FEED FOR POULTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22775, 8 July 1937, Page 14

FEED FOR POULTRY

COST UP 90 PER CENT

REPLY TO WHEAT BOARD UNECONOMIC PROPOSITIONS RISE IN AVERAGE PRICES Owing to an increase of nearly 90 per cent in the cost of feeding poultry, a drastic reduction in the price of eggs under existing conditions would be uneconomic to producers, according to Mr. A. E. Knowles, of Birkenhead, a member of the New Zealand Poultry Board. Replying yesterday to the claims of Mr. L. J. Sell mitt, deputy-chairman of the Wheat Committee, Mr. Knowles explained that an analysis of returns revealed that the weekly cost of feeding each bird had risen from lid five years ago to approximately 2Jd in the IMG-37 season. Mr. Knowles referred to a statement by Mr. Schmitt that the price at which the Wheat Committee was selling pollard in Auckland was £7 a ton delivered, less 11 per cent discount for cash within 14 days. Short Supply of Pollard

This, however, was of no account so far as poultry-keepers were concerned, said Mr. Knowles, as the total quantity of New Zealand pojlard available in Auckland amounted to a fraction of 1 per cent of the actual consumption of poultry-keepers and other stock breeders. They were unable to purchase their requirements at £7 a ton, for the simple reason that the stock was not available. When the Government took control, an arrangement entered into by Auckland millers to take a certain quantity of southern flour became compulsory, but an amount of pollard corresponding to the quantity that would otherwise have been milled in the north was not forwarded.

Mr. Schmitt had regarded as sufficient comment the fact that the price of wheat as quoted last December was between 2d and 3d a bushel higher than the rates to-day, Mr. Knowlos continued. But what had happened between these months? If an average were to bo taken over the whole period it would be found that this price was materially higher than in December. It was only the last shipments that might show a reduction.

In December the shortage was known, in February the first purchase of about 11,S00 bushels was made at 4d a bushel above the December rate, and in the following month a further 7000 bushels imported showed an advance of another -4(1. Subsequently, the price had dropped, and apparently this was the subject for Mr. Schinitt's comparison. Sprouted Wheat Criticised "Mr. Schmitt claimed that experiments at the Wallacevillo research station showed that the feeding of sprouted wheat had no ill-effects upon poultry,'' Mr. Knowlos said. "I admit these experiments were carried out, bus actually the departmental officers acknowledged that the results were not convincing, for the one reason that the opportunity for checking over a sufficiently long period did not exist. "The shortage of eggs this winter is unprecedented, and producers know that something more than purely seasonal conditions has been responsible. They agree that it is due to the sprouted wheat. It is known that the germ in the wheat grain contains vitamins, without which the bird is not fully able to make best use of the other part of the grain, and the lack of these vitamins in the sprouted wheat, together with the wet season, has created the problem of extremely short supplies." Question of Export

If the industry could obtain cheap feed, Mr. Knowlcs explained, it might be possible to export eggs, but, undei existing conditions, their shipment to overseas markets was only a means of quitting a surplus. When the local market stood at Is. producers might have obtained from Is 3d to Is 6d in London. but the costs would have been so great as to make the net return to the producer uneconomic. This would be a payable level only when feeding costs were materially reduced.

"Instead of defending and apologising for the Wheat Board, 1 should like to see the Government stating what they are prepared to do to help the poultry industry," added .Mr. Knowlos. "I should be glad to hear them tell us what guarantee we have against shortages, poor grade supplies and uneconomic prices."