THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1917, Page 7

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

I . FARMERS' CONFERENCE IN NEW | PLYMOUTH." Wli '" j -™"r-- __,._. •WjferSßThe Farjncrs' Conference in connection with the Taranaki Metropolitan Society's Winter Show was opened in the Good Templar Hall yesterday. There was a good attendance of farmers and the president of the Society (Mr. ,T. Connett) -presided. The chairman briefly referred to the success and popularity of last year's conference, and explained the lature of various difficulties that had to be overcome and obstacles 'aced in connection with this year's gathering. He then introduced Mr. A. Morton, chairman of the National Dairy Association, who had kindly consented to give an address on the dairy industry. ■ THE -DAIRY INDUSTRY. ' " Mr. Morton began by saying that when the president had asked him to address the conference on the subject of the dairying industry he did not object, although he had thought it possible he would have to cover some of the ground as in his address at Pulmerston North next week. But when be came to get some material together upon which to base his remarks he found that it would not bo necessary/ fo*. him to go over that ground, and he would confine what he had to say to the position of the industry as it was to-day and as it had progressed during the past twenty years. The 'lairy industry in New Zealand was essentially one of the primary industries, and was third in importance, coming after wool and -neat .3 the value of products exported. It was ratter remarkable, if they looked into the .Ignres, to note the past relatione of these three export products to each other and the enormous strides made by dairying luring the last twenty years. In 1895 the value of the butter exported was £281,000 and the cheese £13,000, while now there was many a single factory turning out much larger quantities. The exports of butter in 1915 had been valued at '£2.700,000 and the value of tho cheese £2,730,000. and for the year ending April 31. 1917, the figures 'Were- Butter £2,897,000 and cheese £3,426,000. making a total for the two combined industries of £*1,324,000. These figuTes were remarkable, for on April 31 there was i large quantity of cheese in store and about 200,000 boxes of butter. The rise of the dairy industry in New Zealand, and its marvellous progress had been due in the first place, to the introduction of the separator, in the second place to tne introduction of the refrigerator, and in the third place to co-operation. There had always been' some form of dairying in New Zealand. Some of those in the ' room would remember the old days of butter being brought to market in baskets and bartered for other articles required, and when only in the larger dairies something in tho shape of preserving, was attempted, but it was not till the advent of the separator followed by the advent of tho refrigerator that the dairy industry began to b« of importance; and then followed co-opera-tion, fireat credit was due to the pioneer who had proved not only that the industry could bo carried on satisfactorily, because it was then co-operation followed, with the result that the whole of the dairying in New Zealand had become one huge co-operative concern. For the first few years the industry was practically confined to butter; a small quantity of cheese wa9 made in the South Island, but fail her north, including Taranaki, tho whole business was -butter making. It was only a few years ago. that cheese making was started in this province, and from then till now. there' had been a gradual change until to-day they found that the exports of cheese considerably exceeded thco of butter.

If it had not been for the fact that a very large proportion of the cheese had been taken by the Imperial Government at a fixed price the return to the producers would certainly have beea very .much greater. It was interesting to consider why the prices obtained for cheese were relatively so much higher than those for butter, and in doing so it was necessary to look at the sources from which the articles were obtained. They found that their butter had to compete with butter from various other countries. Onfe of these countries was Denmark, and although he fully believed that New Zealand butter was quite equal in quality to the Danish, still there was a prejudice amongst a certain class in the Old Country in favor of the latter. Owing to long custom people were prepared to give higher prices for it.

MARGARINE COMPETITION.

Our tmtter had also to compete with Trish, French, Argentine and other butters, but the most serious competitor of all was margarine. The quality of margarine had so much improved that it was now difficult even for experts to detect the difference between first quality margarine and first-quality butter, and it was believed to be only a question of time when a great quantity of butter would be displaced by margarine, But in his opinion there always would be a market for the very choicest butter. Cheese had to deal with very much less competition indeed, the competitors being limited to Canada and Australia. So far as Australia was e«ncerned, the production was limited, and the competition not serious, but with regard to Canada the position was very different: For some years past Canada had been almost entirely a cheese-producing country. Some -years ago the output had decreased, more attention being paid to wheat growing, but within the last few years Canada had again turned to cheese production, and her exports had increased till the exports were now almost as great as her previous maximum. New i Zealand, he was confident, would always [find Canada a serious competitor. THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY. Dealing with quality, Mr. Morton said our system with regard to butter and cheese was carried on on excellent lines. They had been fortunate that in the early days of the industry the Government had in and made it law that there should be grading of the products. At that time a great many objections had been raised to the proposal, but long experience had shown that the system of grading was in the best In. terests of the industry, and had been the means of building it up. Not only had they this grading system by the Government, but the latter had appointed instructors whose services had been .very valuable indeed, and had in fact taken steps to follow the manufacture of butter and cheese from the farm right up to the Home boats. The system was a very complete one, and not only were tiie heads first class men, who had done a ' very great deal for the industry, hut all members of the dairy staff were cnthus- ' iastic and competent men, the result be-

