OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3167, 13 March 1911, Page 2

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW. HAWKE’S BAY: PROVINCE Or THE GOLDEN t-LEECE. • DAIRYING AT DAXNEYTRIvE. r (.By R. J. Eamos). The notion generally held in Danne-, virke district is that it is a saw-milling area. That is no longer true. The milling timber was cut out some years ago. Then followed the felling and clearing by the farmer, and now there are developing extensive pastures for the cow. But, like the whole of Hawke’s Bay, this locality is struck periodically by droughts. Not such droughts as our brethren across the herring-pond know, but droughts of sufficient severity to dry up the founts which yield the but-ter-fat. Take the experience of the Dannevirke Dairy Co. by way of example. In 1900 it paid out £BOOO, and in 1907 the figures fell to £5600. In 1909-10 there was an increase to £7OOO, and this year the sum wifi be about the same, from which it will be seen that even yet a recovery has not been made of the set-back of 1907. - There' were indications at the time of visiting that the present season will be a short one, as the falling-off in the supply was more rapid than at the corresponding period of"previous years, due to the dry weather which afflicted the whole of the province in late December and January. "Within a seven-mile radium at Dannevirke there have been four new dairy factories started within three years, which shows liow rapidly the redeemed bush lands are coming under cows. The pay-out of five factories averages somethink like five or six thousand pouncis ner factory per annum. Several blocks have been cut up by the Government in lots of 70 to 23U acres, at rentals averaging about 9s per acre. In freehold values there has been a rapid increase, and they range .now from £lB to £2B per acre. There i:: a lot of land which requires about three acres to carry a cow, but it has been shown that land at £2O per acre will return £3 per acre from butter-fat. One section, running a cow to 21 acres, won' £9 10s per cow. The establishment of a bacon factory shows that the importance of the pig is being recognised. INTERESTING DISPUTE ABOUT TESTING. Along the run from Dannevirke to Woodville there are further evidences, of closer settlement, and at Woodville itself is established the biggest dairy company in Hawke’s Bay. This is a proprietary concern which last year manufactured 443 tons of butter. Round about Woodville there have been some years of competitive manufacturing, and a good many failures by which the fanning community has suffered. Last year a rather hot controversy occurred over the reading of tests, one company alleging that another had made a practice of misleading the people by reading the tests low, which process enabled them to pay out more per lb for the butter-fat. One of the parties to the controversy published the following table, showing the effect of under-read-ing a test: —

The figures are instructive. From them it will be seen that if a given 10001 b of milk contained 3Slbs of butter-fat (at a 3.8 test) it would only be credited with 34 lbs of fat if one read the test as 3.4. SOUTHERN END OF THE DISTRICT. One of the most important of the companies connected with the rural activity of the district is established at Woodvills, namely, the bacon company. Anyone who gets the opportunity should take a run through a factory of this kind, uhich can turn out something like 400 pigs a day. The work is specialised on the American plan and it takes only a fe.w minutes for the hog to pass through the hands of the sticker, the scraper and the other operatives, on to the hooks in pieces, ,ready for curing. When dairying operations were begun in 1897 the output of the Woodville district was something like 75 tons, but with the development of the industry .there was made in 1906 about 450 tons of butter, and this without increasing the original area. This year the Hawkes Bay Company’s business shows another expansion of two tons, without taking in fresh territories. The average price of butter-fat for the past three years was over lOd per Hi. The district as a whole is a good one for dairying, but the land is also suitable for sheep and a good deal of it is used for the light stock. There is no doubt that a further extension of dairying will take place, and although the milch cows (according to an expert who is familiar with both districts") were for a long time behind the quality of the Taranaki animal. improvements are now taking place every year. Several herds have been worked up within five or six years from “just cows” into producers which doubled the output of the different farms. Some suppliers are averaging up to 300 lbs of butter-fat per cow, but a great many, in the words of an authority engaged in the business, “just puddle along and only get half the results they should.” The Cow has been responsible for many changes in the ownership of land. Tip to 1897 there had baldly been a farm sold in the district for years, and the best land could then he bought for £l2 per acre. With the development of dairying however, values have risen rapidly until they now range from £25 to £45 per acre. The Woodvine dairying area is not a large one. The best- of the land, if farmed well, is capable of carrying a cow to l.j acres. One farmer has wintered 100 head of cattle on 150 acres, and wintered them well. To do this, however, requires sys-

tematic feeding. ■ The farm areas run from 15 to 200 acres, the large majority being from 80 to .120 acres. Up to tno present there has been very little manuring and many will say that it is unnecessary. Others, however, declare that it pays better to manure and that the use of basic slag means bigger profits. Tile valleys are on the wet side in winter but are rich in quality, being heavy loam over clay. All kinds of English grasses take readily, but a lot of cultivation; is necessary. The surface timber has mostly disappeared, and half, or often more, of the farm areas have been put under the plough. For the lighter land further back supporting, on an average, a cow to three acres; £l7 to £lB is asked. In comparison with values in some other places there is a prospect of further (rise, but financial men engaged in the industry say that present values are quite high enough if farmers are to keen on the safe side. On one farm of 140* acres 100 head of stock were run, including a herd of 50 Jerseys, which averaged. 2801bs of butter-fat per cow. During the past few seasons the dairymen have realised what a valuable adjunct to a farm the pig is, and dairymen on 45 and 50-acre places have netted £IOO a year from their porkers and baconers. Besides dairying, cereals and root crons are grown with good results, and from a contemplation of this end of the district one is - almost led into forgetfulness of the fact that rt is part of the province of the Golden Fleece.

Milk Test 1 ? at Price Value li. e. lbs d. £ s. d. 1000 3.8 OS10 1 11 8 1000 3.7 37 101 1 11 Ti1000 3.6 36 101 1 ll 6 1000 3.5 * 35 101 1 11 41 1000 3.4 34 11 1 11 2