RAIN BENEFITS DAIRYING

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1930, Page 11

RAIN BENEFITS DAIRYING

RECORD SEASON HOPED FOR PRODUCTION OF FAT INCREASED. PRICES RISE ON LONDON MARKET Cheese has risen by 5s and butter by from is to 2g on the London market, according to the latest London cable received in New Plymouth concerning ths prices of New Zealand dairy produce. The market for cheese is described as steady and that for butter as firm. The rain that spoilt the holidays for so many people recently has proved a very material blessing for dairy farmers in North .Taranaki. Instead of commencing to drop about the middle of December as it usually does, the production of butter-fat lias been phenomenally high for this time of the year and is now probably ,6 or 7 per cent, ahead of the aggregate at this stage of last season.' Though .this is only the seventh ‘ month of the dairying season there is every indication that, given continued favourable conditions, fat production will easily exceed that of 1928-29, when a record for the province was establish - ■ ed.by figures that were twice as high as the returns ten years previously. The paddocks all show a luxurious growth where they have not been cut for hay or ensilage and there is more ■ grass tlian there has been at this period : for many years./'Although the grass has not the same feeding value as it would have under- drier conditions, in quantity it has 'been more than sufficient to niaintain and improve the volume of milk sent to the factories,” said a man interested in (the land when interviewed ♦by a Daily News reporter yesterday. He added, however, that it was possible that if the present fine weather presaged a-prolonged dry spell the autumn growth might show a falling off. The farmers spoken to were all agreed that the industry had profited by the rain, though some suggested a week or s,o of -sunshine would be most acceptable to those with hay to harvest. Although the' factories are paying less per pound of fat than at this time last year the total pay-out.has been considerably higher. An optimistic note has • been sounded from London, and it now appears that prices as well as production will improve. A 'private cable received in New Plymouth yesterday said that white New Zealand cheese was quoted at 91s in London on Thursday and coloured at 89s. Both these quotations represent an advance of 5s over sales the previous week. Butter shows an improvement of from Is. to 2s at 154 s to 1565. It has been estimated that about 90 per cent, of the surplus grass in North Taranaki has been saved as ensilage this year. Ensilage can be-cut and harvested in wet weather without suffering any harm. The rain has, however, retarded hay-making to such an extent that, according to one authority, much of the feeding value has gone from grass dihat has been lying cut pending stacking. “And,” he added, “dry grass is very different from hay.” It was, in fact, generally agreed among the farmers in- , terviewed that considerable damage had been done by the rain in this respect. However, the fine weather of the past few days had .enabled good progress to be made with stacking. The season had been a fairly good one for crops, particularly spring sown oats. On the other hand, a sufferer from the rainy weather -would be the back-coun-..try farmer, because in many instances secondary growth had come away so quickly that it was impossible to control it adequately by stock feeding. “Unless dry weather sets in for the next six weeks or so, there /ill be no burning off this year,” observed one farmer..