SERIOUS DROP

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22152, 25 September 1943, Page 4

SERIOUS DROP

DAIRY PRODUCTION PROSPECT FOR SEASON Exportable butter and cheese produced in the Auckland Province for the year just closed, if reduced to a butterfat oasis, shows a reduction of 11.19 per cent compared with the 1941-42 season and 21.07 per cent with the 1940-41 season, said the ' chairman of the Auckland Farmers’ j Freezing Co., Ltd., Mr W. E. Hale, at the annual meeting. Last season approximately 45,000 fewer cows were milked in the Dominion than were milked in the 1941-42 season, and a further heavy fall will be experienced in the present season, according to an estimate quoted by Mr Hale. Cows killed at the meat export works and abattoirs for the year ended June 30, 1942, were more as compared with the previous year by 53,000, and for the year ended June 30, 1943, by 00,000 than the 1942 figures. The total increase in cow killings for the two years was 113,000. Mr Hale said a portion of this increase might have been station cows as distinct from dairy cows, but the number of ; station cows would be comparatively j small. I Replacements Not Available | If sufficient heifers had been reared jto replace the excessive number of | cows killed, loss of production would j have been checked to a certain ex- ' tent, but unfortunately the number j of heifers between one and two years | of age was less by 66,000 at January j 31, 1943, as compared with a year earlier. Indicating the continuous depreciation of the position, Mr Hale said Dominion bobby calf killings for July and August this year were higher by 11,000 as compared with the same months last year. Last season was commenced with a lesser number of cows. Killings were so high during the season that j there was a marked shortage of rej placement heifers, with the shortage of fertilisers and the effect of last autumn’s drought on the condition of the cows this spring, it appeared , that a further marked drop would be ; exerienced in dairy produce produc- ! tion in the current season. Climatic I conditions would affect the position, | said Mr Hale, but it would be wise j to calculate on a further decline of |lO or even 15 per cent on last seaj son’s figures. Pig Production Outlook j Quoting a fall of 30 per cent in the ! number of pigs killed, Mr Hale said | a number of factors had contributed !lo the general pig shortage. The j first setback was when farmers were j advised that Britain would not take j any baconers, a decision which was I later reversed. Then, in 1941-42, 1 there was the change-over from butj ter to cheese and back again in I 1 942-43. ! Last April, and quite unexpected- ' ly, the maximum price at which pigs i could be purchased from producers ! was stabilised before the cost of pro- ] duction was properly investigated. Thus pig-raisers got away to a bad

start last season and their difficulties were further increased by the labour shortage and the shortage and high cost of pog feeding materials. One could not say that pig production prospects for the coming season were at ail bright.