FOR THE FARMER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4748, 19 September 1935, Page 3

FOR THE FARMER

THE BUTTER SENSATION. Sensational happenings on the London market for New Zealand butter during the past week or so have given producers reason for a much happier outlook on things in general. The latest quotation—ll2s a cwt.—is the highest price reached since October, 1932, and makes very good reading compared with last year's values. Butter was at its 1934 peak about the first week of August at 83s a cwt., after which there was a steady decline to 65s at the middle of October. The average price for the 12 months ended July 31 last was 80s, so that there is every justification to anticipate a much better return for the new export season. It would be guesswork to predict how long the market will remain at its present level. Shortage of stocks in Great Britain is given as the main reason for the advance in price, a contributory influence being the unfavourable conditions in Australia. The latest official returns show Great Britain's stocks at the equivalent of 1,065,0d0 boxes, compared with 1,787,600 held at this time last year. The Dominion's exports to the United Kingdom for last year were down appreciably on those for the previous year, while those from Australia were up. Now, with arrivals up to the end of November of 32,670 tons, compared with the Septembei'-November inclusive figure of 25,000 last year, the indications are that New Zealand will show an increase, while it is anticipated that Australia will show a drop.

There is one fact that" should not be lost sight of in the general jubilation, i though. The low prices of butters have enabled a big proportion of British consumers to use the genuine article instead of the substitute margarine, which is proved by the fact that butter consumption has increased from 14.761 b. a head in 1924 to 25.351 b. a head in 1934, while margarine consumption changed from 12.351 b. a head to 7.91 b. ahead in the same period. There is the threat, then, that increased prices will take butter again out of the reach of those consumers. New Zealand, Australia and Denmark have that danger to avoid, and it does not need to be laboured that it will require delicate handling.

Another aspect is that determined efforts are being made in Great Britain to increase butter manufacture. At present the home-produced article constitutes only 10 per. cent, of the total consumption, and the proportion aimed at is 30 per cent., with an ultimate object of half the consumption. With many farmers changing over from beef to dairy herds, milk production is being increased enormously, and the surplus is available for butter at 3%d a gallon. An English writer says that the guarantee of the national mark"is helping the creameries to increase their production at a tremendous rate. The national mark butter scheme has been in operation for only two months, but it is already proving most successful. It will make it possible to buy English butter of uniform, guaranteed quality in the ordinary course of shopping.

So that while the present values of New Zealand butter are most satisfactory and should continue to be strong at least temporarily with Australian conditions so backward because of the severity of the weather, the future of the market is going to be a problem of great difficulty.

FROM COWS TO SHEEP. : It is reported, that there is a definite swing over from cows to sheep in South Island. In the swing over there is little dislocation on some farms because they have always followed mixed farming and some sheep have always been kept. In some cases, however, fairly large herds have been dispersed. In these cases the change in production is to be regretted as factory finance and efficiency must be thereby affected, and changing from the production of one thing to another is generally accompanied by a higher percentage of lower-grade products being exported.

MINERALS ESSENTIAL. A problem facing many dairy farmers at the present time is the failure of some cows to breed, and when this is the case with the heavier production ones the problem is a very serious one. It is undoubted that in the case of very heavy milkers the ovarian functions become sluggish, and the heat periods are unduly delayed or assert themselves but slightly. Recent researches into animal nutrition have shown that there is a very close relation between ovarian function and the mineral matter in the food. It, therefore, seems reasonable to suppose that lack of these in the dietary of a high-yielding cow would account

for her not coming into season normally owing to the heavy drain on her system of these essentials, and that the addition of a mineral mixture would act as a corrective.

Minerals are of the greatest importance in the nutrition of the foetus, especially as regards the development of spund and healthy bone, and there is evidence to show that where there is a marked deficiency of them it may lead to the death of the foetus and its expulsion, or at the best to the production of a weakly, sickly calf that can only be raised at a loss.

A LONG WAY OFF. There is much, talk i'n England by theoretical observers that the country should produce all the dairy produce it needs. But consideration of a few facts will show the absurdity of this. It is calculated that to produce the equivalent of the total yearly imports of all dairy products—butter, cheese, cream, milk, condensed milk, etc. —to Britain would require 3173 million gallons of milk and that this would require 5% million more cows than the country has at present. The day is, therefore, very far distant indeed when Britain will be able to produce all, or even a third, of her total dairy produce requirements.

DANGER OF HIGH PRICES. While it is very gratifying to see New Zealand butter reaching a price that may show some profit it would be a mistake to look to still higher prices to end all our worries. There is the margarine menace to remember. The United States provides an excellent example of the possibilities of this menace. By means of high import tariffs a very payable price has been maintained for locally produced butter, in fact earlier in the year prices were very profitable. This meant high retail prices. Then with improved conditions for production prices receded and butter was again within reach of the purses of the great mass of the consumers. But the consumers did not come back to butter eating to the extent anticipated; a good percentage of them liked the margarine well enough to stick to it. Certainly the low prices at which butter has been selling in Britain for so long has been a serious blow to the great butter substitute. Margarine is making no headway in Britain at the present time, and the powerful interests behind margarine are waiting for high butter prices to make a national drive. It is interesting to note that, despite the tremendous amount of capital, scientific research a'nd perfect organisation employed in the manufacture and sale of margarine in England, the output of that commodity is showing no increase. The total quantity consumed in the United Kingdom for June last was, approximately, 3000 tons, whereas the total quantity of butter consumed in the United Kingdom for the same period was, probably, fully 460,000 tons.