ing a very high standard of quality at- | tained by the Dominion's products. The grading system had created ambition among the factory managers, and the keen rivalry between thein was greatly in the interests of the industry. So far as the dairy companies themselves were concerned, they had at all times been anxious to adopt the most up-to-date methods in order to secure the best results, in many cases not hesitating to scrap good machinery in order to replace it with the latest improvements. With reference to the matter of home separation, there was not very much of it at present. Home separating necessitated very much greater care for the production of high quality. In Australia there was home separating, but no compulsory grading. Some of them would probably remember the time when Australian products commanded from 2s to 43 more than New Zealand, but under the system of compulsory grading and Government instruction the . position had been reversed. Australia hf.d gone back because there was no compulsory grading to create the same keen competition between the factories, and the same rivalry between the managers. No doubt home separating would spread in New Zealand, but greater care must be taken in the facfories in handling the milk. The same results could not be obtained fron: cream delivered only two or three times a week, as from the whole milk delivered daily. The managers in Taranaki had taken great care, and had insisted on the daily delivery of the cream, and so long as that system was adopted there need be no fear that the standard of quality would be lowered. In the case of cream' not delivered laily it would be necessary to adopt as in the Auckland district a system of grading the cream. Not only had New Zealand factories adopted the best methods and the best machinery, but they had from time to I time embarked oi subsidiary matters. TARANAKI'S PROGRESS. Probabl™ they "iad here in Taranaki made-greater strides than in any other district. The producers had their own freezing works, their own mills for the manufacture of bo-j3s, and they had a large number of factories going in for the manufacture of bye-products. Many of them already went in for the manufacture of casein, and many more would do so. Another thing in view was the manufacture of dried milk, which could be more profitably carried on under the co-operative sy.tem than under proprietary management, SHIPPING CONTRACTS. Referring to the matter of shipping, Mr. Morton said that at the time of the outbreak of the war the producers had been fortunate enough to have entered into contracts with shipping companies to place their products on the Home markets. He believed these contracts were still in existence, but c-7ing to the exigencies of war the shipping companies were unable to carry them out. Vessels had been commandeered by the Imperial Government, the shipping companies had no control, and their plight was an unenviable one. The Imperial Government had purchased our cheese, but the position with regard to the butter was not so satisfactory. About 200,000 boxes now awaited shipment, and the positio" at present did not look very encouraging, but he was hopeful that during the next month or two prospects would improve. They could got nothing definite, but from hints that had been allowed to fall there seemed to be grounds for expecting better things. It seemed probable that the submarine menace to British shipping would he very greatly reduced, and it was a fact that not only British but also American and Japanese shipyards were building vessels in large numbere. It was only reasonable to suppose that some of those vessels would be equipped with refrigerating machinery to enable them to carry produce. INCREASED PRODUCTION. Another question was that of increased production. It seemed problematical if they could get incr-ised production, so many herds had gone out of operation owing to the losa sustained by so many single men being called fo. the war, While no doubt there would soon be a calling up of the second division. No doubt there would be a siderable diminution in the output, and they mst be prepared for considerable sacrifice. But Htill he thought, notwithstanding there was going to be a reduction in the number of herds, that if they all worked loyally together they could keep ud their sxports. It had been impressed upon them that with improved treatment of herds and pastures it would be possible to double the output, and he believes that, at any rate, it could be very greatly increased, INDIVIDUAL TESTING. He believed that if farmers went in for a system of individually testing every cow they possessed the results would be greatly enhanced. A great deal also depended'on the use of pure-bred bulls, also on the methods of ploughing and manuring. Unfortunately manure prices were high, and likely to become higher, and unless they used mpnures they could not expect to improve their farms. They would find it advisable to provide not only for winter feed, but a! > for autumn' and spring feed The agricultural experts were doing good work, and if they carried on as they were doing and their advice was followed, increased output should result. He also advocated the planting of trees not only for shelter purposes, but also for ise as fencing and firewood. He did not propose, to say anything more, as no doubt there were others anxious to address the meeting. He thanked then for their patient hearing, and the courtesy with which they had received his remarks, (Applause). Questions were invited, but as none were forthcoming the chairman moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Morton, and the motion was carried by acclamation.