THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1930, Page 15

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

OMATA COMPANY’S WORK INCREASED PRODUCTION SHOWN. THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. About 70 suppliers attended the annual meeting of the Omata Dairy Company in New Plymouth yesterday afternoon. Mr. G. H. Bell presided. The thirty-first annual report stated that the figures showed a pronounced increase in the quantity of cream handled by the company during the past season. The butter market through the year had been changeable, with a downward tendency, some realisations having been down to Is. per lb., but it had recently stabilised at approximately Is. 2d. per lb. f.o.b. The directors considered the result of the, year's working very satisfactory, having regard to the impossibility of gauging f.o.b. values from time to time, as buyers ceased operations very suddenly eainy in the season. The payment for cream already made averaged Is. 2.37 d. per lb. butterfat, and the directors proposed further payments of id. per lb. butterfat over September, October and November cream, 2d. per lb. over February, sd. per lb. over March and 2Jd. per lb. on' April and May butterfat. , ~The balance to credit of profit and i loss account on closing the books was £3325 Ils. 7d., and the payments proposed would absorb £3315 and leave £lO Ils. 7d. to be carried forward or s otherwise dealt with. The total payment for the year would then be neamy > Is. 3Jd. per lb. butterfat. An endeavour I wa< be.ng made to retain the services of the farm da.ry instructor, but as cer- . tain companies had withdrawn from the group, it was not yet certain that a group could be maintained. ■ The directors were pleased that the ' opcrat.cus of the company had been carried on smoothly at a m.-niniura expense rat.o, and fmt that tne manager, Air. Lynch, was to be congratulated on h.s ehic.ent work. The directors had ■ written. 5 per cent, depreciation off the factory and plant, but as the residerices had been painted and repaired out of . the year’s expenses, they did not consider any provision for depreciation on then! was necessary this year. The summary for the year was given as follows:—Number of suppliers, 131; cream received, 1,717,893.71 b.; butterfat, . 658,114.241 b.; average test, 38.3; pounds of butter made, 794,1111b.;' pounds of butter per lb. butterfat, 1.2066; average grade, 93.747; cost of manufacture, inI chiding cream cartage and depreciation I per lb. butter, l.lod. and per lb. butterfat, 1.59 d.; total costs, including farm j da.ry instruction and all expenses per : ib. butter, 1.58 d. and per lb. butter- ' fat, l.ffd. SATISFACTORY POSITION. The report and balance-sheet showed a very satisfactory position, said the ' cha.rman, in his address, especially in the increased production of 61 tons over the past year. Of course there had been an* increase of approximately 30 suppliers, but they were mostly suppliers with small holdings. The quality of the butter had been very satisfactory. During the season the directors had discussed the proposal of giving the factory manager a better water supply and had finally installed a filter. The directors had been very pleased with the filter, which had helped the manager considerably. After six months work.ng the filter had proved very satisfactory. The, work of dairy farm instruction had been under eons.derat.on. Many of j the factories were dropping out of the •groups. At the same time the ward sys-1 tern had bee.i strongly supported at the N.D.A. meeting in Hamilton. That had. thrown a different l.ght on the work oi dairy farm instructors. I In connection with cream, the position was arising that in future cream would have to be graded right through the winter. To meet that position the company felt it would have to alter the terms of the contract in collecting the cream. In future the cream would be collected daily from August 1 to the end of May. This would give suppliers the opportunity ®of grading finest. The system would not begin immediately this year, as the present contract, which did not expire until November 16, would have to be readjusted. Regarding the future, said the chairman, he had to sound a note of warning to suppliers, not to look for the high prices they had rcce.ved in the past. Prices for produce had dropped not only in the da;ry industry, but in most other primary industries. i AIM AT BETTER QUALITY. | What the farmers must aim at was producing butterfat at a lower cost. Uomjietitio.i on the market with the produce from the Balkan States was .n--ereasing. Canada and America were practically shutt.ng out New Zealand butter, and England was becoming the country’s only market. Although there was s..J room in England for bigger sales by the use of better marketing conditions, he did feel that costs must be reduced to meet the increased competition. ■ There were several -methods 'of improving conditions; one was by the use of fertilisers, and the other by herd testing. He believed that if they tackled those two things, which were within the reach of every farmer, competition could be met.

