THE DAIRY FARM OF THE EMPIRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1074, 11 September 1930, Page 8

THE DAIRY FARM OF THE EMPIRE

rIERE was a quaint note (of dismay about the recent newsitem from Ngatea, in the Hauraki Plains, which stated that Rugby football was in the doldrums in the district because the excellent winter, with its correspondingly high dairy production, had kept the young men of the countryside busy at more important engagements even than football. The healthy state of affairs thus indicated is confirmed in statistical reports of dairy production throughout tlje whole province for the months of July and August, in which an increase over the high production of the corresponding period last season has been shown. In August, particularly, a striking expansion is evident. This result is partly attributable to very favourable weather conditions, but it is also a reflection of improved methods of farming and a higher standard among the dairy herds. More scientific farming methods, including herd-testing, more intensive grazing, and the use of fertilisers, are steadily increasing the yield of New Zealand dairy lands. The output over a period of years now has increased each season from between five and ten per cent., and there is yet no evidence that the rate of expansion is tending to fall away. In the most isolated communities dairying is now established. There is a dairy factory at Okutu, in the remotest corner of the AVest Coast of the South Island, where the settlers have a sailing vessel of their own in which to get their produce to the markets. There are dairy farms on the Great Barrier Island, where some of the cream is carried on pack-horses to the nearest wharf, for dispatch by the weekly steamer to Auckland. There are other dairy factories in the Maori settlements of the East Coast and the Far North, and all these, as well as the internal expansion in the mol-e important dairying districts such as the AVaikato, are contributing to the increase in national production. Every upward movement in the statistical record of production improves New Zealand’s position as the dairy farm of the Empire. More than that, every extra pound of butter-fat strengthens the country’s ability to meet falling prices and fluctuating markets. In the uncertain times experienced by primary producers, the brightest feature is the expansion in production, offsetting retrograde movements of prices. AVliile this may seem poor consolation to producers who are now obtaining the same returns as before for increased production, it is a factor of individual as well as of national importance, and the fuller benefits of the expanding yield will be enjoyed when times improve. In the meantime, from a purely local point of view, it is satisfactory to note that the output in the Auckland Province maintains a favourable rate of increase.