DAIRY OUTPUT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13056, 26 January 1943, Page 8

DAIRY OUTPUT

NINE PER CENT. DROP VALUE £2,600,000 DOWN There was a decrease of over 9 per cent in butter-fat production in the Dominion during the 1941-42 season compared with the previous season, states the annual report of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The total was just over 370,000,0001 b. The number of cows milked was 1,777,2 39, against 1,779,603. Manufacture of butter decreased by 25.9 per cent. and the cheese output increased 28.7 per cent. The decrease in total production is attributed to less favourable climatic conditions and the difficulty in maintaining adequate labour for dairy farmers. "Toward the latter part of the year," states the report, "the board and other organisations representing farming interests were so impressed with the seriousness of the position of manpower for farms that they made representations to the Government. A policy was adopted aiming at retention of sufficient labour to maintain . production of the dairy produce which is urgently needed by the United Kingdom as well as for the feeding of our own population and the armed forces in the Dominion and the Pacific." Exports for the year ended March 31, with the figures for the preceding year in parentheses, were as follows: —Butter, 1,991,032 cwt. (2,578,777), £13,557,046. ( £17,824,100); cheese, 2,496,548 cwt. (2,326,811), £10,692,295 (£9,421,004); combined totals, 4 , ,487,58_0 cwt (4,905,555), £24,579,341 ( £27,245,124).