good wool .pricfes. oyer a period of years, seem to have brought ino being a .degree of laxity, the results of which just now are aggravating the situation.

. If quality were better, prices would be better, for it goes without saying that even in depressed times, a superior quality wool must bring a better price than poor quality, also it; should cost little, if any, more, to produce the higher grade article than the inferior One. The application of ordinary cominon sense, care and attention tinged with a reasonable, amount of good luck yvill• effect the necessary improvement. Better prices will return just as surely as the sun rises, in tlie east and sets jn the west. Meantime are the rank and file, of sheepfanners taking full, precaution to keep up the general health, of their flock's, jet; alone improve the 1 quality of;the wool? , 1 . To <those in close touch with the sheepman and his activities there appears to be just how a' decided .tendency, on the par,t'.of many sheep, then to ’’“let things np ( ’’ because -returns at present are not ; even commensurate with production costs. This course of action is decidedly wrong, and the misguided ones may, 'be; made to, painfully, apnreciate . this fact .when prices event-, ual'.y swing Back and tlieir' flocks may not be in fit condition to produce the best’' possible results' and in this circumstance' the loss and return to better conditions will-he prolonged., 1 ,

FACTS ABOUT DAIRY FACTORIES. ; y-i-, ?' : 1:- U " •■■li ’■ . I ■ >.;• : •.' <T jk ‘

In the year ended March 31, 1932, over 99,1j00 tons of creamery butter and 83,299 tons of cheese were graded ;foj export, tlie produce being’ manufactured by 370’’companies operating 468 factories. Off these companies, 126 iwere engaged in buttermaking,’ 186 ■in ’’the rtianui'acture of cheese, and the iremairiing ’6B’ made' botli' butter and cheese! ,: There were 184 companies operating '207 .factories making butter, of which 160 of the companies with 181 factories were co-operative and the quantity of .butter graded on their account was 99,959 tons, ,or 91,372 per cent, of the total.. The remaining 24 companies, were proprietary, operating 26 factories, and the quantity of their' butter graded .was 8,589 tons, equal to 8.628 per cent, of the whole. The average butter production per factory wag 481 tons. ■ V

The cheese was manufactured by 244 companies operating 320 ' cheese- and dual-plant factories. Of these companies, 233 were co-operative, operating 309 factories, and the quality of their, cheese graded was 71,756 tons, or 98.148 per cent, of-the total. The remaining 1,543 tons, equal to 1.852 per cent, of the cheese graded, was made by 11 proprietaries operating 11, factories. The average production for all cheese factories was 260 tons.

| Converting the amount of butter and cheese made to terms of butterfat, it found that 82,957 tons of •butterfat wore represented in the butter, and .4° tons in the cheese, a total of j 14,995 tons. Of this, 107,244 tons, or 93,260 per cent, was manufactured by co-operative companies, and 7,761 tons, or 6.740% by prprietaries. Total nrnnher of milk or cream suppliers to dairy factories for the year under review was 63.946 of which 54,675 supplied co-op-erative companies, and 9,274'. proprietaries, eqlual to 85.502 and .14.498 per cent, respectively, fncludofl in the above were 84 companies bnefating 85'. registered .wfiey-butter factories,' which made a total 0i 1 '1,422 tons of whey butter (as a by-product of cheeso manufacture) during the year.'

IN THE ARGENTINE, An Argentine newspaper refers to. the state of sheep farming in Patagonia and the low values ruling there frir'fat sheep that have"been bought i for, slaughter in that part of the world. ; The prices paid by the f“cozing coin-, j panics this year are twopence, per I pound dressed -weight- for lambs, a- ’ penny per pound for wethers and fireeI fqrthings for ewes. The article vefe-md Ifn states that a sheep in Patagonia /is worth less than a fowl in Buenos I A ires.

