DAIRY FARMERS' RETURNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20072, 9 October 1928, Page 10

DAIRY FARMERS' RETURNS.

The statistical survey of the dairying industry has been greatly elaborated in the last two annual reports of factory production in New Zealand, and much instructive information lias thus been made available. Even yet, there arc important aspects of the industry excluded from examination. For instance, although the analysis in terms of butter-fat is shown in great detail, no part of the statistics refers to the modern movement to increase production by improving the quality of herds. Apart from such special limitations, the value of the statistics to the industry and to the individual dairy farmer depends upon intelligent care in drawing deductions from them. The report for 1926-27 shows that 507 factories received from 54,873 suppliers milk and cream representing over 227 million pounds of butter-fat, from which they manufactured products valued at £10,021,878. The total amount distributed among suppliers was £14.690,8(58, the average return being £264. That last figure should not be considered without due regard to various important qualifications. It certainly represents the average payment to dairy factory suppliers throughout New Zealand, but it would bo a great mistake to suppose it is an index of the gross income of dairy farmers, out of which all farm expenses have to be paid. All suppliers to dairy factories are not dairy farmers in the general sense of the term ; many of them deliver only the surplus from a few cows to the nearest factory, their butter-fat cheques being only a part of their income. That is evident from the provincial averages as well as from common knowledge of rural conditions. The pay-out to suppliers varied from £BB in Canterbury and £92 in Otago to £307 in Auckland and £495 in Taranaki. In the dairying districts proper, the evidence of specialisation appears in the separate returns for cheese factories. Suppliers to these, in the Auckland Province, received on the average £613 for 10,2461b. of butterfat, ;i 11 d in Taranaki £669 for 10,5361b., while the average returns for dual factories were £507 in Auckland and £547 in Taranaki. Without information regarding the number of cows represented by these figures, it is difficult to derive any positive conclusions from the statistics as to the degree of prosperity in the industry. The wide variations in the principal dairying districts from the general averago for the Dominion are, however, sufficient to serve as a warning against the risks of accepting £204 as the average income of dairy farmers in New Zealand. It represents merely the average amount paid for butter-fat to 54,873 suppliers, without counting income from other Bourcea.