Australia, The Dairy Country Part 1

Australia The Dairy Country.

by Australia Department of External Affairs.

The suitability of Australia as a country for the dairyman is referred to in the report of the Scottish Agricultural Commission,[A] who toured the States of the Commonwealth in 1910-11, in the following terms:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: An up-to-date Milking Yard.]

"The practice of dairying, in a limited domestic sense, as applied to the milking of a few cows and the making of a little b.u.t.ter and cheese for family use, is as old as the history of mankind, and in that restricted meaning dairying has been carried on in Australia since the arrival of the first settlers. But the industry as existing there to-day is a vastly different matter, being already of great importance, and promising rapid and extensive development.

It is a young industry, so recently out of its infancy that if this report had been written fifteen years ago the section on dairying might have been almost as brief as the famous chapter on snakes in Ireland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cream Carts at the Factory.]

"The live stock brought to Sydney by Captain Phillip in 1788, and sent to propagate their kind at Farm Cove, consisted of one bull, four cows, one calf, and seven pigs. Their descendants in 1908 included about ten and a-half millions of cattle, of which nearly two millions were dairy cows. This is about one cow for every two persons in the Commonwealth, which seems a large proportion, but as it means only one cow for every two square miles in Australia, there is ample room for expansion. In Great Britain we have about twenty-six cows for every square mile, and only one cow for every fifteen people. These figures indicate that in proportion to its population Australia is much more of a dairying country than Great Britain, but that in proportion to its area, it has developed the industry much less extensively, and is still capable of making enormous growth. Until within comparatively recent years there was little dairying anywhere in the Commonwealth, and what little there was appears to have been carried on by somewhat primitive methods.

Modern developments, the spread of scientific knowledge, the fostering care of Government, and, above everything, the advent of the separator, of the milking machine, and of the freezer have changed all that. To-day the industry is prospering and full of promise....

"There is no denying the fact that every State in the Commonwealth has extensive districts where dairying could be carried on very profitably. Indeed there must be very few parts of the world where Nature does so much to help and so little to hinder the provident and industrious producer of milk.

"The most important advantage of all is undoubtedly the climate, and that, like many another thing of value, is a good servant, but a bad master. It would not be easy to overstate the benefit a dairyman receives from being relieved of the need for housing, hand-feeding, and tending his cows during a long winter. His cows are healthier, their feeding costs less, there is no cleaning of byres, no washing of floors, no preparing of food, no never-ending carting of turnips, no filling of sheds with hay or straw. His anxiety, his work, and his expense are reduced by half, through the simple agency of a friendly climate. And yet this same climate is also his most dangerous enemy.

"There are certainly also adverse influences which must not be forgotten, but a careful examination of the whole position will probably lead to the conclusion that Australia is, on the whole, a good dairyman's country.

"The advantages include:--(1) Cheap land, (2) cheap cows, (3) inexpensive buildings, (4) a climate permitting cows to be in the open all the year round, (5) a convenient market and a fair price at the factories, (6) helpful Government supervision.

"The disadvantages are:--(1) Dear and scarce labour, (2) an inferior stock of milk cows, (3) occasional dry seasons, and (4) the farmer's inexperience and ignorance of scientific dairying."

These several points are touched on in this pamphlet in the chapters dealing with the individual States, but some general remarks are offered here in regard to the four points mentioned as operating disadvantageously.

(1) _Dear and Scarce Labour._--Every young country at times experiences the difficulty of procuring sufficient skilled a.s.sistance to keep pace with the rapid expansion of its industries. Australia is no exception.

Dairy farmers there have not always been able to obtain experienced milkers. The farmer with children old enough to a.s.sist him is at a great advantage, and some of the most successful dairy farms in the Commonwealth are worked mainly by the owners and their families. But where the herd is too large, or the family too small, the milking machine, which is really a valuable aid to the dairyman, has been pressed into use, with satisfactory results.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A fine herd of Holsteins.]

There is no doubt that rapid as has been the expansion of this industry in Australia, its development has been distinctly r.e.t.a.r.ded by the want of reliable milkers.

But what is the farmer's bane is the farm labourer's boon. The scarcity of labour has checked the farmer's operations, but it gives the man seeking employment a wider field.

Competent milkers readily find employment at $4.80 to $6.00 per week and keep. In every important district good dairy hands also have facilities extended to them for entering into arrangements for dairying on shares, with profit to themselves (see pp. 16-18).

