NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3830, 9 August 1927, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Dairy Cows and Cold Weather.

No one will deny that the dairy cow should be sheltered from

rough weather in the interests of both the cow and the cow’s owner.

Otherwise there will occur a shrinkage in milk yield and a setback for some days. Anyone who has bad stock during the recent cold spell of weather will appreciate the great advantage of shelter of some sort. Dairy cows should not be exposed to cold rains, and some thought and extra feeding may well be provided for those “ dry ” cows sheltering behind, maybe, a wire fence. The chilling is dangerous, and may be the cause of abortion. Shelter in winter and shade in summer are important factors which should not be disregarded. Milk secretion is greatly retarded by long exposure to a hot sun on a dry, shadeless, and waterless pasture. The cow is certainly a wonderful manufacturing machine of milk, but always provided the environment is to her liking and there is ample shade, shelter, and fresh water available, as well as luscious feed. In order to yield her maximum of milk the dairy cow must be treated humanely, generously, and fed according to her production. The more milk she yields the more feed she should be given.

Subsidy tor Herd Testing.

The Cabinet, in its wisdom, has approved o rQfWW) •if o oiila-

a grant of £BOOO as a subsidy towards the cost of the work that is being

carried out by the herdtesting associations of the Dominion. The State has probably never made a better venture, as, wisely administered, this sum (which is for the current year) will give herd-testing the necessary fillip. It is not undue optimism to say that 10 years hence, if herd-testing is thus encouraged yearly, the dairy industry will benefit by some £5,000,000 a year. One has but to visualise the possibilities of an increase per dairy cow in New Zealand to picture the deluge of milk likely in the not distant future. The Waikato Herd-testing Association, for instance, found that in one district 29 herds had in each case exceeded 3001 b per cow. One herd went up over the 4001 b mark. When it is recalled that the average production pei - cow in New Zealand is less than 2001 b, it is reasonable to suppose that the general average yield can be lifted to a point at which dairymen could afford to smile. Of course, the money will hot be just handed over to minimise testing charges. A small board will be set up and be expected to suggest a practical method whereby the money can best be distributed. Once the cull cow is noted, no doubt the board will see that she is doomed and not passed on to some unwary dairyman. The advocates of herd-testing have long pleaded for some practical encouragement of their efforts, but in vain until now. They and the Government deserve congratulations. as this national investment of money will pay the Dominion well.

Farmers and Politics.

The above heading is not the writer’s. Far from it. Farmers

A <ll 11 Mill It. I'dllllvia and politics do not mix well, and yet one could well expect a prosperous

New Zealand if farmers ran the country, as they would first, naturally enough, make matters easier for agriculturists and pastoralists, and they, as the backbone of the country (so politicians say), being prosperous, would soon put the secondary industries worth while on their feet, and there would be an end of slackness and unemployment. Perhaps. The New’ Zealand Farmers’ Union at any rate favours political action, but has ■wisely enough deferred its decision as to the form of action to be taken to some time in the future. That the Auckland branch of the Farmers’ Union has no qualms in the matter whatever may be the opinion of some of the more southern branches. The former’s political platform has punch enough in it to please the most militant of parties, if not sidestepped. One of the aims is to secure that “ all Customs duties of a protective nature be gradually reduced so as to cease altogether in 10 years, any assistance to industries to be in the form of subsidies.” It becomes a question then of subsidies versus protective Customs duties, and one can imagine how manufacturers would squirm if the fitful subsidy was not forthcoming. and picture what an effective brake this would mean to an enterprising manufacturer. He would move to happier climes without delay. It is to be hoped that circumstances will not arise in the future to push the Farmers’ Union to extreme action, as the contemplation of possible reprisals from those not engaged in rural pursuits is no figment of the imagination. One held, too, the idea that the present Government was largely a farmers’ concern, and though it made mistakes, yet at heart was convinced that the producers’ success must come ere

the Dominion will prosper. In any ease the solution of the farmer's difficulty is economical, not political.

Development of Australia.

The Acting Commonwealth Statistician

(Mr E. T. M'Phee), ad? dressing members of the Rotary Club, said that the

census of 1921 had dis. closed an interesting position in the de. velopment of Australia. For the first time in the history of Australia the num, her of persons engaged in secondary in. dustries had exceeded the number employed in primary industries. At tiici census of 1891 the numbers engaged in those two great industrial groups had been practically equal. The proportion of workers engaged in the primary ini dustries in 1831 had been 44 per cent, of the total number’ of workers in Australia, but in 1891 it had dropped to 31 p.er cent. Since the land boom in 1891 the primary industries group had continued to decline. Notwithstanding the relative decline in the number of the farming com. munity, the census of 1921 revealed that the actual number of persons engaged ill all the branches of farming at that timq was greater than at any previous period) Of the total number of persons engaged in daily occupations in the United States in 1820 87 per cent, had been engaged in agriculture. The percentage of workers in that industry in 1920 had dropped to 25A per cent. Similar de. creases in the proportions of agricultural workers had occurred in Great Britain and Germany. When giving statistics to show the development of Australian pro. duction, Mr M’Phee said that in the last 25 years the acreage under crop had in. creased from 9,000,000 acres to 16.500,009 acres. The acreage under wheat had also increased by more than 75 per cent. AGRICOLA.