DAIRY PRODUCTION SOARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 501, 2 November 1928, Page 8

DAIRY PRODUCTION SOARS

IT is heartening to find that, whatever the disputes and controversies that may arise within the dairying industry, her Majesty the Cow continues to play her part effectively, with the result that production, in spite of minor setbacks, is ever, ever on the up-grade, raising the dairy cow and the dairy farmer to supreme heights as factors in the country’s economic prosperity. Last year at this time the Auckland Province was contemplating with satisfaction the remarkable current yield. That it is well not to forget how much climatic fluctuations may upset early prospects was shown later in the summer, when a severe drought brought dismay to the farmers of a wide area. In the circumstances it was extraordinary that the yield for the full season kept up as well as it did. Fires as a concomitant of the drought, and the serious disorganisation caused by the diversion of the Waikato River at Arapuni, were other adverse agencies. This season the farmers, with luck, should be free of any such tribulations. It is, therefore, worth while examining the position as it stands to-day. The yield for recent months, with October especially fruitful, surpasses the remarkable early returns of last season. Prices generally have been a shade better, and the settlement for the time of the control question, with free marketing again the general order, should give the industry greater internal stability. But the Dairy Board, which had the much-discussed control system in its hands, has not altogether ceased its active career. Apart from assisting with shipping allocations and other routine tasks, it is still prosecuting a vigorous advertising campaign abroad. A lifelike replica of a New Zealand dairy cow, mounted in an appropriate setting aboard a motor-truck, recently travelled from London to Brighton, attracting keen interest along the route. Corresponding enterprise has been shown in the staging of other exhibits. The excellent work should be carried on with undiminished enthusiasm.