(2) _An Inferior Stock of Milk Cows._--The fact that while in many districts there are to be found dairy herds averaging barely 300 gallons per cow per annum, with a b.u.t.ter fat percentage of little over 3.5, carried on the same cla.s.s of land as herds which average over 500 gallons per cow, with over 4 per cent. b.u.t.ter fat, will enable any dairy farmer to realise how much room there is for improvement in this thriving young industry, and what scope there is for the man accustomed to get the best results from his land and his herd. But the Governments of the respective States afford special facilities by way of importing and placing at the disposal of farmers stud cattle of the highest standards. Private persons are also doing a great deal in importing and breeding high-cla.s.s animals. Herd-testing a.s.sociations are becoming more numerous. Farmers are learning that it is profitable to keep milk records and to cull out of their herds the cows that do not give payable yields, and p.r.o.nounced advancement is being made in this direction.

(3) _Occasional Dry Seasons._--The effects of dry spells, which sometimes occur even in the best-watered dairying districts, can be greatly minimised by the conservation of fodder, by cheap and easy methods of silage. So rich is the country in succulent natural gra.s.ses, and so congenial is the climate, that farmers exhibit a tendency to rely too much on the bounty of the seasons. This is what the Scottish Commission meant when they referred to the friendly climate as being the dairyman's most dangerous enemy. It is true that in normal years milch cows may depasture the whole year long on the natural pastures, and on this food alone yield milk of magnificent flavour, producing b.u.t.ter and cheese of the highest quality. But there should be put by to supplement the natural fodder during dry times a supply of food either as hay or silage. The experts of the various agricultural departments strongly advocate the use of the silo, but the advice has not yet been generally adopted.

As the loss in the silo is insignificant, it can be realised how cheaply ample stores of the best cla.s.s of stand-by fodder can be conserved.

Silos to hold 100 tons cost about $480.00 to construct, and a cutter and elevator about $144.00. To this would have to be added the cost of a horse-works or engine, but until a settler is in a position to indulge in the most up-to-date outfit, he can follow the usual practice of serving his greenstuff in the form of stack silage, which entails a very moderate outlay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Silos, Victoria.]

Many crops excellent for silage are easily grown, and the cultivation areas need never be idle for a day at any time of the year. As one crop becomes fit to use, the land can be replanted irrespective of weather conditions. For instance, in spring (September) maize or sorghum can be sown, either over the whole area at once or at intervals of a week or a month up to January. In three to three and a-half months, during which time the pastures are at their best, and there is no need for supplementary fodder, the first of the areas will be ready for use as green fodder, or for conversion into silage to serve as a cheap and juicy winter fodder. In many districts as soon as the earliest-sown maize crop is harvested a second maize or sorghum crop is planted, and by the time that is ready to cut, barley and vetches or field peas can be planted to come in to supplement the stores of winter fodder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A fine growth of Sorghum--Victoria.--An excellent fodder crop.]

Maize is harvested for silage when the cobs are well filled, and the grain is beginning to glaze; at this stage a normal crop will yield about 20 tons greenstuff per acre. Sorghum will produce about 15 tons, and barley and vetches or peas about 10 tons per acre. Wheat and oats are often grown in order to be cut for hay, and make an excellent fodder.

Another most valuable crop to the dairyman is lucerne, which will keep in a well-built stack for an indefinite time.

(4) _The Farmer's inexperience and ignorance of Scientific Dairying._--To this last point the Scottish Commissioners furnish a reply in their report.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A typical Australian Dairy Farm.]

"A great many," the report states, "of those engaged in producing milk have had no training in the business. If a man can milk a cow, or is willing to learn, he thinks himself quite able to run a dairy farm. In time, if he is intelligent and observant, he becomes as expert at his trade as if he had never done anything else; but his experience has certainly cost him a good deal. The men who are neither intelligent nor observant learn little from experience, and their dairy methods leave much to be desired. It is they who breed their cows anyhow, who keep no kind of milk records, who think it economy to bring in their cows to the calving as hard as wood, who depend entirely on pasture for food, who make no provision for drought, who have nothing to learn from anybody, and who are keeping the reputation of the Australian cow at a level much below respectability. By-and-by, no doubt, this type of man will become scarcer. The State Governments are doing what is possible to spread abroad scientific knowledge in dairying matters, and a younger generation is growing up that has been made familiar both with the practice and the theory of milk production. When their time comes it is certain they will make dairying highly profitable. The fact that, with an average milk yield of 'something under 250 gallons per annum,' the industry as a whole is in a prosperous condition affords the most remarkable testimony possible to the excellence of Australia as a dairyman's country. What will happen when the average doubles itself, and attains, as it surely will, the moderate figure of 500 gallons per annum?"

A Phenomenal Growth.

Starting out with splendid natural advantages--a wide range of soils of great fertility, indigenous gra.s.ses of high food value, and a congenial climate--the dairying industry in Australia has made phenomenal strides.

