90 



IJ.iV.M. 1 MMMI.ssl.iN ci\ Ai.Uli I Ml UK. 



13 A*f**l, 1919.] 



MR. W. T. LAWRENCE. 



[Continued. 



3103. Then yiui have n.i depreciation really on your 

 OOW at iili . i would h.- cont.iiiied in those 



nuure*. It means this : that a cow may lose a qu 



and. of course. hen she is sold, that il. p" . -iat. - lift . 

 Another row may cease to breod; we have to sell her 

 fat. 



21O4. You have no systematic depreciation or valua- 

 tion of jour cows? No; tlu-y increase in value, 

 strictly shaking. 



I'lu'i. That is to say, you bring them in as In 

 .iiul when you sell then out as cows about 6 years old. 

 they an- 'more xaltiablc than they wen- when you 

 brought them in- Ye-.. 



106. So thai My have two businesses run- 



ning concurrently : the business of producing dairy 

 cows, and the biiMiievs of producing milk!- Yes, that 

 is so. 



2107. And the milk producing business would be on 

 a different footing, financially, would not it, if you 

 were buying in your cows and not replacing them 

 yourselves!- Ye-." that i.s so; hut as a set-off against 

 that, the average \ield of milk would be much gr- 



2108. 1 was coming to that, and I will come ito it 

 now. Your average annual yield is shown as 605 

 gallons. Is that the result of systematic testing? 

 Yes, we have always recorded our milk yields. 



2109. Do you record daily!- Yes, twice a day; we 

 have done for the last 23 years, so I have all those 

 figures. 



2110. As the result of that test you keep a breed 

 from your better cows, and you eliminate your worst 

 cows? Yes, that is so. 



2111. And, as a result, I suppose you would say 

 your yield is substantially almvc the average of your 

 district: Ye-. 1 would say so; except those dairymen 

 who do not breed at all and are constantly buying 

 newly calved cows. 



2112. Buying in old newly calved cows? Yes. 



' 2113. That is to say, your average yield would be 

 lower than the average yield, which is the maximum 

 yield to-day? Yes. very much. 



2114. But. on the whole, your yield is high as com- 

 pared to the country generally?- Ye-. 



Jl I.'.. What class of cows do you keep Dairy Short- 

 horn? Yes. 



2116. But you would not say that those cows on the 

 average, just taken over the farms generally, would 

 yield anything like (500 gallons. These are selected, 

 are not they'- I should think there are a great many 

 herds in Cumberland and Westmoreland that would 

 give that yield. 



2117. Are you familiar with the milk records of the 

 late Lord Kotlischild, or Lord Kayleigh? No, I can- 

 not recall the figures to mind. 



2118. You cannot say anything about those figures? 

 No. 



2110. Would you lie surprised to learn that the 

 average has never risen above C-'iO gallons in these 

 selected herds? The highest year was 683 gallons; 

 then last year we fell to 510 gallons, and that is due 

 to this fact. It i.s necessary tor me- to mention this. 

 During the la-t two years the place has been enlarged, 

 and we have three ooui H !' dairy pupils during the 

 summer. Half of those dairy pupils are novices, who 

 have "to learn to milk, and that is likely to reduce 

 the milking of our herd. Although the cows arc good 

 and well developed milking cows. yet. at the same 

 time, we are losing on that, account. 



2120. I want to keep to the c|iiestion of the normal 

 yield of the COWI. I -oe your point of course. You 

 have no doubt rejected a number of cows from time 

 to time as being low milkers:' Yes. 



2121. About how low would they fall ; do you get 

 "own yielding down to 400 gallons?- 1 do not think 

 we get quite so low as that; we have had as low as 

 460 gallons. 



2122. Would you ngree there are a rnii-idorahlo 

 number of cows in the country yielding less than 

 500 gallons n large piopoition- Y- 1 belie.. 



in so. Of course, we do not wait beyond the heifer 

 stage. ' It is quite possible that a heifer may milk 



poorl\ with her first calf, and may come up again, 

 I. ut we do not think 11 worth while to wait lor that. 

 Il a heiier is a laihne, we dispose of her at once. 



