FARMS AND FARMERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 July 1939, Page 10

FARMS AND FARMERS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(By

“Rouseabout”)

DECLINE OF FARMING. WORLD-WIDE PHENOMENON. A great deal has been heard recently, about the troubles of New ’ Zealand farmers, and, while the Government cannot escape its share of responsibility for these troubles, it is a great mistake to suppose that they would be all solved by a, change of Government policy, or by a change of Government. .Even if a Farmers’ Party, which a section of the farming community, seems to favour now, was returned to power, it would no doubt find itself faced with problems the solution of which would defy its | best efforts. For the fact is that, ever I since the war in nearly every country, I the farming industry has been lang- | uishing. The few brighter periods have been brief,'and, generally speaking, -the dice has been loaded against the farmer. There was a very striking example of this in the United States. From 1919 to the dramatic collapse in 1929, the States enjoyed a remarkable decade of prosperity,! I marred by only a few temporary S lapses. But there was one iarge and

U i KJ M • JL-# v — — — - e important section of the community that did not share in this general prosperity, as, at best, ' shared very meagrely, and that was the farming community. During these years, when business was booming on all hands, a depression lay over the farming States o£_j\inerica. The reason for this opens up a very large and very complicated question, but it is a significant fact, and one that suggests that there is something fundamentally wrong somewhere. In England, farming has been a declining industry for the past 65 years. Since the war, various Governments have tried, but without much success, to revive the industry by means of subsidies and marketing schemes. The decline of the industry is strikingly illustrated by some facts and figures given in an article which appeared, recently, in the London “Daily Tcle- | graph.” The article written by Mr | Edward B. Powley, a practical farmer | and a close student of recent develop«ments in agricultural policy. Mr Powley points put that in 1874 a larger extent of England and Wales layunder the plough than at any time before or since, and that to-day, of this ] area, 5,500,000 acres are no longer I {cultivated. What has happened to] ' them? he asks. A tract as large as j the counties of Somerset and Wiltshire put together—2,ooo,o9o acres—has gone out of all cultivation to some extent devoured by roads, town extensions, ribbon . developments and bungaloid growths; but much' more given over to wastes of brushwood, ragwort and tansy. As for the rest — 3,500,000 acres—equivalent to the areas of Dorset. Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, it has been laid down to -pasture—and a great deal of it very bad pasture at that. Last year alone 85,000 acres went out of all cul- ; fixation and 67,000 more were -laid to grass. . In 1938, not one arable crop grown]; for man or beast, save slightly in thejj case of potatoes and, of course, beet’, (of which in 1874 only 57 acres were | grown), showed an increase upon the t 1874 acreage. The 1938 wheat crop t was, in acrage, half that of 1874, bar-, ley under half the earlier mark, roots L ' for cattle and sheep u.nder a third. 11 hay under half. We grew a ccriaii)

I am'ount of. sugar out of beet, which I replaced' mangolds and turnips. We i reduced our sheep (mutton and wool producers) by alinost a quarter, by 5 1-3 millions in all. Chiefly because . of the increase in permanent pasture . we increased our cattle figure by millions, adding, if not to our yield j of beef, at least to our milk output. ■ At the best the England and Wales > total food production of any kind and : every sort must have decreased — ' and we have, since 1874, doubled our population! Is the farmer to blame for rural change? Cost of labour cannot possibly be reduced. The farmer has made use of new machinery—from milking machines to combineharvesters and £5,000 British-made Diesel engined cultivators. He has collaborated with the scientist to ini-, prove every breed of farm animal, the seed of every plant he sows, the output of every crop he-, produces. Farmers have learnt, under some compulsion to use Governmentsigned marketing boards and, as is, | only to be expected, have availed i [themselves of Government assistance| in growing beet, wheat and barley.

