BAD WINTER'S EFFECTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 23, 22 October 1918, Page 8

BAD WINTER'S EFFECTS

| : #DAIRY FARMERS'BIG LOSSES i.\:.' : 'l:-..'' : ■' |; : HUNDREDS OF COWS DIE i ; . ..L _ !'""'"""" i ' ~1n.,60me of .the chief dairying centres p.ojEYNpw Zealand things went badly diir- -• winter, and they have not re- | eby'ered sufficiently for matters to right -/■-.themselves in time to bring the 6eason j,. : up v ;tb the equal of recent years. t .i-Xast wijtftef'.was thb'wbi-st that most !;■ living: New Zedlanders have ever known, I. 'and/the factisfthat it caught many fari .fliers napping.'" In tho far Bonth'and in ;.- the .far itorth they-probably escaped, ;•'. for- reasons that can be mentioned later, }. but"dn a mid-New'.Zealand district like, l .Taranaki they took the chances and lost h heavily. , jvti-The winter was so severe that it placed ;.: b,! tremendous strain on dairy cows that j" were due to come into milk for the new ■: jteason. In addition to this, there was \f!M great 6hortago of feed .for. the cattle, [, and' the Tesult is that after enduring con- ', fliderable suffering hundreds and hun- ;..■ dreds of the milcn cows hove succumbed j, this spring. {■.-. : -Apart from those which have suci.eumbed there are many hundreds of •;''■ others -which are so low in condition [■/that they are not producing anything i. : : like.the quantity of milk that they'would :"• -if .well conditioned. The loss to Taranaki j; ■ farmers is a serious one, and tho effect i; on the Dominion may be a drop in tho \:i iotal output of dairy produce for tho i'.season. There is no certainty, of course, ['■that because somo of the farmers in j' Taranaki have been hard hit that there ; a drop in the Dominion output, |y because the farmers in tho north prob;,;.ably experienced a less severe winter and ;i;;«re in consequence not suffering' anyi ..thing like the losses that have been exI'lßerienced. on.tho west,coast of.this■ is-• r&md; Also, there may not be a fallingK'cffc'in the south, for the farmers of j-'Southland would be certain to provide i-yagainst a severe winter, and their stock (."would be got through without much mis■V hap. ' Nevertheless, Taranaki's propor- .. lions' of the butter and. the cheese outffjrats are usually so large that a serious [•reduction in that quarter may very easily •.ibe noticeable in the Dominion tally when ■ 'the .year's figures' are announced. iVV. The real reason of the-trouble is nol [J,the severity of the winter, but-the fail-, j:,-vre of the'farmers to provide'winter feed l'-..for the.stock. For'years, as all are quite k'&are, the experts whose advice the farjl'ihers might be expected to heed, have I,besought the men on the land to put f!-:*sjde food for the winter so that thv stock would not suffer privations, and i.j«o..that they would come into milk in j: the.'.best possible condition. For just tho ; .Bame. number of years most ot the far i' 'ln'ers have allowed the advice to go uu[heeded. Time after time a good winter j,'foiled .along and, there was no particular'".: trouble. TJiis year we encountered ;. something like a winter, and now everyV one Taranaki and everywhere else in j'. the'country believes that there is aoinc- ■. 'thing in what the experts said. >>-'It-thas been a bitter and costly pill (to many Taranaki and West Coast far- ! mors, and it has been an even worse j> experience for the unfortunate, cattle, !, whose sufferings have been considerable. !. TMe; wretched condition of many of the i'. : cows which have survived is ample evi- .'" dence of this. , ;'