THE DAIRY SEASON

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 37, 24 May 1910, Page 3

THE DAIRY SEASON

CAUSES OF Till'] OREAT DEVELOP-1 MKNT. I XS AT IKFALTORY WIN TER OUTLOOK. Some idea of the great development which has taken place in milk production in this Island may be gained from the fact that for the ten months ending in April the Moturoa freezing works at New Plymouth handled 13,000 more cases of cheese and 9000 more boxes of! butter than it did for the corresponding ' period of the previous season. It was thought at the commencement of the present season that there would be no appreciable increase in the butter output of the Taranaki province, as three of the main factories 'had decided to make cheese. However, the progress of the season is showing that while there Iras been an enormous increase in the amount of cheese manufactured the butter output is also exhibiting a most satisfactory advance; and the advance will he more pronounced when the figures ior the full season are published, as many eheese factories have decided to makei butter to the eiyl of the season. The season now rapidly drawing to a . close has been a phenomenal one for production, due, in the first place, to a very early commencement and to Uie remarkable manner in which stock have maintained their milk flow; and, in the second place, to the fact that dairyfarmers are now recognising that they must grow special green toclder crops for the drier weather of the year. The experience of this year has quite disproved the opinion held' by even leading in Hit producers (and expressed at the beginning of the .season) that when cows come in very early they will go off early; at least as far as the general run of our herds is concerned. The result of this ! lengthy season Ims demonstrated the imi portant fact that the maximum milk : flow caimic 1 )e maintained unless special i milk *, ofH i i s provided with which to uo ■ 't-, 'A strong reason for the record pro--1 Auction is that the season has been exI certionallv favorable, but if succulent i food i*& ' not been availi * le in the d 7 ■ spells 'coV' s woulcl not ll3ve Come b w-n-ii *„ 0 ,> ent y ield when tlle l )as ' ' w \ and could not have : ti»f "covered; . - o{ an e xeptionally : milked on to the eitfl! s . ■ lengthy season. ; Farmers having now realised the Vf.-' i lue of green crops for summer milk-pl'd' i traction, it is to be hoped they will pay [ equal attention to winter feeding. ■ Though the lengthy nature of the season ana the early calving promised next sea- ■ son means a very brief off season, only ; about two njonths (against four and five i months in the past), still the supplies of I winter feed are by no means what they i should be. In Taranaki in particular • the disease in the turnip crop's will mean • that many farmers will have no l'6ot ■ crops. This will lead to the hay and oaten straw available being used for ihe dry stock and the milking stock bei :g short of feed when they want care a~d , attention most. One good feature of the provision of special 'gireen feed in the summer is that the pastures have been thereby relieved to some extent ano should in consequence be in a better condition this winter than is usually the case. Generally the position of milk production at the present moment points to the greater need than ever of proviu.ng succulent fodder crops to supplement the pastures right throughout the year, together with better care of cows in the older montlis. More is being demanded of cows every year and more should be demanded of the farmer in provximg better shelter and feed for them.—Wellington Times. Mr. J. S. Ougliton ,of Okaiawa. has disposed of his pure-bred Clydesdale stallion Ivanhoe to Mr. James Johnston, of Mangonui, north of Auckland.' Tlie transfer of interests will be an acquisition to breeders in Mangonui, while Taranaki farmers will sustain a loss.— Star. Steady progress is being made witn the carrying out of the irrigation scheme for Central Otago. A beginning has already been made with the carrying out of one of the schemes for irrigating the Stewart settlement, which will cost about £SOOO, and the Government is now considering when a start will be njade with some of the others which have been reported on. The biggest dairy herd in the world is in the Argentine, where, at the Cabana Cesares, tnerc are milked in the summer 15,000 cows and in the 'winter 9000. The milk is gravitated from the sheds to the dairy, and while there is an enormous quantity of butter and cheese made up, and a big condense..* milk output arrived at, tnere is much of the milk used in the making oi a sweetmeat, something li'lte a chocolate, which is sent all over the republic. ; Proposals are in the air (reports .the London Financial Times) for a conibina- i tion of stock-raisers in New Zealand to' ; take over and work, on a co-operative ' .basis, all existing meat freezing works. The idea seems to have germinated • through the formation of the Wellington ' Farmers' Co-operative Meat Company. ■ Why not, is is urged in some quarters, extend this scheme to the whole of New Zealand? The advantages which some stock-raisers see in this scheme include i the elimination of middlemen and the presenting of a united front to the foreign buyer. The London mantet, it is alleged, plays off one freezing company against another. On the other hand, the ' capital required for such an enterprise would be very large—approximately, i £2,000,000. For the stock-breeders of \ 1 New Zealand to raise that sum, in order to work the freezing industry on cooperative lines, would be a big order to fulfil.