FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 154, 16 November 1912, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY.

Unless something unprecedented happens the farmers of Xorlh Tar:iiisiki are in for a good season again. In all eases' the milk snppjy. shows ;i verr decided increase; in fact, it is almoi; phenomenal. Owing to the mild weather grass lias eome away exceedingly well, helped, of course, considerably by'the liberal use of fertilisers. Twelve months ago the Xorth 'Parana ki Co-op. Dairy Co. were looking forward to putting up' a pa'.-merit <>f £2OOO for the December supply of milk, but this amount has been' not only reached but passed, and that two months--before the most optimistic anticipated, for £213!) lis Id will be paid out to suppliers for October milk—truly something to make glad the heart of the farmer. It is quite anticipated that something in the vicinity of £2700 will be paid for milk during the month of December. The amount of milk receiv-' ed for October was 1.110,5141b5, in addition to cream, which would probably bring the weight up to 1.15.j,0741b5. This is an increase of close on a quarter of a million pounds as compared with October, 1011. From this was made 23 1 /. tons of butter, an increase of iy 2 tons as agajnst that of 1011. Suppliers" received £O2l 13s 2d more than for the corresponding month of last year.

The Waitara Road Dairy Co.'s supply is : :tpidly increasing. Already they have passed the million mark of pounds of milk received, and this amount is very close to the record the company put up in December last. In October, 19)1, the company made just under 12 tons of butter, whilst for the month just past it reached within, a few pounds of 23 tons. Suppliers received in October, 1011, £llOO lis lid for their milk, and for the month just ended £2072 0s 8d has been paid out, an increase of £962 Ss Od.

The figures quoted above show the markable increase in productiveness throughout North Taranaki (writes our Waitara correspondent), and if other parts of the province show a proportionate increase (he value of our dairy exports will go up with a big bound this season, more especially when the fact is taken into consideration that the prices are better than hist' yenr, taken all round. More scientific farming and the proper desire to improve the milking strain of cow has most to do with the. increases shown, and there is no shadow of doubt but that the average farmer quite appreciates the great necessity of having the best and making the most of: the land, the result being better value , for both stock and product. So far, the Opunake, Pihama, Awatuna and Xonnanby Dairy Factory Companies have signified their willingness to join in with the Mangatoki and Eltham companies in their co-operative bacon company scheme. Tt is expected that other companies will ultimately join in also.

The Eltham Dairy Factory Company I' is now well launched into cheese-making. Manufacture of cheese was commenced at the Mata factory on the 7th inst., .and at the Fra'ser road factory on the Bth, and the first of the products are now in the company's fine curing rooms at Eltham (which curing rooms, by the way, | are the largest in the Dominion). The I Rawhitiroa an.l Eltham factories will be ready for cheese manufacture in a few days' time, probably on Monday next.—■ !=jtar. [ One of the most important items of news of the week, from the farmers' standpoint (says the farming contributor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph) is the report of the success attending the special' trial shipment of bacon cured by Mr. Prossor at the Byron Bay and Kyogle co-operative factories, to London. The prices realised, ranging to 8 l-3d per lb, may be abnormal; but the fact that the rates were "practically equal to the j highest prices obtained cm the same market for Danish bacon" shows that the English expert has been able to turn out bacon from Australian pigs that is up to the standard of the market of the metropolis of the world. The United Kingdom imports bacon, hams and lard to the value of £20,000,000 a year, so the buying power is great enough to absorb all that Australia is likely to produce for j export for many a year, even were the consumption not growing, as is the case. An English authority says that the Home supply of fat pigs cannot possibly overtake the demand should the present condition of the trade continue, whilst the possibility of receiving an increased supply of fat pigs cannot possibly overtake the demand should the present condition of the trade continue, whilst the possibility of receiving an increased supply of pork products from the United States appears to be most remote, since the ordinary decrease that has taken place in the supply has been enormously increased by the fearful prevalence in America of hog cholera, a disease said to be simi- j lar to what we know as swine fever. i

As an indication of the price sheep are likely to be during the coming season, a Ha/wke's Bay firm, having sold 2500 4-tooth wethers for delivery in January, at lGs per head. A movement in the Takapau district to establish co-opera-tive meat freezing works is receiving liberal support. A few days ago a line of dairy cows were sold in saleyards in the Wairarapa (states the Age). These were railed to Wellington, and the whole of them condemned as unlit for human consumption. Surely it is time that officers of the Agricultural Department were employed to visit our saleyards and put a stop to the sale of diseased animals. The mere fact of these cattle being put in the yards and offered for sale should be an offence in the eyes of the law. The owners who palmed the disease-stricken beasts on to others should also be made to suffer. The matter is a very serious one, and should be looked into at once. The Star mentions that a fat lamb buyer, representing a South Island freezing company, is at present operating in the Fielding district, and, it is reported, is doing large business.