DAIRYING IN THE STATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 11

DAIRYING IN THE STATES.

POOR PRICES LAST TEAR. ! HIXT TO NEW ZEALAND. 'Big breeders in America are finding the authorities v«ry severe in their | tubercular tests of rVairy herds, and j many valuable animals* have been de- ' at roved, only SO dollars a head being' allowed, although some of the cows cost | 10,000 dollars." This statement was ■ made to a "Star" representative .by Mr. David W. Corbett, of London, who lias ii thoroughbred herd of Jerseys on a farm about U0 miles from Xew York City. Incidentally Mr. Corbett mentioned ] that his neighbour was Mr. J6hh j Arfman, the owner of the famous Mot- j stein bull King PegLs which the New I Zealand rjoveniment tried to purchase j for 20,000 dollars. After rejecting this offer Mr. Arfman sold a half interest in the. bull for r>o.ooo dollars. \ During the past year America had ex- j perienced a big slump in the price of dairy and farm produce. This was i largely due to ovcr-prodiiction. Farmers J were having a hard time both in the I States and in Canada. Milk sold by | big dealers was bringing 3 centra quart, j equal to about Ud, but by the' tirtie the consumer got it he pft-id 20 cents a quart. | The great complaint was the enormous amount of profit collared by the middlemen. Tfc was ,i fact that the men who j delivered the milk in pealed bottlfcs each morning made more, out of it than the In regard to the slaughtering of • tuberculous cows. Mr. Corbett Raid that | experts declared they could induce in any cow an apparently tuberculous condition which was not really tuberculous at all. That could 'be done j simply by over-feeding. Many cows I were condemned in error, and the mis- ! take was not discovered until after I they had been killed and examined. | Speaking of New Zealand. Mr. Corbett expressed himself as favourably impressed with the number of dairies he had seen and the facilities offered for farming. He thought thtt conditions were much superior to those of Australia. He was not sure if New Zealanders realised the value of having thoroughbred stock and of grading up the herds. Certainly in the vicinity of j Auckland he had observed a large i preponderance of very ordinary cows. I Thoroughbred stock cost money, but the results nroply repaid the outlay. ! because the output would be increased i by quite i>o per cent. | Touching on wheat growing in ! America, be said it bad not. been a paying proposition during the past year. The average price last fall had been a dollar a bushel, while, the I cost of production had been ascertained to be 11.30 per bushel.