THE DAIRYING SEASON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19150, 16 October 1925, Page 12

THE DAIRYING SEASON.

REVIEW BY MR. GOODFELLOW. DECREASE IN THE OUTPUT. EFFECT OF TARDY SPRING. SUBSTANTIAL ADVANCE PAYMENT [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.], lIAMTLTON, Th urad ay. A review of tho current dairying season, with reference to production, the effect of the unfavourable spring and advance payments, was given by Mr. W. Goodfellow, managing-director of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, today. Mr. ■ Good fellow said that so far the 1925-26 d airying season had been one of the most backward he had ever experienced. Not only had tho South Auckland province suffered from the adverse conditions, but the whole of New Zealand bad been affected. Notwithstanding this fact tho decrease in production had not been so great as might have been expected The output of butter manufactured by his company for the four months ended September 3-0 had been 3578 tons, compared with 36.17 tons for the corresponding period of 1924, a decrease of 39 tons, or 1.14 per ceniy The output of cheese for the first three months of the season ''J amounted to. 244 tons, compared with 134 tons for a similar period of last year, showing an increase of 32.8 per cent. For the month of September, 1925, the quantity of butter made by the company was 1839 tons, compared with 1534 tons for September, 1924. These figures showed a shrinkage in the output of 95 tons, or 4.9 per cent., and demonstrated how seriously the continuous wet weather experienced last month had affected the supply. The cheese figures for September were not yet available. More Cows Being Milked. Continuing, Mr. Goodfellow said the increase in the production of cheese this season was undoubtedly due to the high prices that were returned to the suppliers of cheese factories during the last year. Under normal conditions •there would have been a great natural increase in production this season, due to a larger number of cows being milked. But for this iact the adverse weather conditions would have been reflected to a much greater extent in j the quantity of butter-fat produced. Figures supplied by the Auckland Freezing Company showed that tho dairy produce in the Auckland province during September, 1925, totalled 111,221 boxes of butter, compared with 123,341 boxes for September, 1924, and 9565 crates of cheese compared with 6524. , The output of butter showed a decrease of approximately 10 per cent., while that oi cheese had increased by approximately 45 per cent. The pronounced setback given to production by the late spring was well illustrated by the following figures showing the returns for the week ended October 7. During that week the quantity of produce which passed, through the Auckland grading stores was 33,119 boxes of butter and 3241 crates of cheese, compared with 40,216 boxes of butter and 2746 crates of cheese for the corresponding period last year. These figures represented a decrease of 17 per cent, in the production of butter and an increase of 25 per cent, in the production of cheese. The figures for New Zealand showed that for the month of September 3976 tons of butter and 3708 tons of cheese wero graded by the Dominion stores, the figures for the same month last year being 4895 tons of butter and 2728 tons of cheese. Australian Production Down. Proceeding, Mr. Goodfellow said advices received from Australia indicated that on account of the- late spring and dry weather conditions production was not up to that of last year. The weather conditions in Victoria had lately improved, but the weekly receipts of butter in Melbourne showed that during the last month or so these were quite 100 tons less than during the same period last year. It, was therefore evident that the total production of butter in Australia and New Zealand during the current dairying season would be substantially less than it had been in previous years. It was also worthy of note that the stocks of produce held in Europe, the United States and Canada were much lighter than usual, and it was confidently expected that the early shipments of dairy produce from New Zealand would return very satisfactory pjjjccs to the producers. Referring to the question of advance payments, Mr. Goodfellow said the directtors of the New Zealand Dairy Company had decided to pay Is 6d per lb. butterfat for superfine quality in both the butter and cheese departments. In explanation of this liberal advance, he said the whole of tho butter manufactured during the months of August and September had been shipped by the steamer Ruahino Of the total of .135,643 boxes of butter carried by that vessel, the New Zealand Dairy Company owned 78,600 boxes. This butter was due to arrive in England toward the end of November, and would be disposed of in good time for the London Christmas trade. The decision of She. banks to curtail advances against dairy produce held in store had now been withdrawn in view of the improved outlook with regard to tho shipping strike, and the hard season producers were experiencing. The directors of his company felt that it was their duty to assist suppliers to as great an extent as possible, and for this reason they had decided to make the substantial advance payment on October 20,