PRACTICAL DAIRYING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8932, 26 June 1905, Page 2

PRACTICAL DAIRYING.

Mr 11. X. Rochell. Ruahine, read a paper at Iho Dairy Conference in Palmerston Xorlh entitled "From Cow to Calf via Creamery."

ITe said that after each of the two last winter conferences held in Palmerston he heard several men complain that some of tho papers read were too "higa-class" — too much science and not practical enough, and the papers went, as it were, clean over their heads. He had determined, therefore, that this shovld not be said of his paper. Most cf their creamery men were not only experts, but enthusiasts in their business. Could the same, he asked, be said of that other important far more numerous branch of their industry— the daily farmer? He feared not. The most extraordinary feature in connection with, dairy farming, to his mind, was the number of men who rushed into it as soon as they could get sufficient money oi credit to lease a farm and. buy a few cows; and no -matter what avocations they might have followed 'up till then, as soon as they began to milk they considered themselves "dairy farmers." At one cveamery where he worked for a time he made careful enquiries, and found that out of twenty -six suppliers until they became fanners two years before, only seven could call themselves farmers or the sons of farmers, and only two of these were dairy farmers. Two of them were waggoners, one was » fisherman, one a sailor, three navvies, two contractors, three schoolmasters, one agricultural laborer, one sawmiller, two shopkeepers, ono horscbrpakcr, one baker, and one station-hand.

Mediocrity Ayas one of the greatest curses of our dairy industry. The average cow was only good enough for the average man, and the man who persisted in milkins; her was not good enough to be a dairy farmei;. In fact, the man who allowed things in general to remain as they were, thinking they were "good enough," was not fit to be either a dairy farmer or one of his employees, and in this connection he included creamery men. He often wondered what kind of a watchmaker or fisherman he would make, without first serving some kind of apprenticeship to either business. Dairy farming would take as much learning as most occupations, and a great deal more than some, lie was always grieved when he saw around him so many young men making absolute slaves of themselves, and sometimes of their families, in trying to bo dairy farmers, and only wasting time, and growing oM many years before \\\ty should. Tfo entered' technically into tlie question of dairy farming, and how it should be carried on.