BUTTER-FAT PRODUCTION.

Shannon News, 13 May 1927, Page 2

BUTTER-FAT PRODUCTION.

GREAT INCREASE LAST MONTH. PREVIOUS SEASON’S OUTPUT NOW EXCEEDED. LEVIN’S MAY PAY OUT, April this year has been rather a re- , markable month for dairy farming in the Levin district, as it has enabled theLevin Co-operative Dairy Company to overtake with quite a large margin the previous shortage of butter production compared with last season. At the end of March, as the result of a late summer and a subsequent drought, the quantity was two tons below what it. was in* the preceding year, being 834 tons, as against 836 tons. Last month s output, however, reached the high figure of 70-tons, which is 12 tons more than in April," 1926. Thus the production from the beginning of the season (in June) until the end of last .month was 904 tons, whereas the quantity-for the same period of the previous season was 894. .tons. Figures published by the Agricultural Department for. a period of nine months ended April 30th last show a Dominion increase of butter production of 12.3 per cent. In this district the phenomenal increase in the yields from dairy, herds during April may perhaps be attributed lowing the autumn rains, the paddock 3 have provided almost the equivalent of spring feed in April. There were a number of light frosts, and one or two sharp ones, last month, but the intervening weather has been, mild, and even now the weather is scarcely more rigorous than a tropical winter. The pay-out by the Levin company for April will be at the rate of Is 3d per lb of butter-fat for “finest.”