THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 27 July 1944, Page 2

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

INCREASE IN PRICE OF BUTTER. WHANGAREI, July 21. “Although Mr Fraser has stated that the negotiations between the New Zealand and the British Government in connection with the price of butter have not been completed, there is a persistent report in the Taranaki and Wellington districts that the price increase will be 3d to 31d a pound,” said Air A. J. Murdoch, AI.P. for Marsden, and a member of the Dairy Board, when speaking at the annual meeting of the Maungatapere Dairy Company. Air Murdoch said that he had telephoned the secretary of the Dairy Board in Wellington seeking informa tion, but no official information was available, although the secretary had spoken of the reports on the increase current in Taranaki and Wellington. “I do not know what the increase will be,” Air Murdoch continued, “but 1 can assure you that there will be an increase. If increased production of farni| products, buttter, cheese, pig and other meats, is required, it would appear that an adequate increase will have to be paid to get the desired results. ’ ’

PROSPECTS OF THE INDUSTRY. ‘ ‘ Some people feel that the future of butterfat is being imperilled by the machinations of the industrial chemist, who is enemy number one of farming to-day,” said Air A. H. Geddes, lecturer in animal husbandry at Sydney Uniiversity, in an address at Canter bury Agricultural College, Lincoln, on Saturday evening last. Anything that affected butterfat affected the whole national economy in New Zealand, said Mr Geddes. Many people were confident about the future of - butterfat, and argued that given butterfat, people would refuse vitaminised margarine. But the price factor had to be considered. Alany people, particularly in the low income groups, would be likely to continue to use margarine. Government protection of butterfat could not be continued for ever. It was likely that synthetic rubber would release areas of land in the tropics for the production of vegetable fats.

There was a possibility of the shift ing of emphasis in dairying from fatty to non-fatty products. In fact, the nonfatty parts of milk were probably more nutrititious than the fatty portions. Cheese insight become a much more important outlet for the products of the cow than was butter. A greater proportion of the milk might be dried, and new foods developed. “We can’t afford to be very complacent about the position of the dairying industry in New Zealand,” said Air Geddes, “just because of its present position. New Zealand has peculiar advantages in the cheapness of production, and it has probably the best grassland climate in the world. However, Australia is likely to become a more serious competitor in dairying than to-day. But no country like Australia can afford to maintain a dairy industry that produces 1601 b of butterfat a cow ,as at present. There is a likely lifting of the average in the future.”

In the southern states of Australia dairying followed similar lines to New Zealand, said Air Geddes, and the broad lines of development would be along the same track as New Zealand. The dairying industry in the northern states resembled that of the United States, with most rain in the summer months. Pasture improvement had gone far in the southern states, but in the north it had failed. In the north, it looked today as if the farmers would have to go back to growing corn for ensilage. The feeding of limited amounts of concentrates, mainly grain, might be carried out along lines suggested in America. In this method, the most profitable level of concentrate feeding could be predicted.

Ordinary methods of breeding had just managed to keep productivity at the same level iu Australia, said Air Geddes. The only way the dairy farmer could ‘ ‘ break out of this vicious circle” was by using artificial insemination.

TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE.

“In contrast to the outstanding developments in other fields, I was somewhat surprised to find that less attention was being devoted in New’ Zealand to the control and eradication of tubercolosis among dairy cattle than is the case in Australia,” said Dr lan Clunies Boss, Dean of the Facilty of Veterinary Science at Sydney University, at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln. “For example, in the Sydney metropolitan area every cow which liquid milk is used without pasteurisation must be certified free of tuberculosis. In addition there is a certified herd system whereby dairymen are now encouraged to eradicate tuberculosis from their herds, after which their names are published in a list of accredited tuberculosis-free herds.

New Zealand sheep appear to be less subject to severe losses from internal parasites than is the case in Australia.

‘ ‘ There is no evidence at all to support the view that high-producing cat' tie are in any way more subject to tuberculosis than any other cattle. I have been told that the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle is somewhat lower iu New Zealand than in Australia, and also that the incidence of tuberculosis of bovine origin in this country is not very high. “In Australia, there is an increasing tendency, in default of complete eradication of tuberculosis, to insist on the pasteurisation of all mjlk supplies. Steps are being taken to secure the pasteurisation of all milk in Melbourne, and similar projects are being discussed for Brisbane.”