VITAL EXPORT.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20264, 5 August 1937, Page 31 (Supplement)

VITAL EXPORT.

New Zealand’s Butter.

History of Dominion’s Agriculture.

The dairying industry in New Zealand is 54 years old and its birth can be dated from the first shipment of refrigerated meat from New Zealand in 1882, for the development of an export trade in butter and cheese has depended entirely on transport equipped with freezing facilities, states E. J. Fawcett, Farm Economist, Department of Agriculture, in a comprehensive article on agriculture in New Zealand. Coincident with improvements in refrigeration, sailing ships were being replaced rapidly by power-driven vessels, with a resultant lessening of the transport period. Further, the year 1882 was an important one in the history of the co-operative factory system as we now know it. Though factories were in operation previous to that date, the Government in 1882 offered a prize of £SOO to the cooperative cheese factory which first reached an output of 50 tons in one season. Within 10 years over 200 co-operative factories of various kinds were erected, and to-day less than 6 per cent of total export butter and 2 per cent of total export cheese is processed in proprietary factories. New outlets for dairy produce and the consequent rapid development of the factory system necessitated application of State-directed, scientific principles to the processing of milk and cream. Thus Government grading and Government supervision of factories were introduced to safeguard the interests of customers 12,000 miles away. Modern Methods. The first enumeration of dairy stock in New Zealand was made in 1895, the total herd then numbering 257,140 cows. The number rose to 381,000 in 1901, and has increased cumulatively ever since, until in 1935 the Dominion herd stood at 1,952.000 dairy cows. Prior to 1920, the system of farming adopted was extensive, in that a highly favourable climate and natural fertility of the soil was exploited. Cumulative increases in the number of cows carried were achieved through the breaking in of more land rather than by the full exploitation of land already in production. Top-dressing of pastures was not general, and supplementary crops were used to augment grass in the feeding of dairy stock. At the same time, transport facilities were improving, and labour-saving machinery was being developed. Thus cheese factories were built over extended areas, and home

separation enabled farmers in isolated districts to undertake milking for butter factory supply. Milking machines were becoming very generally used, and these improvements, combined with concrete yards and walk-through sheds, contributed to the removal of prejudices against milking large herds as a sole source of income.