N. Ireland dairying less specialised’

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34041, 3 January 1976, Page 9

N. Ireland dairying less specialised’

Dairy farming in Northern Ireland is less specialised than in Jew Zealand, according to Mr S. Clyde, who is sp«nding six months ia this country under a Yamg Farmers’ exchange scheme.

Mr Clyde, who comes from Omagh, in Couty Tyrone, and is an afiistant monitoring officer at i dairy factory, was recenly in North Canterbury. In Northern ' Irelad, he said, there were no secific dairying areas, as most farmers who ran cattk were mixed farmers.

The dairy factories, too, were less specialised tha in this country. “There’s not the diffetnee between town-supply and factory supply. We areproducing butter and mil; — both bottled and carttied. All the milk we sell though

supermarkets and shops is sold in cartons.” But the most noticeable difference between the two countries was the climate, he said. “We have 40 to 45 inches of rain per year, fairly evenly distributed over the 12 months. All stock are kept inside for four or five months because of the frosts.

“It rains most of the time, so there’s not really a hot, dry summer. Some places in the North Island are fairly similar, except that they have growth for about 11 months of the year. We have growth for about seven

months, from April to October.” Snow and frost forced the farmers to keep their stock in barns, and the amount of stored feed required limited the number of head of stock a farmer could carry. “A farmer here can look after a larger number of cows than in Ireland because he doesn’t have to worry about growing the extra food. A man here can milk 120, while at home he can only milk 60 or 70, as he has to make so much silage and hay to keep going in the winter.” Mr Clyde will leave to return to Ireland on March 12. f \Concetnfion to SuMiei Swedes aged 25 or more i now have the right to be : sterilised free of charge. The law had hitherto permitted men to be sterilised only if genetic traits, illness, insanity, or conduct warranted the measure. Women are granted permission for the same reasons, or if pregnancy is likely to endanger health.— Stockholm.