y Yet, with tithes extinguished, wit 1 owner-farmers (they- doubled in nun y her between 1919 and 1924) free 5 from purchase mortgages, with idea i landlords, such as some peers, cei i tain colleges of Oxford and Cambridg 5 and the Crown, leasing on good con ditions to their tenants —even witl ' a nationalised land system, the gen 1 oral farming of our forbears wouh ’ not pay. IN AUSTRALIA. ; Now, let us turn to Australia foi , just one glimpse of farming in that country. Recently, 31 members oi > young farmers’ clubs in the South Taranaki district paid a visit to New South Wales, and, after seeing conditions for dairy farmers and their workers in that State, they returned mufeh more contented with their own country. According to the “Taranaki Herald,” the leaders of the party, Mr P. O. Veale, president of the South Taranaki Young Farmers’ Clubs, and Mr J. E. Davies, secretary of the clubs and representative of the Department iof Agriculture, said that not a single member of the party would like to start dairy farming in New South ■Wales. They had been surprised by the condition of many of the farms. Grass was of secondary importance to stock, signs of disrepair were far more common than in New Zealand, and for 500 miles in the northern districts they did not see a house with a, fresh coat of paint. The farmers did not enjoy anything like the standard of living possessed by New Zealand farmers, and were surprised to hear 'that the latter had such things as electric milking machines, telephones and motor-cars. This was in spite of the fact that land was often a. fanciful price, I'Bo an acre being a common figure, and even ITOt) being wanted for land which would grow sugar cane. On the other hand, most of the. land carried loss than one cow to two acres, as against] the Taranaki rule of about 70 cows .0 100 acres, and production was below 2001 b ( ,j- butterfat to a cow. as compared with 3001 b in Taranaki.

Asked why conditions should be so bad when land was so high and wages, which were from about 15/- to £1 a week for hands, comparatively low. Mi' Davies said that in many cases it seemed that the farmers were on leasehold, the owners being absentee city residents. As a result there was no encouragement offered the farmers to make improvements, in case the rent should be increased. Again, it was noticeable that in most countries where wages were low farming standards were, also low, and that in countries where wages were high farming standards were correspondingly high.

PIG PRODUCTION.

PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES

In the June issue of the “N.Z. Journal of Agriculture.” there is an interesting and instructive .article dealing with the problems and possibilities of pig production in Otago and Southland, written by Mr. N. Macdonald, supervisor of the (Otago and Southland Pig Council. The arguments advanced in this article may not be wholly applicable to Westland, owing to different climatic conditions, but there is no doubt that Mr. Macdoanld’s contention, that the pig industry could play a more prominent part in supplementing the incomes of farmers in Otago and Southland, ap-

plies also to Westlfind. It is certain that many West Coast farmers could make far more than they do out of pigs, if they would only devote more time and attention to what is undoubtedly the most profitable sideline .in New Zealand farming. Some extracts from Mr. Macdonald’s article may help to stimulate their interest:

The lack of interest in pig raising in Otago and Southland is due to the . fact that the general management, of , the pig has not been understood or put into practice, but with a, better appreciation of these factors, the in- | dustry should flourish in this territory. The chief consideration is the amount of cheap feed available. The major dairy produce is cheese, so the pig raiser has to rely on whey as his cheap feed. Grain and roots can be produced at a reasonable cost as supplementary feeds. ■ The amount of whey food produc- > ed, less the amount.used for the maki ing of whey products, milk or casein, I i.s 5,871 tons, while the buttermilk is i 356 tons and skim milk calculated from this is 5,338 tons, making a total of 11,565 tons of feed from dairy byI products. On March 31, 1938, the sow population of Otago and Southland was 4,638 sows. If half these sows are used for producing porkers and half for baconers. as would be the case if the Spring litters were made into baconers, and the Autumn lifters to porkers, the sows and litters would consume 23,190 tons of feed per year. This is calculated at six tons feed to feed a sow and her two litters of seven piglets to bacon weights and four tons feed to feed porker weights. With 11.165 tons dairy by-products available the balance 11,625 tons feed must be made up with meatnical, grain, turnips, grass, etc.

