Australia, The Dairy Country Part 2

The conditions regarding cropping and keeping the farm implements in repair and caring for the dairy herd are not onerous, and are such as no good tenant could object to.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Extensive Milking Shed.]

Men who contemplate undertaking this cla.s.s of farming should submit the fullest possible details of their experience and qualification to enable the officers of the Government Information Bureau to make arrangements which will permit of settlement immediately on arrival. It is needless to remind experienced dairymen that any owner of dairy cows naturally feels it necessary to know a good deal about anyone to whom he is to entrust the sole management of a good herd.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Young Dairy Stock.]

Monetary Aid to Settlers.

Besides aiding the settler in the various ways already mentioned, viz., by providing the expert personal instruction and advice of officers of the Agricultural Departments, in regard to feeding, breeding, management, and other matters, by the importation of high-cla.s.s stud cattle, and making them available at cheap rates for herd improvement, and in the granting of facilities for the transportation and marketing of his produce, the Governments of the Australian States a.s.sist the dairyman with loans of cheap money. The Advances to Settlers' Board or Agricultural Bank in each of the States, lend money to settlers for the purpose of repaying existing debts, for building homes, for purchasing stock, or for improving and developing their holdings. The sums which may be advanced and the terms and conditions of the loans vary in different States. Broadly speaking, however, a settler may obtain on the security of his land or of his improvements sums ranging from $120.00 to $9600.00 at rates of interest varying from 4 per cent. to 6 per cent. on easy terms of repayment extending over a long period of years up to, as in the States of New South Wales and South Australia, thirty-one years.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

In the coastal districts of New South Wales and throughout a vast extent of the northern and central tableland districts dairy farming is a profitable and constantly-expanding industry.

In the older settled district of Illawarra, comprising the greater portion of the south coast district, dairying has been the main industry for many years, and there is not much first-cla.s.s land unoccupied. There is, however, in this district ample scope for tenant farmers and for dairying on shares on several large estates where the experienced man of small means with children old enough to help in the work can make a good living, and save with the object of later on obtaining a farm of his own. In the north coast district the strides being made in dairying are phenomenal. There is a fair amount of first-cla.s.s unimproved bush country available for settlement on the upper reaches of the Tweed and Richmond Rivers, and large estates have been subdivided by private owners, and offered for sale on very easy terms at from $19.20 to $28.80 per acre. Many farmers who find that better returns can be obtained by carrying a decreased number of specially good cows on a small area intensively worked are ready to dispose of areas, so that a new-comer with capital necessary to acquire land in this highly-favoured district can soon be suited. Owing to the big returns from dairying in the best parts of the settled portions of the north coast, land values are high, ranging to over $96.00 per acre.

Suitable areas of Crown lands are brought forward from time to time in districts adapted for dairying at prices, as a rule, lower than the lands in private subdivisions.

In the central and north coast district there are several large private subdivisions of excellent dairy land. In the tableland districts, where the rainfall averages 30 in. per annum, dairy farming has taken firm hold. Private owners are also cutting up tracts of splendid partially-improved land, and offering it at from $19.20 to $28.80 per acre, on liberal terms.

The natural gra.s.ses of New South Wales, especially in the well-watered districts along the coast, grow in great luxuriance, and are rich in milk-producing qualities. In many districts imported gra.s.ses, such as Rhodes, Paspalum dilatatum, and Philaris, rye gra.s.s and red clover have been introduced, and soon become well established. In the most favourable portions of the State farmers are able to depend almost solely on the grazing qualities of their farms, although the experts of the Department strongly a.s.sert the wisdom of growing winter feed.

New South Wales has many fine herds of all the approved breeds. The Jersey is perhaps the most popular, but there are also many good herds of Ayrshires, Guernseys, Holsteins, and other approved breeds.

The co-operative system flourishes in New South Wales. Every important centre has its own co-operative b.u.t.ter, cheese or bacon factory. The Byron Bay Co-operative Company, situated in the heart of the rich north coast district, has an enormous turnover in the neighbourhood of $4,800,000.00 sterling each year, and is at least one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Calm II.--Champion Jersey Cow.]

To stock a dairy farm of 100 acres, the detailed cost of stock and plant necessary to make a good start, exclusive of a bull, is given by practical farmers as follows:--

$ 30 Cows at $31.20 936.00 10 Heifers, springing, at $24.00 240.00 2 Plough Horses at $86.40 172.80 Harness for plough horses 31.20 Pigs--2 sows at $10.08; one hog at $15.60 35.28 Separator, cans, buckets, etc. 240.00 Cart and harness 86.40 Plough, $21.60; harrow, $14.40; cultivator, $12.00 48.00 Sundry tools, etc. 24.00 -------- $1813.68

Including the bull the cost might roughly be put down at $1920.00

VICTORIA.

