DAIRYING IN AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1922, Page 12

DAIRYING IN AUSTRALIA.

4. WHAT IS BEING DONE.

SOME NOTES AND IMPRESSIONS. (By T.C.L.) A New Zealander visiting Australia can see,much and learn much, especially in connection with the rural industries of the country. Conditions there are altogether different from those obtaining in this Dominion, in respect to every branch of farming, and particularly dairying, the subject of chief concern to a resident of Taranaki. The lot of the dairyman in New South Wales and Victoria, the two States I visited in the course of a recent holiday, is much harder in many respects than that of the average New Zealand dairy fanner, and considering his great natural disabilities the wonder is that the Australian does as well as he does. In the first place only in circumscribed coastal areas is there any regular rainfall. There are no running streams as we know them in Taranaki, where they are a feature of every farm. The rain water has to be conserved, and this is generally done by digging holes and dams on the lowest parts of the farm, where the water soon assumes a dirty, clayey appearance, attracting myriads of insects and becoming anything but palatable to the milch cow. Still, it is either this or no water, and the farmer will tell you that in the dry periods he and his family are sometimes glad to drink the same water, filthy looking as it is.

For three or four months the land becomes absolutely baked, aid it is impossible to put in a plough or a spade. If a fencing hole is to be dug, a pick or crowbar is necessary. This means that provision has to be made for auxiliary fodders in the form of ensilage. oats, maize, turnips, etc. The working up of the land in preparation of the crops is itself quite a task. In New Zealand three or four operations suffice; in Australia it is not unusual to hear of 14 separate operations before the crop is garnered, so poor is the land.

Tlu? dairying season begins two months earlier than in New Zealand on account of the dryness in the months of January, February and March.

PESTS AND PLAGUES. The Australian farmer is subject to pests and plagues that happily are quite absent in New Zealand. One o-f the biggest is the rabbit. Many areas have been given over entirely to the rabbit, and other places that I went o\er might just as well have been, judging by the paucity of feed and the numbers to be seen on all sides. To keep this enemy in check the fences must be made rabbit-proof, find the land divided into workable paddocks, and constant warfare be waged with dog, ferret and gun. In one district I visited every farmer possessed a ferret, which was regarded as a highly prized member of the farming staff. They certainly are valuable auxiliaries, and seem to enjoy the fun of chasing out the rabbits from the warrens which honeycomb the countryside, but the complete eradication of the rabbit in some districts seems almost a hopeless task. Then there is the mice plague, which, however, generally troubles the wheat areas. The mice are a terrible nuisance. > Farmers \ told me that they had had to I send their wives and children away (owing to the awful stench arising from their decaying bodies. One would think a house could be made mouseproof, but they tell you it is impossible. They get in everywhere If every crevice is blocked and the doors carefully closed they come down the chimneys. They go under the house, and soon the stench becomes almost unbearable.

Locusts are another pest. Districts may be clear of them for years, and then they will suddenly appear, end eat everything eatable on t’ne farms. Nothing can be done to stay or prevent their visitations, which prove as destructive as they were in Pharaoh’s ; days. THE WHITE ANT. Another pest is the white ant, which penetrates wood and furniture unless protective means are adopted. I helped to dismantle a building. Outwardly some of the boards seemed to be in perfect condition. As soon as you began to prise them off you discovered that the board was but a Shell: the ants had eaten out the whole of the inside. leaving the paint or the creosote covering only. Furniture must be placed on procelain castors, or the ftnts will get in. What this means may be ■judged from the following. A lady in a country district near the Murray River decided to spend a couple of months in the city, and locked up her home. On returning she inspected her piano, a fine new one. and was horrified to find that the ants had eaten out the whole of the inside of the instrument.

There are other pests, which need not be discussed here-, but from what has been said the reader will gain a fair idea of the nature of the disabilities confronting the average Australian farmer, and realise that the farmer in New Zealand who has none of these troubles has much to be thankful for. A CONTINUOUS FIGHT. The Australian dairyman, has to fight every inch of his way. and if he only improved his herds and his methods he would bo in a good position. In point of fact he is much behind the New Zealander in many respects. For the most part he has scrubby eows, animals that the average- farmer here would at once consign to the freezing works digester; he does not see the necessity for testing: and he fails to properly care for or’ feed his cows. It is no wonder then that his average yield of butterfat is less than 1201b.*.. as against 163 lbs. in New Zealand, from 170 to ISOlbs 'in Taranaki and 3001bs. in Denmark. ; Notwithstanding, the growth of the i dairying industry in Australia has |been fairly rapid' In 1890 its butter exports amounted to 848 tons. In 1191'0-20 it reached 7,413 tons. Added to this were cheese 3,355 tons and 'tinned milk 14.913 tons, whilst there was enough butter produced to provide . for over five million people, with the i greatest average consumption of butter ’in the world. In 1920-21 the export of butter had grown to 41.260 tons. t Considering everything, this is a eon? siderable achievement for a country with climatic and other disadvantages tip of dairying.