The number of pigs slaughtered in registered slaughterhouses for the year ending March 31. 1938, was 33.361. Add to this, say. 5000 pigs killed on farms, and wo have a total of 38.361 pigs reaching marketable

weights, tl is reasonable io suppose that the sows in Otago ami Southland can produce the New Zealand litter average of seven pigs per litter twice yearly and lint 1.638 sows in the territory should bo capable of producing 61,932 pigs. The difference between the number of pigs capable of hoittg

produced and those reaching marketable age is 26,568.

It would appear that the farmers of Giago ami Southland are mu taking tin- fullest, advantage of the capability

of the sows to produce two litters per year. By planning the farrowing periods to fit in with the feed supply there should be no difficulty in greatly reducing the preesnt discrepancy. No doubt disease accounts for a proportion of the difference, but practically all the diseases in this territory are preventable by better management. By far the most prevalent trouble is pleurisy, which is due to lack of shelter and draughty houses. Although in the past the pig industry has ,not been taken very seriously in this territory, lately a definite interest has been taken in this profitable sideline. In the last twelve months a large number of pedigree boars and sows have been purchased by Otago breeders from the North Island and Canterbury, and as soon as the progeny from this stock is available. a rapid improvement in quality should be evident throughout Otago and Southland. With the Government sow recording service available and tattooing for carcass quality, it should not be Jong before the farmers will be able to cull all undesirable and unprofitable sows from their herds. While this should greaty assist the quality of the stock reaching the market, an improvement will have to be made to the general management of the herd if maximum results are to be obtained. These results can only be attained by paying an equal.amount of time and thought to the pigs in proportion to their earning ability.

. TUBERCULOSIS IN COWS. “We have been discussing this matter at our branch meetings and we are firmly of the opinion that steps must be taken to eradicate tuberculosis from our dairy herds,” said Mr R, S. Weir at a meeting of the Southland executive of the Farmers’ Union. He said it had been suggested that a start 1 should be made with testing two-year - old heifers. This might appeal to the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Lee Martin. Mr J. Johnston said .the Dairying Committee bad considered the question of testing cattle for tuberculosis. The Minister had recently cast doubts on the efficiency of the test, and in the circumstances the committee was not prepared to advocate that the test be made compulsory. It recommended that the executive make full inquiries from the Minister about ■ the efficiency of the lest.

NEED OF KNOWLEDGE

Both inherited and contagious diseases play an. important part in unfitting dairy stock to stand <he strain of the ever-higher output which selective breeding following testing encourages. Many farmers are sadly ignorant of even the rudiments of veterinary knowledge, and disease must he firmly established and past cure before the majority realise that anything is wrong with the beast. The inevitable result is that many cows—which as lirst-calvcr heifers tested well and have subsequently contracted maladies—are included in herds where they al’c unable to produce sufficient to pay for their keep.

INTEREST IN NEW ZEALAND ELAN

Evidence of overseas interest in the cultivation of New Zealand flux for commercial purposes is revealed in a letter received by a New Plymouth nurseryman. Mr V. ('. Davies, from a firm in Brazil asking for detailed particulars and quotations concerning the native phormium tenax plant. The principal of the firm in Seo Paulo, Brazil, stated in his letter, which has just been received, that from a. catalogue of the New Plymoutli firm he

saw ilia: phormium tenax seeds were lor sale, ami, being interested in iml.c'riing some of those seeds, he reqioi cc? (pmitai ion-., '-if you m ve other

mis to m'fei of plants which are pro-

ducing textile fibres 1 would be interested in receiving equally detailed quotations, ami please semi mo also your general price list including offer for native seeds of flowers, trees and shrubs, palms and fern spores,” states the letter. "if there exist several varieties of phormium tenax, please advise and send me separate descriptions and quotations.”