J I _'.!. You gi\e < en. .,11 pi lee, iii your winter 

 account. You give the Celling pri^e of swedes at 

 II a ton. Was that the selling price in your district 

 v. niior? Yes, that was about the price. 



L'I'JI. Was not more- than that obtained for turnips r 



T a king the' winter through, I do not think it was 

 more than that. 



212-V Again, the same condition would apply that 

 we do not vet know about the prices of swedes; 

 hut you recognise that hay would lie at a much 

 higher price than the ontrolled price of last year? 

 > 



2126. And straw presumably also? Yes. 



JI'.T. And again you give cotton cake; that also is 

 'antially higher in pricey Yes. 



2128. 1 notice you give the cost of production of 

 hay at i::! a ton t- Yes, I take it to be that. 



212:>. What class of hay is that? Meadow hay. 



2130. It is hot seeds hay? No; cows get no seeds 

 hay ; horses get it. 



3181. When you say "meadow hay," is that 

 Timothy, or old meadow's, or what are called natural 

 grasses/ Natural grUM; old m-'adov. s. 



2132. With regard to your labour bill ; does not 

 your cowman milk? Yes. 



2133. And he has the assistance of two people? 

 Yes. 



2134. Is 9d. an hour the wages you pay? Yes. 

 213T). Is it usual in your district? It is now. 

 2136'. Mr. lira: Do you agree that it is bettor to 



have varying summer and winter prices, s-o that each 

 season should Stand on its own bottom, as it were, 

 rather than have an overhead price for milk? I 

 think that is the only exact way of doing it; but 

 I think, from the consumer's point of view it is a \ cry 

 unsatisfactory way. But it seems to me that if you 

 come to charge higher for the summer, you will en- 

 courage the summer milk production, whereas/ if you 

 reduce it for the winter, in order to get a more even 

 price summer and winter, it seems to me. particularly 



in such a winter as we are going to face now. that 

 a great many of the- milk producers will give over al- 

 together. There will he no profit to it. 



I'l:i7. That is what 1 mean. The only way to safe- 

 guard a supply to the public is to pay a good price 

 in the winter? Yes, 1 think so 



2138. You breed all your own cows'. You breed 

 the calves, and bring them in as heifers, you say? 



?. 



l'l:l!>. Do you use- hulls from an approved milking 

 strain!- Yes. we are very particular. We have 

 missed fire sometimes, but still, our effort is always 

 to get a bull from a good milking cow. 

 21-10. So that in that way you will keep up the 

 milk properties of your herd? Yes, I think so. 



2141. You will not be likely to have the game 

 number of bad milkers as if you just bought the 

 young heifors from the market, and took your chance? 

 No. 



2142. So that you will not have very many bad 

 ones to eliminate? Very few indeed now. 



2143. It i<J really very much the same system that 

 we have practised with ewe Mocks in the north? 

 \ i ...: Be i" Cumberland wo have a pretty good 

 market for cows at their best for Edinburgh. Thero 

 are about 2(K) newly calved cows go to Edinburgh 

 every week, and we supply them very largely from 

 Cumberland. 



5144. Is your farm principally run for dairy pur- 

 poses!- Mainly. 



I'l 1."). I have- not had very much time to study your 

 figures closely ; but in the homo grown cost of pro- 

 diiction you deduct 49 from the figures. What is 

 that for? -The rations that I have given arc- the full 

 rations for a cow when she is in full milk. When she- 

 drops to. we will say, at any rate, a gallon and a half 

 a day, she- would not get the full complement of cake. 

 Cake is a thing we cut down; and. again, when she 

 gives less than that, she would get none- at all. 



21 Hi. You regulate the feeding according to the 

 state she- is in? Yes; and it reallv 'omcs to this, that 

 running the herd through, it. means nhout a third of 

 the lull ration of cake for the year, and the one-third 