For the past twenty years dairy farming in Victoria has been steadily advancing. The industry has proved very successful, so that thousands of farmers are not only making a comfortable living from it, but in many cases it has raised hard-working families into positions of comparative wealth. The princ.i.p.al markets supplied are those of Great Britain, South Africa, India, and the East. At present the industry is only in its infancy. It is capable of almost unlimited expansion. So far, farmers have confined their attention almost exclusively to b.u.t.ter, but the first steps have also been successfully taken to manufacture cheese and condensed milk, and to open up a regular market for fresh pork, hams, and bacon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: How the Dairy Fodder Question is Settled in Australia.]

A large portion of Victoria is suitable for dairy farming on account of the suitability of soil for the production of pasture and fodder crops, and the mild climatic conditions. For the most part the cows are fed solely on the natural pastures, little provision either in the way of food or shelter being thought necessary. Progressive farmers, however, find that it pays them to grow fodder for their herd and to shelter the animals in the winter, and anyone beginning in Victoria is advised to make up his mind to cultivate a certain area of his land from the first, instead of trusting to grazing alone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Shorthorn Cattle.]

The southern half of Victoria is divided, roughly speaking, into the Western District and Gippsland. Two-thirds of the dairy cows are kept in these portions of the State. The Western District is famed for its rich soil of volcanic origin. Every town and hamlet has its b.u.t.ter factory.

Gippsland is a district of rolling hills and downs, and of a comparatively heavy rainfall. Many parts were once covered with dense forests, but these are rapidly pa.s.sing away before the pioneer.

Practically every railway station has become a centre of the dairying industry, and cans of cream are always in evidence on the platforms.

Owing to its suitable climate Gippsland has become the centre of maize growing in the State, and much of this crop reaches the market in the form of b.u.t.ter and pork.

In the north the summers are warmer and drier, but the soil is perhaps even more prolific than in the southern parts of Victoria. Large areas are suitable for dairy farming under ordinary conditions, and extensive water storage works have been provided for the irrigation of large tracts of country which is being made available in suitable areas for dairying under very liberal conditions.

The manufacturing and marketing of the b.u.t.ter is carried on, to a very large extent, on a co-operative basis, the factories being owned and managed by the farmers who supply the cream. Two hundred factories are scattered throughout the State, the largest of them producing upwards of 40 tons of b.u.t.ter per week in the height of the season. Where the farm is close to the factory the milk is taken to the creamery, where it is separated, and the corresponding quant.i.ty of skim milk is returned to the farmer. In other cases the farmer owns his separator, the milk is pa.s.sed through the machine as soon as the cows are milked, and the cream is sent to the factory by road or rail every day or two, according to the size of the farm.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dairy Factory--Refrigerating b.u.t.ter Train.]

Government a.s.sistance to the Farmer.

Every branch of the producing interests is steadily fostered by the Government of Victoria in a way that may sound strange to the British farmer. Besides the facilities for acquiring farms and homes, the Government employs dairy supervisors, who a.s.sist the farmer with information and advice on matters relating to the farm and herd. The produce is conveyed by the railways (which belong to the Government) at special low rates. It is received into the Government cool stores, where it is graded and frozen ready for export. The State has contracts with the princ.i.p.al lines of steam-ships, securing regular despatch, a minimum temperature, and a very low rate of freight for the British markets. It costs less to send b.u.t.ter from a farm in Victoria to London than it does to send it from a farm in Ireland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Miss Prim," Champion Ayrshire Cow.]

QUEENSLAND.

Queensland as a Dairying Country.

Queensland, especially in its southern portions and along its coastal areas, is particularly well adapted for dairying. Large areas of magnificent soil exist, such as the Darling Downs, Lockyer, Stanley, Rosewood, Fa.s.sifern, Logan, Albert, Wide Bay, Burnett, and other districts, which, in addition to being well watered by rivers and creeks, enjoy a perfect winter climate. It is in these localities that dairying princ.i.p.ally flourishes.

While in Southern Queensland and on some of the northern tablelands it is desirable to rug milch cows during the winter months, up north, along the eastern coastland, it is not necessary.

Along the eastern seaboard, which is well watered by running rivers and creeks, the Blackall Range is becoming an important dairy centre. This district lies to the north of Brisbane, and is a mountainous region containing exceedingly fertile soil.

Further north again, on the coast, there are large areas in the Burnett, Gladstone, Rockhampton, and Bowen districts suitable for dairying, and in these localities it is rapidly extending. Despite this, there still remain immense tracts as yet untouched by the dairy farmer, which are capable of being successfully brought under the b.u.t.ter Industry.

Considerable portions of the northern tablelands, and parts of Central Queensland, are also suitable for dairying, and a beginning has already been made in these localities. Large numbers of dairy cattle are being imported into the Atherton district in the North.

As yet, only a fractional part of the country able to support a large dairying population has been touched.

Dairy Land and Stock.

The cla.s.s of land chiefly used for dairying is open forest country, plain scrub land, and rich alluvial flats. The scrub lands have first to be cleared by felling the scrub and burning it off when dry. When cleared, scrub soils are more prolific than any other. Cost of clearing is about $7.20 to $9.60 per acre, and in some cases more.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ayrshire Dairy Cows Grazing.]