COWS AND SHEEP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22933, 11 January 1938, Page 8

COWS AND SHEEP

In these days, when herd-testing is the rule and consequent culling is the practice, it does not necessarily follow that a slight decline in the number of dairy cows means a reduced output of butter-fat. Furthermore,' the expansion of topdressing and regularity in applying fertilisers to grass lands implies, in a run of normal seasons, a higher butter-fat return per acre. Actually the aggregate dairy return of the Auckland Province could increase despite a decline in numbers for a series of years provided culling and top-dressing made good wasted fractions. Figures quoted to-day, however, suggest that in the Waikato at least a decline in dairying and an increase in sheep farming is being forced by control legislation. Last year responsible dairy farmers staged that the cost of labour and the difficulty in securing it foreshadowed the beginning of the end of the large dairy herd. Men of substance who had with the requirements in the matter of accommodation foresaw an early day when no man could take the risk of being left without labour in the middle of the season. The effect of this is being revealed slowly in the Waikato, where, it must be emphasised, there are many farmers who have resources enough to change to sheep or partially so. Some. of them are finding that in buying sheep at the right time, both in respect of the market and of feed, they can expand their aggregate return without reducing their dairying. The average man, however, is tied by financial limitations, and must proceed slowly in expanding the basis of his income. Odd men, using third-class land and topdressing heavily, are establishing new standards in sheep farming. They are giving an incentive to others. But there is no question that a decline in the number of dairy cows over a period of years will, in this province, spell a reduction in the provincial income.