672 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [15 J^ov., 1919. 



reads liis weekly paper, suggesting to liim the necessity of herd improve- 

 ment, it might be expected that a general move on this line would take 

 place, but farmers as a rule are lamentably slow in giving up haphazard 

 working for systematic methods, even with the sure prospect of getting 

 much greater profit from their work. 



Probablj^, as with the horse-breeding industry, it will eventunlly 

 become necessary to legislate to prevent the use of mongrel and inferior 

 sires. If this were done, the average annual production of dairy herds 

 would show immediate improvement. Almost every dairy farmer is 

 fully aware that it is possible to increase the butter-fat production of 

 the average dairy herd by breeding from better dairy stock. They 

 all know that heifers sired by a bull which comes of a good dairy family, 

 and which is of good dairy type, will become profitable cows if properly 

 fed. Most farmers know that an acre of ground properly cultivated 

 and cropped will more than keep a cow well fed all the year through. 

 The difficulty is to bring the majority of them to apply their knowledge 

 so as to get the desired results of increased profits. 



Should drought, floods, or fire devastate the farm, the assistance of 

 the Government is at once sought to provide fodder, or to replace the 

 stock lost; yet departmental advice on how to guard against such losses 

 by proper fodder conservation in times of plenty is given little heed to, 

 and in the selection of dairy stock the fanner usually claims to have 

 faultless judgment. While the welfare of individual dairy farmers 

 is primarily their own concern, their success has direct bearing on the 

 butter factories, local markets, railways, and the State generally. In- 

 creased State production is the result of increased individual production, 

 and consequently it is with the individual producers that the State's 

 progress rests. Better agricultural production, therefore, is, or should 

 be, the concern of every one, for all are more or less dependent thereon ; 

 and certainly the earning and consequent purchasing ability of dairy 

 farmers is of direct importance to all who have business with them. 



In the endeavour to encourage dairy farmers to so plan their work 

 that they will get better returns from capital invested and labour 

 expended, the Department of Agriculture has for years past been giving 

 lectures on matters connected with dairying, but the results have been 

 far from satisfactory. There is always some little good resulting from 

 these departmental efforts, but not by any means as much as might be 

 expected; and it would appear that in order to make the results more 

 generally effective it will be necessary to enlist the services of those 

 whom the welfare of the dairy farmer more directly concerns, viz., the 

 business people of each dairying centre. Where agriculture is prosper- 

 ing the business population of the nearest town participate in the 

 prosperity; and if by organized effort of the townspeople the farming- 

 community can be in any way assisted, such assistance will be well 

 repaid in increased business. 



In every centre of any agricultural importance there are societies 

 established for the express purpose of increasing rural production; but 

 the offering of prizes at an annual show is the main line of their work- 

 ing. Lectures on various subjects by departmental officers are 

 arranged, and occasional cropping or cultivation contests are more or 

 less regularly carried out hy agricultural societies; and it would appear 

 that if herd-testing is to become general and made successful, it will be 



