THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. "Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1944 FUTURE FARMING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32510, 29 November 1944, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. "Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1944 FUTURE FARMING

When the day comes, as come it must, and the Dominion has again to depend solely on its own initiative to retain and extend its market overseas for the surplus produce it can export the decisive factors for success will be quality and production costs. The former will ensure the best prices ruling, and in consequence quality must be a first consideration. But it does not follow that even the best prices obtainable in the open markets would, of themselves, be sufficient to ensure the economic stability of the producing interests. The cost factor in production is a matter of equal concern. The mention of production costs usually makes many people jump to the conclusion that any discussion of this subject must involve an attack On wages. That, of course, is by no means the case. . There are other, and important, cost factors that must be given attention, and one—and an important one—is the prevention of the stock losses which for many years have been regarded as an inevitable, and perhaps uncontrollable, circumstance in primary production. Only in recent years' have anything like concerted efforts been made to tackle this matter. The results have been referred to, in terms of praise, by the bulletin issued by Massey Agricultural College dealing with the proposal to establish a veterinary school in the Dominion. The veterinary clubs formed in various parts of the Dominion by progressive farmers have certainly done good work, but at the best they represent only a beginning. The annual losses due to stock diseases and deaths must, in the aggregate, be a very large sum, and their reduction would mean a lowering of production costs. This is not the only phase to be considered. If the Dominion is’ to achieve its maximum production then the stock must be kept in the very best condition, and as far as possible it must be the very best stock. The day of the “scrub” bull, or the nondescript ram, must not so much end ns be ended, and the sooner the better. The cull cow must be fattened and killed, not sold to enter some other milking herd. The advance in wool production cannot be regarded solely as a matter of running more sheep. The. difficulties of men farming back and high country are such that some land now occupied

may be abandoned. But by sound breeding, allied with research and experiment, the weight of the average fleece could be increased and the aggregate clip would move upward. In the same way, by means of testing, culling and breeding the production of butterfat per cow could be raised substantially. All these things would tend to increase the output and so, proportionately, to reduce production costs. There are diseases such as facial eczema, that call for attack from every quarter, the practical farmer co-operating with the veterinary and the scientist to achieve the best possible results. A veterinary school would mean the training of young men to assist in this vital work, and it seems only natural that a country ' predominantly agricultural, as this is, should have its own means of training veterinarians and agricultural scientists.