FARMERS’ NEWS AND NOTES. In reply to a remit from the last Dominion executive asking that the I‘ailway tariff be compiled on a molt equitable basis, and that the rate ot. wool be reduced, the Railway Board replied that, whi.e the Department was desirious of affording primary producers every assistance within its power to meet the difficult economic. cencLtions existing at the present time,' its finances "were unfortunately not suffi- ■ ciently buoyant to concede . a genera • I reduction in its freight rates for that 1 tariff, ’ As all Farmers’ Unions are no dpubt aware, the differential rates pi$ f scribed in the railway scale of , charges ' for various classes of goods, are fi>;ec .with due regard to their value; thm iwool, having a higher value than, say. chaff,, coal, timber, manure, lime and j such like traffic is classified at a com paratively . higher rate. Unfortunate y the capacity of the Department t< continue to convey the lower gw de traffic at the present cheap rates has been seriously impaired by the diversion of a substantial volume of its more remunerative business to competitive road services which, by cqncentratinf their attention solely on the higher ra„ed goods and leaving the lower grade traffic to be handled by the railways, are in a position to quote more | favourable rates than those fixed in 1 oifr scale of charges. Operating under the disability of such: .conditions it, would' be appreciated that the Depart, ment was definitely, not iu a position to bean; tbe further loss in revenue which wotiid be, involved,if ; a genera reduction in freight charges for woo were conceded and it was therefore re gretted that nothing could be done in this direction. •u r 'r *'’ * * * * At a recent meeting of the pig industry* advisory committee ft was de: cided that - first grade, for bacon pigs be confined to pigs weighing from 121’ lbs. l to ISOlbs. and,.that , “A” class .'porkers' weigh from 601bs to 801bs. provided tihe (condition of the pics wak prime; The committee also affirm ed the "principle of universal compulsory grading under the control o; the Gov eminent. ' . ... " ' ■ i i—i 71 • *■’# *

No duty of any . .kind is imposed or importation's of bran and pollard. All barley to be used as a stock food w admitted free, on declaration. by the importer that it will be used; but a primage duty of. three per cent, ad valorem is- imposed. The tariff on, Australian ungroundynoize is 2 j- a cental plus a primage duty of two per cent • there is no duty on ground or crushed Australian maize, but a primary dutv of three per cent, ad valorem is im posed. ’ ■ '

In reply to an executive remit up?: ring the ■ Government jo bring, dowr legislation that all whey and second grade butter for export be lahel'e rl ‘‘pastry butter,” the Minister of culture replied that tips question had be£n brought under tihe -fot-ice of the National Dairy conference at Palm erston Npfth las’t June,' and a vote: taken on a similar resolution had been declared “lost”. There was less need to consider the .branding ' of second grade creamery butter as “pastry” than there was that whey butter should lie so branded. The N.Z. Dairy Producers’ Board was surveying the position with a view to determining whether

arrangements could be made to so market whey butter, that jt would, not coffie before the consumer as N.Z. whey butter. Tile selling of such’ butter to blehders or confectionery manufacturers’ would attain, their objective. In reply to a conference remit urging that banking institutions be definitely brought .into, line with the 20 per cent reduction, as in the case of other mortgagees, the acting Minister of finance, replied that special provision' had been made in the Natrinnl - Expenditure .Adjustment Act,, 1932. • whereby’interest on all . forms of piortgages repayable, on demand was. exempt ’from the statutory reduction. The readout was that .if such mortgages had Pot been exempt, the mortgagees could, .have called up their mortgages and re-lent the funds at-the previous,or a higher rate of interest, and thus, no benefit would accrue to the mortgagor. Bank overdrafts r being repayable on demand are accord- ; ingly- exempt from the statutory reduction,' but as already publicly, announced, the banks have voluntarily agreed to reduce the overdraft rate by one-half per cent, per annum as from • August '3l. ' /! " ' ■ /" " ’ 4 ' | RATIONING DAIRy COWS. • j Rectent issues of English agricutfcural journals indicate that the question; of the inclusion or exclusion of roots.! in the rationing of dairy cows is again exciting interest among dairy farmers in Great Britain, and the experts are giving their views. Boiitflour appears to advocate" - the' elimination of roots from the ration; on the other hand, McCandish' ' produces results of experimental 'feeding which indicate that their inclusion in the ration does not decrease the yie’d of milk or the economy of milk production. Garrad, from a study o ' t' e winter rations in Kent, also finds no significant effect on, milk yield, . but for the period studied the cost of milk pi’oduction was slightly higher n the rations containing roots. He states that “the question of whether it is desirable to feed roots does not appear to depend on tlie effect of the roots cn millj yeld; hut on whether they are !a. cheap source of food.” Obvious v, this is a factor which may vary from place to place and from year to year, and lie therefore concludes that “tlie case seems to be one for each farmer to decide foir himself, accordin'; to his circumstances,” 1 i i '