FARMING IN BRITAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1932, Page 16

FARMING IN BRITAIN

i LOW PRICES FOR STOCK. ( ; NEW ZEALANDER’S EXPERIENCE. I- : Writing to a friend at Eltham a forI mer New' Zealand resident now farming i in Worcester states that farmers in Britain are experiencing slump prices for their. products, f( Last year,” he states, “'lambs were worth from 45s to 60s, but this year they are worth only 10s Upwards. .Old ewes ere hard to quit and many have been sold at 10s and 124. Two years ago the sheep cost the writer 50s to 655. Both store and fat cattle are cheaper than for years. 1 sold several fat beasts for £l9 each, but as they cost £l4 a .year ago there was no profit in them, especially as they had'been fed on artificial cake. “Pigs aii-e also very cheap, being worth (fat) about 10s a score of 201b—--6d a lb. The price of foodstuffs 'is too high to fatten pigs profitably. “The only thing that pays is milk, the prices being Is Id a gallon in summer and Is 4d in winter,but this is overdone and some are selling it at lesp. It costs much, more to produce milk in England then in New Zealand, on account of the stalling and winter feeding, which is a big item. “I was up in 'Shropshire last week and saw dairying carried out much on New Zealand principles—nothing but dairy farms for miles —but there were no factories. All the milk goes to the larger centres. It looks as if milk- will 5e controlled next year. ■ It is in a very unsatisfactory state at. present as there is no stabilised price. “I understand that on the East Coast of England one can '-get land rent free to farm provided he pays the taxes. It is all corn growing country there. It is different in ’ Worcester, where there is a good demand for small farms. But the large farms are hard to. quit or rent. There is no system of finance as there is in the colonies. It is a wonder they do'not lend money on stock as do the New Zealand stock firms. Most of the business here is done through the hanks.”