THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8616, 13 June 1924, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

considered that the best results are obtained by placing a large consignment of young fry in a virgin river and leaving them without further stocking fox some time. FEATHERED GAME THRIVE. The Tauranga district being suitable in soil, climate, and crops for poultry, it naturally follows that all species of feathered game thrive exceedingly well. Owing to the difficulty ■ during the war period of securing fresh stock, pheasants and quail are not so plentiful aq, hitherto. It is the intention ot the Acclimatization Society to completely re-stock the district with pheasants after the close of the 1924 season, the necessary sum of money having been acquired and ear-marked for that purpose. Pests and vermin and natural enemies of feathered gam© are not plentiful. It is considered that there is ©very prospect of bringing the game shooting up to its former standard within a very short time. It may be stated that about seventeen years ago the Acclimatization Society imported nearly on© hundred pheasants from England for stock, and for some years this liberation had a marked effect on the bags secured by local sportsmen. There are at present two local aviaries rearing pheasants for sale and liberation, in addition to which supplies of birds are now available from several outride sources, so the difficulty of procuring stocks is now a thing of the past. HARES PLENTIFUL —RABBITS SCARCE. Hares are plentiful righ tthroughout the county, but owing to the numerous other attractions are not keenly hunted. Th© country is not suitable for burrowing and here rabbits are not plentiful. DEER STALKING. Another sporting attraction of the Tauranga County is the deer-stalking, which is available in various parts of the outlying country. Years ago tho fallow deer herd hod grown to such . numbers as to be practically a menace to the settlers, but .the continual attention of tho stalkers, assisted by their Maori brethren, has depleted the herd very considerably. The red deer herd, which was founded on stock from tb© "Wellington, district, was ori- ; ginaliy liberated by the Acclimatization

Facts and figures relating to the poultry of the Dominion show that more than half the people of New Zealand, as represented hy the number of householders, are keeping poultry. This fact was disclosed by the last census. Poultry, of course, includes ducks, turkeys and geese, as well as fowls, and if these are all added together, the total of the Diominiou on all heads of domestic poultry is 3,991,009. Many people have the notion that there, is nothing simpler than poultry farming

—that a man has only to get a number of fowls together, throw them a few handfuls of grain, and they will lay eggs, and there is not much else to it. As a matter of fact, there is probably no line of livelihood where experience and hard work, care and patience, and a close study of things is really more necessary. There is no royal road to success in the poultry industry, except the path of the virtues which command success in any other line. To-day the industry is still in the throes of organisation, such as dairying passed through many years ago, and itsAuture depends on similar qualities of applied

experience and united action on right lines. Of all the districts in New Zealand there is none better suited by nature for poultry keeping than Tauranga. Its dry soil and salubrious climate are great factors in keeping the birds in the best of health, while its

TAURANGA PROMISES TO LEAD DOMINION AS BEST ADAPTED LOCALITY FOR EGG PRODUCTION.

natural products, such as maize and lucerne, provide food supplies right at hand. The poultry industry has developed considerably jn the Tauranga district of recent years. The bulk of the eggs and table birds are sold in Auckland, chiefly through the agency of the Auckland Co-operative Egg Society, Limited, for which Messrs Carmichael and Nell are the local agents. Poultry are kept on every farm, and as maize, lucerne and root crops are easily grown, the feeding problem is

readily surmounted. This is not the ease, however, with the poultry-keeper on a small holding of a few acres, who is compelled to buy almost the whole food supply for his birds. Of late, grairt prices have Ireon fairly high, while the prices for eggs and poultry have not left a- margin of profit commensurate with the investment of capital, cost of feeding and labour involved. Tho problem, to-day for many poultry-keepers is the high price of grain and it is suggested that this could bo solved by the placing of a large order in Australia for fowl wheat, which could be imported and sold to

those requiring it at bare cost. It is not easy to evolve a workable scheme, as the distribution would offer some difficulties. The question, however, is one worthy of close attention by our legislators. 'Even to the cursory observer it is manifest that tho poultry

business is an important factor in increasing the income, as well as reducing the cost of living, of many small farmers and suburban residents. So far as the production of eggs is concerned—and this is the main thing in the keeping of poultry—the industry is already on sound lines. The efforts of the poultry branch of the .Department of Agriculture over a long period of years, spent in educating and instructing the people associated in the industry, and the influence of poultry shows and laying competitions have borne fruit. Even a casual survey of the poultry stock in this district today, with a comparison of what they were a dozen yeans ago, would reassure any observer on this point. The old farmyard fowl is in a decided minority, and with the introduction of hightyped layers a revolution has taken place. The majority of local poultrykeepers to-day are possessed of stock of undoubted egg-laying value. Something of the egg producing capacity was learned recently from a borough resident, who has a pen of six White Docks, which laid 1203 eggs from May 9, 1923, to March 20, 1924—an excellent record and proof of the value of keeping high-class birds. On commercial lines there are many successful poultry-keepers in the Tauranga district, who are largely guided by experience as to the methods they pursue. Some go in almost exclusively for egg-production on a large scale; ■others combine this with the sale of settings of eggs and the day-old chick from flocks of established reputation. To establish a flock of this type requires much experience and a judgment of the quality of stock that becomes a second nature, as it does with the connoisseur of sheep, cattle, horses and dogs or any other live thing. The secret of success in the other kind of poul-try-farming—commercial egg-produc-tion —is, in the main, organisation. Egg circles are now established in many parts of New Zealand, the Tau-

ranga poultry-keepers being largely interested in the Auckland Co-operative organisation* The true object of the egg circle is to place in the hands of the consumer a guaranteed article and to receive in return its true market value. A very gratifying feature of the work of egg circles is that in some cases the summer surplus is preserved for winter use. This will tend to regulate supplies and bring about a more uniform price throughout the year. Tn due course, no doubt, a& extension of this excellent principle of co-opera-tion will be brought about, to include tbo marketing of prime table poultry.

This will not only enable the poultryman to cater for the city consumer in a proper maimer, and incidentally encourage the consumption of poultry products, but will give him the full market benefit for his enterprise. The necessity for opening markets for eggs abroad has received much attention of late, and trial shipments have been attended with good results. The poul-try-keepers, just as the primary producers have done in the past—the dairy farmers, the meat growers and others—aro therefore looking to the prospects of outside markets, which means, in the case of this country, England, and the opening up of such a trade would make for the material advancement of the industry. As a jxnd try-keeping area, Tauranga can claim natural advantages second to no other area in this country and as time goes on there is every prospect that the poultry business will develop into one of the most important industries of the country.