MILK OR BEEF.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 26 October 1907, Page 2

MILK OR BEEF.

CONFLICTING INTERESTS. AN EXPERT'S VIEWS. (Special to the News.) Wellington, Last Night. A prominent authority has been giving a representative of ''The Dominion" his views on the situation in regard to the callle industry and its bearing on the dairying profession. ''Our rough country," he says, "will always make the North Island dominate the South in fat cattle. Our great areas of broken territory, our fern land, our scrub and bush, and the need of many hoofs to break down the vegetation, will always give cattle a special value in our eyes and keep out the sheep. Their value in that respect may diminish, but it ,wjU never wh.lly disappear. On our broken properties a renewal of English grasses by the aid of the plough in Canterbury fashion is impossible. Thus the keeping of cows as well as sheep to preserve the pastures in good order \s indispensable. This is the great reason why the North dominates the South in beef.

"But our beef industry is imperilled by the great prosperity of the dairyman. Thousands of calves are slaughtered annually because it does not pay to rear and fatten them. This confronts us with a danger of an early shortage of fat cattle and dearer beef. "In non-dairying districts, stocked mainly with sheep, the predominant beef breed is Shorthorn on the good and medium land and Hereford and Polled Angus on the poorer soils. The encroachment of Ayrshire and Jersey blood is damaging the beef stock in some parts, both North and South. This, unfortunately, is likely to continue as long as dairy prices remain high. "The dairy-farmer, of course, cannot be blamed. He is justified in breeding the animal that best suits his purpose. And, after all, dairying is our paramount country industry, because it employs a large amount of labor per acre and is our most powerful lever for the reduction of areas. When the first dairy factory was established in Groytown, it was pointed out by those at the head of the movement that the scheme opened out the only prospect of success for the small holder, and the present success of every dairy factory in the Dominion justifies that assertion. Fruitgrowing provides even more labor per acre than dairying, and Greytown's present cooperative fruitgrowing scheme deserves every success."