HOW TO RUN THE FARM.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 27, 18 July 1911, Page 4

HOW TO RUN THE FARM.

THE NEED FOR BUSINESS-LIKE

PROCEDURE,

“The Dairy Farm and How to Run It,” was the title of a paper read by Mr J. Burt Veale, of Woodville, at the Palmerston Show conference. He remarked in opening that dairymen had more and more to learn of what successful dairy farming really meant. The man who thought he knew everything about it was not generally the man who rose to the possibilities that were attainable, and the man whose sole object in getting a dairy farm was-to sell it without delay to someone else at an enhanced price was becoming one of the greatest curses of the industry. (Hear, hear.) The time had arrived when this practice must stop and when closer attention must be given to detail and more systematic work.

MANY THINGS TO LEARN.

The milking of cows was not the only thing to learn on a dairy farm. For some years past dairy farms had been selling at increased values without having increased in carrying capacity ; in fact, the style of farming generally adopted had been to rapidly decrease its capacity, so that many had been successful, not from what was made out of the farm’s produce, but from the pockets of the other fellow. The position had become so acute of late that a serious problem had to be faced, men in the industry being confronted with the fact that the dairy farm must now be farmed properly. After briefly describing the best manner of laying out a dairy farm, Mr Veale said that the actual test of successful dairying v/as the net return per acre after allowing, say, 5 per cent on the value of the labour and outgoings expended in producing the return. When there was a surplus or deficiency on these figures then only could the farmer say that he had had a profitable year or otherwise. It should be distinctly understood that dairy farming was a business entirely apart from land jobbing, and, therefore, must be based upon the present or producing qualities of the land and cows. These returns were' capable of being made much greater by systematic dairy farming than by merely milking cows. There were very many farmers whose methods were sound and ideas practicable, but there were also a very large number whose methods were crude and impracticable, and who were a drawback to the dairying industry. It v/as to the latter that appeal had to be made if the industry were to be benefited. Mr Veal went into the technicalities at some length, finally saying that the point he would like to stress was that the most urgent and yet the most neglected part of the farming operations was the keeping of a systematic set of books. The capital value of the farm and stock should be set up and the

source of income from each and the various outgoings and expenses. Everything should be properly entered up in a businesslike way. • The paper was briefly discussed, and a number of questions by delegates were answered, Mr Veale being accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his informative statements.