DECLINING OUTPUT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21755, 3 July 1945, Page 4

DECLINING OUTPUT

SUPPLIERS TO KIA ORA

COW POPULATION FALLS

GREATER EFFORT URGED

In the face of urgent recommendations that the output of dairy produce should be increased by every means, the directors of the Kia Ora Cooperative Dairy Company have good grounds for the concern expressed in their annual report, as to the decline m the number of suppliers and also in the number of cows milked in the district.

During the butterfat year just concluded, the number of suppliers to the Kia Ora factory fell to 625, as compared with 655 in the previous year. The gradual withdrawal of dairy-farm labour to meet the demands of the armed forces is one of the principal factors in this drift from dairying, a large number of suppliers having found it impossible to maintain their old figures for production, and others having decided to quit the industry at least until labour becames available once again.

Referring to the decrease in the number of milking cows, the report points out that the factory product fell from 1135 tons to 1005 tons, as from 1943-44 and 1944-45. Part of this decrease, estimated at 5.45 per cent, was attributed to the dry season, and it was pointed out that the rainfall recorded in Gisborne from August. 1944, to February, 1945; was only 14.89 in„ as compared with 31.36 in. for the corresponding period of the previous season. The loss of cows accounted for the major portion ol' the i'all-ing-off in butter manufacture, the number milked in 1944-45 being 8936. or 6 per cent less than in 1943-44. The trend of the cow population of the district is. illustrated by the following figures covering the cows in production for the company: 1940-41, 11.493: 1941-42 10,984: 1942-43. 10.345: 1943-44, 9501; and 1944-45, 8936. Over the four seasons, the decrease in the number of cows milked by Kia Ora suppliers represented 23 per cent.

"The ending of hostilities in Europe has left behind a stupendous problem in the supply of food,” the report comments. “Britain, almost on the morning of victory, found it necessary to further reduce the quantity of food for her people. We make 'an earnest "oneal to all who are able to assist in increasing the production of butter, eggs, bacon, cheese and meat to do so; and so assist to substantially increase the quantities of these essentials for our. kith and kin in the Homeland.”