884 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



REPORT OF THE BACTERIOLOGIST AND SCIENTIFIC 

 INSTRUCTOR IN DAIRYING. 



T. Cherry, M.D., M.S. 



During the past season steady progress has been made by the 

 dairy industry in Gippsland and the Western Districts, and the North 

 and North-East have begun to recover from the effects of the 

 drought. In tlie North-West the only factories that remain open 

 are Warracknabeal and Stawell. All through the wheat-growing 

 area the good harvest of last season has gone far to help the farmer 

 to make good the losses incurred during the previous dry seasons, 

 but on all sides there are indications that the prospective low prices 

 for hay and grain have already brought into prominence the question 

 of the live stock of the farmer. The re-launching of the dairy 

 industry, all over Victoria, is only a question of a year or two. In 

 the first place it is recognised that there is no method of ordinary 

 farming by which the same amount can be secured from any given 

 area of land as through the medium of the cow and the pig, and in 

 the second place, the adoption of the modern silo, while valual)le to 

 every farmer, will enable the North to prepare for dry seasons and 

 allow of green feed being kept in stock from year to year. The 

 surplus of good seasons may thus be utilised to meet the demands of 

 the drought. 



Taking the districts in order, we find that the Upper Murray, 

 Springhurst, Wangaratta, Benalla, Yea and Euroa have more than 

 held their own, and there are good prospects of a substantial exten- 

 sion in this area. This district was comparatively little affected by 

 the drought. Large areas were leased to starving stock, but with the 

 return to normal seasons dairying has steadily increased. The rich 

 valleys of the Mitta, Kiewa, Ovens and King, and the lands border- 

 ing the numerous creeks that are found in all parts, are admirably 

 adapted for dairying. The growth of both summer and winter fodder 

 crops promises to become a marked feature of this district. 



The Lower Goulburn Valley has largely gone out of dairying for 

 two opposite reasons. The drought was severely felt all over the 

 area, and in consequence the irrigated land in the Rodney Trust 

 became very valuable for grazing purposes. The dairy cow was thus 

 displaced fi*om both areas. This district usually yields the heaviest 

 crops of wheat and oats, the land is in comparatively large farms, and 

 with ordinary seasons the harvest returns, combined with grazing, 

 are sufficient to make the farmer very loth to undertake the steady 

 work of dairying. The best chance I can see of reinstating the 

 industry is by closer settlement on the irrigation areas. 



Matters are progressing in the Loddon Valley. The Bendigo milk 

 siipply keeps the cow in evidence, and the smaller amount of water 



