DAIRYING ECONOMICS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4347, 25 November 1921, Page 1 (Supplement)

DAIRYING ECONOMICS.

BANKRUPTCY AVOIDED.

BY CHEAP LABOUR.

OF WIVES AND CHILDREN. A demonstration on the Jersey cow was given at Bombay school recently, about thirty adults being present, a third pf them being ladies. At the conclusion of the demonstration about forty girls and boys entered .a judging competition; score cards were handed put, and each competitor marked down the chief points of the cow he or she was judging. The hoys judged one cow and the girls judged another. However, as it will take some time to go through these score cards, the results will not be available for some time,, In opening the demonstration Mr A. Best, the chairman of the School Committee, stated that butter-fat had dropped in price, while all the costs in connection with dairying had. increased. He instanced that the average fpr the dairy cow in New Zealand was only 1601 b of .? butter-fat, at one shilling and sixpence per lb, a cow averaging 1601 b would bring in a gross income for butter-fat of £l2 per year. He then went on to show the cost Of production. It took two acres at a costpf £5O to feed a cow. Therefore interest , £6, top-dressing £1 10s, rates and taxes £l, and allowing a man to every fifteen cows, and taking the cost of his wages at £3 per week, the’total cost pf upkeep-on each cow was £lB 10s per year, so that the farmer really tost £6 10s per cow on a cow that only produced 1601 b fat per annum.' On the other hand a cow that produced 3001 b of fat showed Q . profit of £4' for the year, while a cow that produced 400 showed a profit of £ll 10s. Cows producing 3001 b and 4001 b of fat were npt uncommon, while one Jersey heifer in Bombay, as a twohad produced over 6001 b of butter-fat. The reason that many dairy farmers were not bankrupt was because of the cheap labour rendered by their wives and children. The Bombay School Committee, realising these facts, had taken advantage of the Auckland Central Jersey Cluo, Pukekohe, which had recently appointed certain gentlemen to give demonstrations of Jersey cows. The school committee recognised that the boys and girls of the future, must be trained to recognise (the characteristics of a dairy cow.