50 years ago in the NZ Dairy Exporter

50 years ago in the Dairy Exporter October

As NZ Dairy Exporter counts down to its centenary in 2025, we look back at the issues of earlier decades. 50 Years Ago – October 1972.

THE CLEAN-UP: EVERYONE’S CONCERN

Emotive cries and increasing pressures step up as more and more people look at the mess left by modern industry. They fear for the future. The dairy industry with its factory discharges and farm waste problems is one of the prime targets of those who demand a national clean-up.

In part, the charges against the industry are valid. It does pollute natural water resources and some individual sectors have been tardy in considering preventative measures. Control is not cheap but many dairy companies are spending vast sums on methods of preventing pollution and on cleaning up their discharges.

For example, one Taranaki dairy company established a dairy farm spray irrigation system at the cost of more than $200,000. Other Taranaki companies have spent up to $54,000 in capital costs to pipe their wastes to the sea. A trickling filter system to handle 300,000 gallons of dairy factory waste could cost $80,000.

Money is going into research where scientists seek new processes to further utilise waste material.

$27 ½ M IS “FROZEN”

Nearly $27 ½ million of dairy income from last season has been frozen under the Government’s stabilisation regulations.

Exemptions granted to dairy companies by the Dairy Industry Loans Council will release about $8 million of this during this season as companies incur approved capital expenditure.

EEC CHANGES WILL LIBERALISE DAIRY TRADE

Fundamental changes will occur in the EEC common agricultural policy during the 1970s. This forecast was made by the principal of the NZ Dairy Board’s economics section, Mr H. S. Blackmore, in a recent address in Palmerston North. He said such a change in the price support system could lead to lower retail prices and liberalisation of international dairy trade. Under the present system of price support the EEC Commission fixes internal prices for dairy products, which are higher than those ruling on the international market.

This means that the Community consumer is subsidising the dairy farmer. Protective trade barriers isolate domestic agriculture from international competition.

There was growing dissatisfaction in Europe, Mr Blackmore said, with this system of price support and an increasing body of opinion favoured its replacement with a system of direct income support.

PRESSURE DRENCHING

Matamata dairyfarmer Ian Diprose wanted to make in-the-shed drenching for bloat easier and quicker so he worked out a pressurised system charged by the exhaust gases of his milking machine motor.

The system is based on a 12-gallon pressure tank connected by pipe to the exhaust pipe of the shed motor. The outlet end of the exhaust pipe can be blocked by a hinged flap controlled by a cord from inside the shed. Plastic pipes lead from the tank to bloat guns on either side of the shed’s herringbone pit.

Mr Diprose puts four gallons of antibloat liquid into the pressure tank – sufficient for two milkings of his 252 cows. He starts the motor and then closes the exhaust flap for about three to five seconds. When the pressure is sufficient to force the bloat liquid out to the guns, the flow of gas into the tank is closed off and the outside flap on the exhaust pipe is opened. The milker can then dose the cows without having to keep putting on a knapsack drenching unit.

This unspoilt mountain stream, sparkling between snow-covered banks, sets the theme for our examination of some of the problems of pollution. The scene is in the Cardrona Valley, near Wanaka, in Otago. (National Publicity Studio).

FEED COMPLEX GETS COWS OFF WET PADDOCKS

Silage bins and sawdust platforms are helping several Nelson dairy farmers beat the problem of winter pugging.

The winter complex is based on a lengthy silage bin flanked by concrete surrounds and an adjoining sawdust pad. Some farmers include their silage pit as part of the complex.

This means they can use machinery to load the bins and to clean the concrete surrounds with ease and speed.

Mr Peter Field, one of a family partnership with a total of 320 cows and heifers on a 240-acre town milk farm at Richmond, says it takes under an hour to scrape the concrete surrounds clean, stir the sawdust pad with a cultivator and load the silage bins. Mr John Bryant built his feeding arrangement in 1970.

It cost $1200 and he says the money was well spent.

Mr Bryant stresses the importance of having the bin at the right height and width for the “cows to eat in comfort and to deter them from clambering into the bin”.

Muck from his feeding complex is stockpiled before being spread by a muckspreader which is essential, over 2 ¼ acres of pasture once a week.

The feeding complex is built at the entrance to his milking shed and is used from May to September.