The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1921. DAIRY PRODUCE INCREASE.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1921. DAIRY PRODUCE INCREASE.

If the returns .from the other dairying districts in the Dominion exhibit the same gratifying results of output at the commencement of the present season as is the case with Taranaki, dairy farmers will have good reason to anticipate a satisfactory yield when the season closes. At the same time there is a possibility of a dry summer lowering the average output unless provision is made for such a contingency by growing green feed. It will be remembered that in the Motherland extreme heat and drought prevailed laat summer for an. exceptionally long period. This should act as a warning to Dominion farmers to be

prepared for a dry spell, though it is hardly likely that Taranaki will experience a drought sufficiently severe to dry up all the pastor-'. The start of the season being *0 propitious is a great advantage,6o that the dairying community can reasonably hope that they are on a good wicket. The pleasing feature is

the decided increase in the quantity of butter, the Motuc..-. stores alone having received 22.400 boxes more sine • the season started than in the corresponding period st. year. Probably this is largely due |to several factories, which previously made cheese, changing over to butter in consequence of the seemingly better prospects for that commodity, and perhaps to some extent to the improvement in the yielding power of the herds as the result of testing and culling. The main point, however, is that the production has increased, so that if prices are lower this year than last there should still be a larger return. That is real progress, for it is by the test of the increase or decrease in production, and not by the value of the output, that the position of the industry must be arrived at. The figures so far recorded may, therefore, be taken as most encouraging in view of the paramount need for greater production. Taranaki is dependent on dairying, and is capable of a far greater output than hitherto. That is why every dairy farmer should aim at a steady Increase in output year by year, and this he can secure by adopting the measures that will lead to that end—keep only good butter-fat cows, and feed them as they ought to be fed. By that means he can face a fall in price, with equanimity, because if lie is obtaining an increased yield the extra quantity may cover the smaller price. The men who do this are those who will make money, while those who go on in the old rut will merely slave away and eke out a bare subsistence.