DAIRY FARM POPULATION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3928, 19 July 1937, Page 5

DAIRY FARM POPULATION

WHAT STATISTICS SHOW. FARMERS, EMPLOYEES AND COWS. On the schedule used for the collection of agricultural and pastoral statistics from 1915-16 to 1928-29, provision was made for showing the number of persons engaged in farm work on the holdings. The resultant statistics were, however (says the Government Statistician), not entirely satisfactory, difficulties of interpretation and differences of treatment occurring in respect of members of the occupier’s family partially engaged in farming duties. With a view to obviating these difficulties as far as possible, and in recognition of the fact that farm population not only offers a wider field of inquiry than farm labour, but is in many respects a more important social and economic entity, the questionnaire used in 1929-30 provided for information regarding all persons living or working on the holding, those engaged in farm work being distinguished. The inquiry not only resulted in the ascertaining of the farm population of New Zealand for the first time, but yielded a much more trustworthy figure of farm labour. Unfortunatly, this part of the questionnaire was among the items of statistical inquiry dropped in 1930 under the urge of economy in expenditure. AN INTERESTING SUMMARY. Farm labour was an essential part of the special inquiry recently undertaken, and in view of previous experience in this field it was decided to ask for details of farm population under various heads, as indicated in the following summary of results. —

Persons regularly resident or working on farm during the 1935-36 season—(l) Members of family (including occupier and wife), (a) performing full time farm work, 26,655 males, 1934 females, total 28,580; (b) regularly performing part-time farm work, 600 males, 12,275 females, total 18,284; (c) not regularly performing any farm work, 10,192 males, 22,515 females, total 32,707. Total family, 42,856 males, 36,724 females, total 79,580. (2) Farm employees othei than members of family and excluding casual and temporary workers, 8068 males, 991 females, total 9059. (3) AH other regular residents on farm, including domestics, boarders, members of farm employees’ families, etc., 1929 males, 2979 females, total 4908. Total farm population 52,853 , males, 40,694 females, total 93,547. EMPLOYEES CLASSIFIED. It will be observed that casual and temporary workers were not covered, and that the inquiry was limited to persons regularly resident or working on the farm. Where both owner and sharemilkers were resident on the farm, it was enjoined that sharemilkers and their families were to be included under groups 2 and 3. Where, however, the owner was not resident on the farm, then sharemilkers or managers and their families were to be shown under the appropriate subheadings of group 1. Sharemilkers’ paid employees were to be counted in group 2 in all cases. At this stage it may be mentioned that, of the 19,307 farms dedlt with, 714 were stated to be managed by sharemilkers and 1359 by managers. Including managers and sharemilkers and their families in cases where the owner does not reside on the farm, members of the farmer’s family comprise no less than 85 per cent, of the total population on the 19,307 farms. Regular employees, other than members of the farmer’s family, who are engaged in farm work constitute under 10 per cent, of the farm population, and only 24 per cent, of the 37,648 persons working full-time on farm work. HIRED LABOUR. For farms with herds of under 50 hired labour (including sharemilkers where the owner is resident) averages one person per 5.2 farms or per 137 cows; for herds between 50 and 100, one person per 1.2 farms or per 82 cows; for herds between 100 and 180, 2.1 persons per farm, or 1 person per 57 cows; and for herds over 180, 5 persons per farm, or 1 person per 44 cow’s. These averages and the relativity between them are somewhat affected by the differential treatment of sharemilkers and their families according to whether the owner is or is not resident on the farm, but they serve to indicate the small extent to which hired labour is employed except on the comparatively few big dairy farms. If to the 9059 hired works regularly employed on farm W’ork are added the working farmers themselves and members of their families engaged in full-time farm work, a total of 37,648 results, this number including 2925 women. Males regularly employed on fulltime farm duties on the 19,307 farms dealt with total 34,723. FULL-TIME WORKERS. The average number of males engaged on full-time farm labour shows a regular rise as the size of the herd increases, but an almost equally regular fall with increasing size of herd is shown for male labour per 100 cows. In proportion to total farm population male full-time labour rises steadily to a miximum of 48 per cent, for herds of 100 to 119 cows, but declines slightly thereafter. On the subject of classification of dairy farms according to the number of males engaged on full-time farm work, it is of interest to note that on 628 of the farms, with a total of 8522 cows, no full-time male labour was engaged. On these 628 farms, 205 females were engaged full time, and 647 males and 436 females parttime. Farms with five or more men engaged full time numbered only 412, or two per cent, of the total, and had only 7 per cent, of the total cows. A CROSS-SECTION. The great bulk of the dairy farming is carried out on farms with only one or two males engaged on fulltime farm work. Such farms represented 78 per cent, of the total dealt

with, and had 69 per cent, of the human population, 63 per cent, of the cows (with 62 per cent, of the butterfat production), and 55 per cent, of the breeding ewes. These farms account fo_r 64 per cent, of the litters of pigs and 66 per cent, of the pigs sold. Their acreage devoted to dairying was 66 per cent, of the acreage so used on all farms covered. As stated earlier, the farms covered by the inquiry constitute a big crosssection of the dairy farms of New Zealand and account for 415 per cent, of the total dairy cows in the Dominion, and 46 per cent, of the total butterfat supplied to dairy factories. Allowing for dairy cows on holdings other than dairy farms, it appears reasonable to assume a total dairy farm population and labour force ap proximately double the figures shown for the dairy farms covered by the present inquiry. This would give totals at about 185,000 for dairy farm population and 75,000 for persons engaged in full-time dairy farm work