THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1920, Page 8

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

ITS GREAT GROWTH. ( In 1911 the number of dairy cows and heifers was given as 804,078, and the combined exports of butter and cheese amounted to 741,5(i1cwt, valued at £2,778,748. The year 1914 brought with :t'a greatly-increased production and a itiuch larger return, the combined butter and cheese output for export being 1.207,843cwt, valued at , 1915 there was a slight falling off in production, the exported output being i,297,843cwt, valued at £4,515,032. In 1915 there was a slight falling off in production, tlife exported output being ],237,402cwt, valued at £4,614,371. In 1910, after a lapse of five years, the live' stock census was again taken, and disclosed that the number of dairy cows and heifers had fallen ro 750,323. Despite the smaller herds, the export output was nearly double in quantity and more than double in valup of that in 3911, the exports amounting to 1,305,(;48cwf., valued at £6,148,003. The subsequent history of the industry i 3 pjic* of steadily increasing herds, and, save' in 1917, of a successively larger export output, while values have wen phenomenally. In 1917, when the dairy cows and heifers were numbered at 777,112, the combined export of butter and chccstj amounted to 1,140,148 cy/t, valued at £5,980,802. In 1918, lyith 793,215 cows and heifers, tie ex'ptfft »'tts 1,314,4(i8cwt, valued at £7,'iS9,off!< awl i'i 1 with 820,135 cows and heifers, tJjc export was 1,551,902 cwt, valued at £9,094,327. For the year ending Jt.jie 30, 1929, the number of cows and Heifers is approximately SS2,850, and the export was 1,634,092cwt, valued at £9,1t»7,323. Between 1911 and 1920 the number of cows and heifers has increased by 9.8 per cent-, the volume of butter and cheese production for' export by 120.5 per cent, and tho value of the product; exported by 230.7 per cent. In the same period, accepting the estimate of thfi Dairy Division's expert, the value of tho fjftiry herds of the Dominion has risen from £3,035,000 to £17,657,080,