A VALUABLE ASSET

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 226, 12 June 1923, Page 8

A VALUABLE ASSET

NEW ZEALAND’S DAIRY INDUSTRY LARGEST EXPORTER IN WORLD Exports of butter, dried milk, casein, and other dairy products from the Dominion for the year ending March 31, 1923, were valued at £16,207,053, so Dr. C. J. Reakes, Direc-tor-General of the Agricultural Department, announced when opening the New Plymouth Winter Show last week. New Zealand, ho added, was tho greatest exporter in the world of butter and cheese.

Dr. Reakes said that the total amount of dairy produce graded in 1922-23 was 1,343,146 cwt. of butter and 1,201,329 cwt. of cheese. This showed an increase in butter-fat production of 31.8 per cent, over last year, and 180.9 per cent, increase over that of. ten years ago. This large increase was largely due to entirely new areas which had been utilised for dairy farming. In Taranaki the amount graded during the 1922-23 season was 190,684 cwt. of butter and 427,093 cwt. of cheese, an increase over last year of 19.1 per cent, and an increase of 69.9 per cent, over ten years ago. The reason that Taranaki showed such a comparatively small increase compared with the whole of the Dominion was that the province even ten years ago was an important dairying district, and now produced 20.4 per cent, of the Dominion butter-fat output. The quality of butter and cheese showed great improvement during the past year, and practically only 3 per cent, of the output had been second grade. The reports from Home showed that the cheese had landed in better condition than in the previous year. A marked feature of the dairy industry, he stated, was the extension of association herd testing. In the past two .years the number of cows tested had been:—l92l-22: In the Dominion, 45,564; in Taranaki, 13,725. 1922-23: In the Dominion, 84,825 (7.46 of the total of dairy cows); in Taranaki, 15,585 (8.28 of the total of Taranaki cows). The cost of testing was about 2s. per cow per annum. In 1922-23, in New Zealand, 280 breeders, representing 1061 cows, were engaged in C.O.R. testing; while in Taranaki there were 86 breeders, representing 306 cows.