BETTER DAIRYING

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 55, 28 November 1929, Page 17

BETTER DAIRYING

LESSONS FROM NEW ZEALAND MR. M. DANA’S TOUR Dominion Special Service. Palmerston North, November 26. Whole-hearted admiration for many aspects of the dairy industry as carried on in New Zealand was expressed by Mr. Marshall N. Dana, of Portland, in an interview with a ’ Domi nl °" . presentative to-night. Mr. Dana, , ;, associate-editor of the "Oregon Journal, a large daily, is studying a s ricult " ra en t“. dustries in this country as a representa live of the Department of 4s J?, the United States of America. On ms return he will furnish reports to me Department, and will also publish al ' ticles on this country in American journals. “I am particularly interested in 0taining facts and information that near upon the success New Zealand has obtained in the dairy industry, he. said. "The tilings I want to emphasise tor the benefit of our own dairymen are pasture subdivision, top-dressing, . the breeding up of dairy stock, the maintenance of a uniform high quality of products by dairy instruction, compulsory cream grading, and butter inspection, and also the value of co-operative organisation as demonstrated everywhere I have so far been.” “Your dairymen are of an unusually high type.” said Mr. Dana. “They have an exceptional knowledge of their own accounts, costs and so on. I found them uniformly good judges of dairy beasts and enthusiasts for herd improvement. Co-operative organisation has made your dairymen business men. They realise that without high quality of goods they will lose their market.” ’ Oregon Not New Zealand’s Competitor, Mr. Dana emphasised that he was not studying the dairy industry in the Dominion for competitive purposes. Dairyfarming in Oregon was mainly for domestic purposes, he said. Oregon, the capital of which was Portland, with a population of about 500,000, was about the area of New Zealand. The people in the State were not all engaged in pastoral occupations. There was about 500 billion feet of standing timber, while 100 million bushels of wheat were produced every year. In stating that Oregon farmers were not blessed with a regulated rainfall as were those of this Dominion, he said that they would have to grow more supplementary root foods, whereas here it seemed a cow might not have any other food than grass. “We can, however, have New Zealand cooperation and organisation and improve our own industry and still not take a penny in revenue from New Zealand,” he said. Agricultural Education. Mr. Dana was full of praise for Massey Agricultural College, which he had visited during the day. “I was depressed by my visit to Lincoln College,” he said. “Despite its new building it seems antiquated. There is scope for modernism and progressiveness at Massey College which makes me think that it will create a new standard of agricultural education and will also create more confidence in the education of their sons on the part of New Zealand producers.” He thought it was time New Zealand and Oregon were better acquainted. “I have been asked by the business people in Portland to say that we would like to see more New Zealand produce come into Portland,” he said. “We would like to discuss how more satisfactory trade relations might be developed.” In conclusion Mr. Dana paid a tribute to the 'Department of Agriculture, whose ofiicers by their courtesy and attention had added very materially to the success of his visit. “If there is a general appreciation of the facilities offered by the Department of Agriculture, a response to the new pasture science and continued maintenance of quality, then all will be well,” he said.