MILK PRODUCTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1875, 10 September 1918, Page 4

MILK PRODUCTION.

DOES IT PAY:’ The subject of winter feeding of dairy cows lias been much discussed this year owing to the unusual shortage of feed at the end of the winter. Some precise figures, given by Mr L. Howell, at a meeting of farmers at Paraparaumu last week, will he read with interest. They show the actual cost of feeding one dairy cow for four months during last winter, and are as follow; Hay, lOlhs. daily ration, £-1 ss; 31bs. pollard daily, £1 15s; -Kllhs. swedes daily, £3; interest on land, £1 17s; total for four months, £lO 17s. Mr Howell added that on present prices paid for milk his income from the cow amounted to £ll, thus leaving him 3s for profit, without allowing anything for labour. Air Howell said these figures could be verified and clearly disproved the current idea that farmers were getting fat on winter dairying. The ration quoted above.was that actually given to his cows during the winter, and was approved by the Department of Agriculture as a jumper system of feeding cows in winter. In addition to this his cows had had green oats, for which he had not allowed. To obtain that result he had to work hard, and his wife had to work also. C'r. Norwood, chairman of the Wellington Milk Committee, who seemed impressed with the figures supplied, pointed out that: if 5d per gallon extra had been secured by Mr Howell, his net jmolits would have been £5 3s, and he asked whether that would be a reasonable amount to make. Air Howell and others expressed the opinion that even with the extra payment as suggested, farmers were not being overpaid. Mr I' 1 . J. Ryder said that if farmers were paid for their work in proportion to what wharf employees were, milk would not he selling in Wellington in winter for less than about 5s per pint. When people talked of farmers’ profits they quite forgot to take into consideration the Jong hours worked by farmers’ wives and children 100. — Chronicle.