From the directors’ point of view, the past year had been difficult m knowing whether to sell or to consign. Mr. Beil would venture to say that this year would be more diffieu r stih in knowing what prices to accept. At the same time, he was glad to say that the directors, in his experience, had m-ide none, of those mistakes which might cause deep regret. The directors were to be congratulated, said Mr. C. J. Harris, on the satisfactory manner in which they had carried on the company’s business. The cost of manufacture. at Ud. a lb. was particularly good. The retiring directors, Messrs. Hou lahan and Brown, were re-elected unopposed. Mr. V. Duff was re-elected auditor. The chairman and directors were voted the same remuneration as in last year.

The increase in wages at the factory, said Mr. Bell in reply to a questioner, was due to the fact that a boy had to be engaged during- the flush months to

cope with the increased supply. Under the award the wages of another man had then to be raised. He might say that already this year there had been an increase of 32 boxes. It was no hardship to have to pay for extra .übonr as long as the production was increasing. Regarding the dairy [arm instructor situation, said Mr. Bell, he had attended a meeting of companies at Rahotu. Four of the companies were in favour of continuing. For Omata, Mr. Bell had said that his company would support the continuance of the instructor provided the cost was no higher than in last year. The other companies were awaiting Omata’s decision. The cost would be £3O or £4O more, but this was not a great deal when spread over all the suppliers. The manager had informed him that at present ’he would not be able to take the place of the instructor in advising the farmers about their cream, and he would like to see the instructor retained. The work had made a great difference at the Oanui Company, and others dowm the eoast. Mr. Bell moved that the .Omata company join the group of companies to retain the services of the dairy t-aiin instructor. The cost would b? £7O about 15s. for each supplier.. If was possible that Warea and Ncwall Road might join the group, and if they did the cost would be less. Mr. T. Telford asked that it should be made plain to the dairy instructor that his duties were to instruct, as well as ito inspect. Mr. Bell replied that probably a committee would be set up by the companies to control the instructor’s movements. Mr. Spence said that sometimes it was difficult to have the dairy, instructor attend to complaints straight away. Imme- ■ diate attention was necessary if the cream was poor. j The chairman said they had had : brought to their notice more than ever i lately the need for quality. They did | not want butter to be in tlie same posiI tion as cheese. With five companies in I the group, instead of 10, the service ■ would be. better, though the cost would be higher. i I The motion co retain the servers of the dairy instructor, till the institution of a national system, was earr cd. FINANCE FOR BUPPLIERS. A motion by Mr. C J. Harris ‘‘that the directors of this company + ike steps to allow suppliers to take advantage of the rural intermediate credits through the company, and, if necessary, have articles of - associat.on, altered to allow this to be done, ’ was lost. The Act had been put on the SiatutV Book for the benefit of farmers, said Mr. Harris. It was a good method of obtaining money when it was tight. The system would be little disadvantage to the factory. The factory would have to let its affairs be investigated by the board. The board would permit the factory to give credit to a supplier up to the maximum of £2OO. The money would be repaid in monthly instalments by the supplier and the rate of interest would be 6J per cent., which was lower than the bank rate at the present time. The system was exactly the same as the bank overdraft system, but at a lower rate. The money could be obtained at very short notice. There were no legal costs at all except a shilling stamp on the promissory note. Th- facleiy | was fully safeg-iari'.pd; It had first call on the man’s money end could take it off his milk cheque. The system had been set up to help the smaller farmers to obtain credit.

One supplier objected on the grounds that a supplier might borrow money and switch over to another factory, leaving the first without its original security. One other difficulty, said the chairman, was that the company had so many small that it could not'hope to have the n z ary knowledge of a man’s affairs With a small, company whose suppliers were’ not constantly moving, the scheme might be worked. At present the company did good service to the supplier in buying slag, manures, cream cans and separators for them. Mr. Drake gave' notice of motion to the next annual meeting that the'articles of association should be a'tered to read one share for every 251 b of butterfat delivered, instead of one share for every 201 b., as at present. Mr. Maloney suggested that the next annual meeting be held at the Hurworth hall so that afterwards the suppliers might inspect the factory.