AUCKLAND DAIRY SEASON

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1926, Page 7

AUCKLAND DAIRY SEASON

INCREASE OF 14 PER CENT. COMPENSATES FOR LOWER VALUES Returns published this week, says the Herald, have shown that the dairying production of the Auckland province for the first five months of the season, have eclipsed all previous records, the outputs of both butter and cheese having increased to a total extent of butterfat of 14 per cent, over last year’s figures. The decline in values has to be set against this expansion of volume, and some calculations of the two factors in respect of butter alone are presented in an article. The valuations are necessarily only broad estimates, but they are sufficiently conservative to justify the general conclusion that the pro. vincial dairy industry as a whole has produced almost the same value of butter as it did during the corresponding period of last year. To the individual farmer, and even to the whole community of dairy farmers, the result may not be equally satisfactory. Expenditure on the improvement of herds and pastures has contributed to the great increase in volume of production, and in that respect the investment has not produced the anticipated profits. Another large factor has been the remarkably favourable weather conditions: they have cost the farmer nothing, and so much of the additional butter-fat that is due to the natural enrichment of the pastures is clear profit.