OUR DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1922, Page 7

OUR DAIRY INDUSTRY.

BUTTER-FAT RETL KN S

IMPORTANCE OF TESTING. “Efficiency” sends the Auckland Herald the following striking comments on the present condition of (our dairying industry, and suggestions for its improvement:—

“It is now quite obvious to all thinking men who have the welfare of this country at heart, that the time has arrived when some comprehensive co-oper-ative scheme between the Department of Agriculture and the dairy farmers of the Dominion should be devised to come into operation on July 1, 1922, the object of such scheme being to lay the foundation of a practical means to increase the yield of butter-fat per dairy acre from 851 b to 1501 b. and so put the dairy farming business on a sound financial footing with butter-fat at Is to Is 3d per pound.

“It is obvious that land values in* many districts are quite out of proportion to the producing capacity of such land —even with 3001 b butter-fat cows ; — and in such cases these values A will have to be reduced. It is a well-known fact that out of approximately 1,000,000 dairy cows occupying approximately 2,000,000 acres of our dairy lands 30 per cent, of such cows are such low producers that the average for the whole 1,000,000 is thereby reduced to less than 1701 b of fat per cow, or 851 b per acre, taking an average of two acres, to the cow. To put the dairy farming business or. a sound footing with fat at Is to la 3d per pound, two things require to be dope: (1) Land values must be reduced to a level that will allow of a 1501 b per acre butter-fat yield at Is per pound, which is £7 10s per acre, paying interest on land and stock depreciation, labor and sundry expenses and leaving reasonable profit to the farmer on his investment. (2) The yield of butter-fat must be increased from 581 b to 1501 b per acre. When these two things have been accomplished, and not till then will the dairy farming business of this fair Dominion be on a safe and sound financial footing. It is to be regretted that land values were ever allowed to soar to the height that many farmers unfortunately bought in at, on an absolute gamble on the price of butter-fat, the price of which we have no control over. However, it is no good crying over §pilt milk. The dairying industry must now face the position as it is and make good. INCREASING THE YIELD. “The second part to increase the yield of butter-fat from 851 b per acre to 1501 b per acre is more difficult and will take four to five years to accomplish, but it can be done, and must.be done if dairy faimers are going to make good. Feeding, weeding, and breeding are the three keys to successful dairying. I will go into the question of feeding; we ?U know that if a cow is not properly fed, she can’t produce her maximum of milk and butter-fat. Under this scheme we take it that the average farmer will see to it that he feeds his cows properly. The all important question of systematic monthly testing of each cow is where the great benefit of co-operation with the Agricultural Department can be worked to such enormous advantage to tlie dairy farmers. At the present time, according to the latest figures available, there are only some four per cent, of .our cows tested. The reason for this deplorable state of affairs is not that the farmers generally do not fully recognise the benefits of testing, but the facilities in the way of suitable machines to attach to the milking machines for quickly and effectively taking the weight .and sample of each cow’s milk, have hitherto been unprocurable. The next difficulty the farmer has 'had to put lip with is a means of getting his samples tested after he has got them and a proper record of his herd kept. True, there are in some distiets testing associations, but they cover a comparatively small section of the herds of the country.

A SUGGESTED SCHEME. “I would suggest that the Department of Agriculture in co-operation with the dairy farmers of the Dominion take this matter up in a practical way on the following lines: (1) Let the department divide up the whole country into 40C. milking districts with approximately 2500 cows to each district; appoint 403 testing officers, one to each district, salary £3OO per annum, costing £120,000; appoint five inspectors to supervise the work, salary £5OO, £2500; appoint one inspector of dairy herds generally to control the whole movement, £1000; office, stationery, and other expenses, say, £10,000; total general expenses, £133,500. To meet this expense the department to strike a cow tax of 3s per cow, or one-fifth of a penny per pound butter-fat on 1701 b average cow, which on 1,000,000 cows would provide £150,000. Such tax to be payable in the month of June in each year. Any cow in any herd producing 2751 b fat to be exempt from taxation, and the department to make up any deficiency there may be through cows having earned their exemption. Cash prizes of £3OO, £<lso, and £5O to be offered by the department in each milking district for the first three herds of 50 cows and over to reach 3001 b butter-fat per cow, such herds having started at an average according to their factory returns of below 2001 b per cow. ‘As there are approximately 20,000 bulls required for New Zealand’s dairy herds, and as the latest figures show only 13 per cent, purebreds and 87 per cent, scrubs are in use, I would suggest that the department offer a cash bonus of two guineas to be paid to the farmers for every two-year-old purebred bull bred from any of the four milking strains. This would encourage the breeding of purebred bulls, and is of the utmost importance to the breed of butter-fat producing cows. “Each testing officer should be provided with a suitable brand so that all cows which have been proved by actual test to be duffers can be branded. This would prevent them being sold as dairy cows to some other farmer.

“After all, the dairy herds are the very foundation of the industry, and it only remains for the department to take the lead in this movement and provide the facilities on the lines here suggested, for which the average farmer would gladly pay his 3s cow tax. New Zealand would then have the most perfect dairy produce and butter-fat producing organisation in the world. Why should New Zealand not have it?”