The establishment throughout the chief districts of co-operative factories, owned and managed by the farmers themselves, and the introduction of cold storage greatly stimulated its growth. During the last decade its advancement has been remarkable. The Australian dairy industry is based on the world's markets. Every year the demand in various countries for Australian and other dairy and farmyard products increases, and the large home market is also expanding.

The facilities for supervision, handling, and transportation are improving, and Australian dairymen to-day obtain high prices in both local and outside markets for their produce. It is stated that in South Australia dairymen who delivered good cream were able to secure from the factories an average of $0.22 per lb. from the b.u.t.ter made therefrom.

The following table shows at once the advance of the dairying industry (including poultry farming and bee culture):--

TEN YEARS.

+-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ | | 1902. | 1912. |Increase.| +-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ |Dairy Cows No | 1,113,911 | 2,086,885 | 87.34 % | |Pigs No | 777,289 | 845,255 | 8.88 % | |Hives No | 80,111 | 167,441 |109.01 % | |Production (quant.i.ty)-- | | | | | b.u.t.ter |79,572,327 lbs. |187,194,161 lbs.|135.25 % | | Cheese |10,005,787 lbs. | 16,160,491 lbs.| 61.50 % | | Bacon and Ham |30,608,345 lbs. | 54,192,175 lbs.| 77.05 % | | Honey | 2,873,763 lbs. | 8,007,492 lbs.|178.63 % | | Beeswax | 68,243 lbs. | 130,959 lbs.| 91.90 % | +-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+

FIVE YEARS.

+-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ | | 1907. | 1912. |Increase.| +-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ |Production (total value) |$74,803,200.00 |$97,344,000.00 | 30.13 % | +-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+

TEN YEARS.

+-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ | | 1902. | 1912. |Increase.| +-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ |Exports (Value)-- | | | | | b.u.t.ter | 1,820,371.20 | 16,044,681.60 | | | Cheese | 20,592.00 | 27,648.00 | | | Condensed Milk | 55,689.60 | 92,308.80 | | | Bacon and Hams | 37,060.80 | 328,814.40 | | | Lard | 6,100.80 | 177,902.40 | | | Frozen Pork | 70,339.20 | 79,972.80 | | | Honey | 7,891.20 | 9,235.20 | | | Other items | 269,246.40 | 78,859.20 | | |-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+ | Total |$2,287,291.20 |$16,839,422.40 |636.21 % | +-------------------------+----------------+----------------+---------+

[Ill.u.s.tration: In the b.u.t.ter Factory.]

The United Kingdom purchases the great bulk of Australian b.u.t.ter--about 88 per cent.--but considerable quant.i.ties also go to Canada, Ceylon, China, the Dutch East Indies, Egypt, Hongkong, the Islands of the Pacific, j.a.pan, Philippine Islands, the Straits Settlements and South Africa.

Besides the co-operative factories there are many proprietary concerns, and the farmer is benefited by the keen compet.i.tion between them. The establishments in the Commonwealth where the manufacture of b.u.t.ter, cheese, and condensed milk is carried on number several hundreds. They are distributed throughout all the States, but they are larger and more numerous in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: In the Cheese Factory.]

Cream separation and b.u.t.ter-making are often carried on together under the co-operative system. The creation of large central b.u.t.ter factories, supplied by numerous separating establishments or "creameries," has resulted in a considerable reduction in the cost of manufacture, since improved appliances, such as refrigerators, may be profitably worked at the larger establishments. The product is also of a more uniform quality. The number of farmers who adhere to hand processes is rapidly diminishing. Formerly the average quant.i.ty of milk used per lb. of hand-made b.u.t.ter was about 3 gallons, but separator b.u.t.ter requires only about 2.6 gallons.

State Supervision.

Each of the State Agricultural Departments exercises considerable supervision in regard to the industry. Dairy experts are employed to give instruction in approved methods of production, to examine animals, to inspect the buildings used for milking, separating and b.u.t.ter-making, and to examine the marketable produce. A high standard of dairy hygiene, cleanliness of _personnel_ and _materiel_ and purity of produce have also been insisted upon under State laws. Financial a.s.sistance has been given to facilitate the economic handling of dairy products, and much benefit has resulted, the advances having generally been promptly repaid.

For the maintenance of the purity and quality of Australian b.u.t.ter and other dairy produce, the Commerce Act pa.s.sed by the Commonwealth Government requires that each of these articles shall conform to certain standards. b.u.t.ter intended for shipment oversea must be covered with a true trade description, and that the following information should appear on each box:--The word "Australia," the name of the State in which it was produced, net weight, manufacturer's or exporter's name or registered brand, and the words "pure creamery b.u.t.ter," "pastry b.u.t.ter,"