FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1915, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY.

AKARATA DAIBY CO. (From Our Ilawcra Correspondent.) The sixtlx annual meeting of the Araata Co-operative Dairy Company, limited, was held in Mr. J. Turton's (secretar) office at Havvera yesterday. There was a fair attendance of shareholders, and the following directors were present —Messrs. C. C. Tarrant (chairman), Ci. Hurrell, G. Ogle and C. W. Parfitt. The annual report was presented by the chairman, and the principal item 3 of reference were:—-Buildings: The menu cottage had been added to and a saltroom erected, costing £ll3. Machinery and Plant: During the year a separator, pump and cooler have been added to the plant, at a cost of £145. Directors: Messis. Tarrant and (Parfitt retire, and. being eligible, offer • themselves for reelection. Further Payment: Out of the balance in hand it was recommended to pay interest on shares, absorbing £97 10s 3d, and 4 ] ,4d over the season, making in all a 'payment of Is G',id; a payment of Ul will be made on July 20, and the balance will be paid out from time to time as the funds a.ccrue. Pro-' duce: Cheese prices have been abnormally high during the season, but., unfortunately, owing to a scarcity of steamers, some of the cheese had not yet left New Zealand: so for balance-sheet purposes it had been necessary to estimate its value, being done on conservative linea. Staff: The services of the manager, (Mr. P. Lundberg, had been secured for next season.

Statistics.—Lb of milk 4.910,717, lb of butter fat 137,394, lb of cheese (222>/ : tons) 439,737, lb of milk to lb cheese 9.86, lb of cheese from lb ibutter fat 2.G0, average test 3.81, cost per lb f.o.b. (ineluding depreciation) .971, paid out (estimated at) Is 6Vld. During the year £lO3 had been written off the building account, and £l4O off the machinery account. The principal receipt were:—For cheese £18,161 14s, and for butter £778 16s 9d, while the items of expenditure were:—Milk £11,231 3s sd, boxes and cases £207 12s 9d, carting £l4l 13s Id, coal and firewood £2TS 13s 2d, repairs £126 16s lis, requisites £251 7s 3d, and wages £537 3s lid; elufgcs on consignments £LM9 9s lOd, freezing £-183 9s 3d, insurance, interest and rate 3 £ll9 2s 2d; secretary's salary, etc., £7B 16s Id; advertising and printing £1 12s, and sundries £l9 14a Od. 'The balance to appropriation was £3435 14s Sd.

The auditor's report made special reference to a vital point in connection with the balance-sheets of the past, that not sufficient had been written off for depreciation, and recommended that the matter should be noted.

A good deal of discussion took place over the amount of fuel that had 'been consumed. This was caused through the boiler that is being used, and it was decided to replace the present boiler was a new one of another make. The cost of manufacture had risen by about one farthing per pound, th?s being mainly due bo the rise in the price of requisites. Messrs. iParfltt and Barkla were elected to fill the two vacancies on the directorate. Mr. Gibson was re-elected auditor for the ensuing year, at a fee of £5. It was agreed that the factory should start next Monday, and every third day for the present. Special reference was made to the good work of the manager, and he was granted a bonus of £lO. At a subsequent meeting of directors, Mr. Parfitt was elected chairman. TTKGRA-NGI DAIRY CO. The annual report of the Tikorangi Dairy 00. is as follows:—Your directors congratulate members on the result of the past season. There is a balance available for distribution which will bring the average price paid for butterfat to 13% d per lb. Milk received was ; 0.037,924'ib5; cream received. 144,761 lbs; butter-fat from imilk, 247,9521b;;; butterfat from cream, 51,2961b5; butter made, 31i,9GUbs; average milk test. 4.08; lbs milk to produce lib butter, 21.29. KAUPOKOXUI COW Tismfi ASSOCIATION*. . Ko'lc.wiiig is a summary of the testing returns for the season I!>l4 ! *s: The highest herd averaged ,'i'23.221b fat per cow. The lownt herd averaged 150,941b fat per cow.

The ten highest herds averaged 252.90 lb fat per cow. The ten lowest herds averaged 15.j.971b fat per cow. The average association .ow gave 23:i.(;."ii1) fat per row. The liiiihe-i individual yield was 4.41.94!') i'at pci" row in 2GI davs. The lowest individual v>».M Va« OO.taib fat per cow in l!i!) da vs. It is generally considered in the Kanpokonni district that it takes at least £8 to keep a cow. Taking the price of butter fat this season at Is lid per 11). we find the b e st cow (-UI.O-llb) shows a profit oi ,C2.'| (or 1)14 per rent.) : the worst- cow show; a loss of lUs lor 10 per cent.). The average product ion for all cows supplying the Kaiipokonni Dairy Company is about 188H> fat. Had all these cows produced (he same as (he association cow Kanpokomii s?p-plii-rs would have received i'37.12j more than they'did.

U is encouraging to see almost all farmers who started testing- four mid live years ago continuing to do so. The coming season promises to be a record. Considerably over 3000 cows will be mi- I <V test, and jio doubt in the near future our average will be somewhere near the Denmark average of 2Soib fat per cow per year. XOTKS. In the current number of the T'astoral Review appears a very comprehensive review of the Australian meat season for the year ended .lime. 101,j. Pealing with the drought, the Keview says;—''To ••liable readers outside Au.-tralia to obtain some idea of the ell'ei'ts of a bad drought on flocks and herds, it may be mentioned that at the end of 101:1 there were r5.815,000 j-lieep and 10.040,1)011 cattle in Queensland. Xew South Wales, Victoria, mid Soulli Australia, the four exporting States. Competent judges estimate that under the most favorable conditions there will be not more than (14,000,000 elieeji and S.CaO,OOO cattle left at the end of l!!i:>. Puling the nine years preceding llse drought sheep increased at the rate of 0,3 per cent., and cattle at the rate of 5.9 per cent. Had that increase been maintained (luring 1914 and 1915 the total stock would have stood at 80,000000 sheep and 11,215,000 cattle; therefore the real loss during the two years may be set down as at least 25,000,000 sheep (30 per cent.) owl 2.565,000 head W Wittls .$3 E p "