RAGWORT SEED FLY.

LIBERATION SANCTIONED.

Mr. W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, has been advised by the Minister of Agriculture( the Hon. C. E. Macmillan) that the latter has given permission to Dr. Miller, chief of the Entomological Department of the Cawthron Institute, to liberate supplies of the ragwort seed fly.

Exhaustive tests have been carried but with plants other than its normal host to ensure that the insect is not likely to become injurious to economic plants. Ragwort belongs to the family "compositae," a group of plants amongst which there are no cultivated crops, with the exception of lettuce, artichokes, and sun-flower, and the composites of a flower garden. Tests with the seed fly (Pegohylemyia jacobaeae) have been made on' cineraria, calendula and lettuce, and on the following weeds: — Groundsel, ox eye daisy, common daisy, dandelion, and cat's ear, and the results in all cases were negative.

The fly is readily attracted to ragwort, in the floral disc of which it lays its eggs, the larvae from which, Dr. Miller says, destroy 100 per cent, of the seeds in each infested head. In view of the habitats of the fly in Great Britain, where it confines its attention to ragwort, and of the results of the test made at the Cawthron Institute, Dr. Miller has given it as his opinion that pegohylemia is a perfectly safe insect to liberate in the field.

In advising Mr. Broadfoot of the impending liberation of the ragwort seed fly, Mr. Macmillan remarked that he hoped that it would prove as effective in practice as it had done under controlled conditions. "But," he added, "I would not advise any farmer to relax his efforts with sheep and sodium chlorate, yet."

DAIRYING IN FIJI COMPARED WITH NEW ZEALAND Prior to the foundation of a scientific and consistent dairy industry in Fiji the greatest obstacle to the wellbeing of the white race, was the lack of ah abundant supply of clean and fresh cow's milk. Twenty years ago no dairy farming was carried out in Fiji, but to-day an ever increasing and prosperous exporting industry flourishes. For many years prior to 1918 butter was made by individuals only, but there was a local market for 60 tons of butter per year. Several dairy breeds of cattle were known to thrive on the natural pastures. The first attempt at serious dairy farming was made in the form of a retunned soldiers' settlement scheme, at Tailevu.

Bush lands were cleared, dairy cattle imported, and concurrently a small but fully equipped butter facfirst pound of creamery butter was tory had been built, and in 1922 the made in Fiji. In the Agricultural Show at Auckland in 1923 Fijian butter was classed as "choice," a fact which gave the industry considerable impetus. The stock used to inaugurate the Taileva dairy scheme was drawn from a local herd in which Hereford blood predominated. Purebred bulls, and purebred Jersey and Holstein cows were imported from New Zealand and Australia. Shorthorns were imported at a later date so that the principal New Zealand breeds are now bred in Fiji. As the industry became strengthened two new factories, were established, the Rewa Co-operative Dairy Company and the Fiji Pastoral Company at Navua. In 1922, 150,6331bs of butter were imported to Fiji. 1925 was the first year of export when 23,8561bs left the islands, but 341131b5, however, were imported. In 1929 6001bs were imported, while exports totalled 79,9681b5. In 1930 no butter was imported but with only three factories manufacturing Fiji was able to ex-

port 101,1361bs; but as this is only, about one two-thousandth part of New Zealand's total export of 1,884,237 cwt. or 211,034,5441bs for the same year, Fiji need hardly be feared as a possible rival to our overseas trade. The original basis of the pastures at Tailevu, was False Thurston grass, which is really paspalum conjugatum. The plant is a second rate grass but provides summer and winti er feed in the tropical country. On the flat areas Para grass, Panicum marbinode, little known in New Zealand, has replaced the original pastures. Another grass now thriving in Fiji is Paspalum dilatatum. This is more nutritious than the other types, but much more difficult to establish.

Among the leguminous plants trefoil is sown but is of little value. Mimora pudica does extremely well in the wet parts of the colony, and is often considered to be the most profitable fodder plant yet produced m the colony. It will be noted that the best first-class grasses of New Zealand are not successful in Fiji. This is due, no doubt, to the fairly short roots of our pastures being unable to withstand tropical conditions. The long-rooted paspalum is useful because of its ability to withstand drought.. The Fijian Department of Agriculture has experimented with many Dominion and English grasses and clovers, without success. A serious obstacle to Fijian cultivating is the presence of a bush, Elidemia hirta, that rapidly spreads to form impenetrable thickets. Under cultivation, however, the bush dies. Milking machines are not in general use, as the herds are usually not large enough to warrant the installamachinery. Cold storage fac--iiities have been introduced, helping the industry immensely. Much has yet to be accomplished, especially in the improvement of the stock, and of the pastures. Land in Fiji is available in large areas, and is sold for a fraction of the cost of land in New Zealand. Several New Zealand farmers have acquired land in Fiji, and as they

took sufficient capital to tide over the uneconomic period! have had exper- ; ience in dairying, and are not afraid of work they constitute a small,but j valuable addition to the dairying community.