THE SMALL FARM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16705, 24 July 1928, Page 9

THE SMALL FARM

ARE COSTg TOO GREAT ? ROOM FOR CO-OPERATIVE EFFORT Many of the dairy farms near Gisborne are merely small holdings of about 50 or 60 acres, and the remark is heard sometimes that dairy farming does not pay. The same statement was made to the writer a few days ago by a farmer on a 'holding of less than 00 acres, but it was difficult at first to see where bis complaint lay, for he had a good'herd, which had given him a good return, and one which is regarded as capable of returning him sufficient to allow a fair margin of profit.

•It was complained that the expenses of running a small farm were too great for the return received. He stated that- he was continually putting his receipts back into the farm,' the result being that he was left with very little for himself. The cost of working his holding up to a profitable point had been very expensive, while to continue the work successfully he had to put most of his earnings back into the farm.

The cost of treating the land was given by the farmer as a heavy burden. It was not within the means of a small man to purchase all the machinery requirements for a farm, and to borrow them was a pernicious .system that was the bane of rural life, while to hire them was an expensive means of having the farm cultivated or top-dressed. •

SMALL CO-OPERATIVE GROUPS

It is here, perhaps, where the cooperative movement could be extended. Much has been done with cooperation with regard to the manufacture of our primary products, but no doubt the system could be still further extended in order to keep down the cost of working the small farms. One of the possibilities is inaugurating cooperative movements for the purchase and the use of implements. With many farmers to-day there is a system of the mutual use of machinery belonging to a variety of owners in the immediate neighborhood. One man buys a top-dresser, another a scarifier, and othere round about the various other implements required only occasionally by each individual. Of these there is a continual borrowing and lending, but as some of the users do not always exercise the necessary care in the use of the various pieces of machinery, there arc fiequent complaints with regard to this method. What might be done is the formation of small co-operative societies for the funding of their resources and the purchase of various requirements, with one of the farmers participating in the scheme # as custodian for the plant, or, pehaps,*it might be divided among the contributing parties, each man to have care of one or more instrument. This, perhaps, is something on the same lines of the present system of lend and borrow, but as each man would have a financial interest in each of the implements, his care of them might be greater than if they belonged entirely to neighbors. After the initial cost had been dealt with, each farmer might pay according to the use he has for the machines, this money to go into a fund for eventual repairs and renewals. Such a scheme might be difficult to operate successfully, but if farmers thought sufficient of it to give it further investigation, some suitable method might be devised for the benefit of the small farmer. GREAT.POSSIBILITIES , .. Under the existing conditions, the expenses of a'small farm are certainly high if a man desires to get the best out of his property, but there are great possibilities for those who treat their farms and their herds properly. When a farmer has a herd that is averaging him over 3001 b. of butter-fat per cow, and the'farm is carrying ,■« cow to two acres, there should be some profit in it. ■ One example of a Patutahi farm of .approximately GO acres can be given. The total butter-fat for the season was over 70001 b., which at Is 6d per lb., which should be the approximate average rate this season, would give a return of £530. In addition, this man has three sows, which he claims averaged him £4 a cow, or approximately £IOO for the season. At the same time this farmer also undertook the fattening of hoggets, ami he claims a fair return from these. No doubt his total'returns would be over £7OO. This is not a princely sum, but allowing himself and a boy helper £350 a year as wages," he has a similar amount left to meet interest on mortgage, the payment of rates, repairs aud renewals, and the purchase'of. fertiliser for the further improvement of the fertility of the farm. At the same time, the farmer has an asset in his herd which should be always increasing in value, and with breeding on the right lines he should be able to further increase his production, while, when his herd attains a .high standard, he should be able to net-a: consider; abjo return in the,sale of his calves to supplement his income. ACREAGE RETURNS

This' is ndt merely one case out of many, for there is another of a dairy farmer oir the Hats living not very far away from .the first who has approximately the feme acreage, but who is milking a few more cows. In this instance, too, the return from the herd should be on a payable basis. The total butter-fat was. slightly over 00001 b., which/for a; farm of approximately CO a'cfes,-is a? very >fair production, but nothing like'what lias Been done with judicious farm management in some other parts of.the Dominion, and in places where Of the land is not nearly so good. AWs ml per lb., the season's butter-fat cheque should total £67(3, while, with the,sale of pigs, the total receipts would be not less than £75.0. •

In both of these cases there are great possibilities of the production of the farm being largely increased, while, with some cheaper system of farm management, the profits could be greatly advanced., , •. „ There is no" reason why the butterfat returns from Poverty Bay farms should not be greatly, increased over those of to-day. The acreage returns from the first farm quoted here are on an average of 1301 b. of butter-fat, but 12 acres of the farm are comprised of a steep hill, and are of litltfo use for

dairying. With the elimination of these 12 acres, the butter-fat returns average 16211). of fa't the other case the acreage return is 14511 b. of fat. In other parts far greater production has been obtained on land that, before it was artificially fertilised, was considered to be secondrate dairying country. One of the best acreage returns that has come under the writer's notice was 1951 b. of batter-fat in the Waikato, while it is believed that even a higher stand-ard-has been attained in Taranaki. Poverty Bay .land is capable of achieving similar results if the method of farming is carried out properly, and it is on small farms where the bcst!6f the records are made, and the raising of the production to a high standard will put beyond doubt the question that some times arises: Docs dairy farming pay?