The conditions of Tasmania are eminently favourable for dairy farming.
Up till recent years the industry did not receive much attention, but
now that a start has been made butter production is advancing rapidly.
The Land Required.
The foundation of the Dairying Industry is grass, and to get grass, good
land and plenty of moisture is required. Therefore anyone proposing to
go into this business should endeavour to secure the very best land
obtainable. There is a large quantity available, especially in the
north-western and north-eastern parts of the island. There is a great
deal also in the southern districts. Information can always be obtained
from the Lands Department and the district surveyors, and no difficulty
should be experienced by the intending dairy farmer in finding land
suitable for his purpose. The more open parts of the State, such as the
midlands and the east coast, where there is natural grass, have largely
passed into private hands, and later selectors have had to take up,
clear, and lay down in pasture the more heavily-timbered portions. This,
however, is not altogether the handicap it appears at first sight, as
the returns from the very rich scrub lands are by far the highest. It is
easy to judge of the quality of land by the indigenous timber upon it.
Rich land, suitable for laying down in grass, is covered with a dense
growth of sassafras, tree-fern, musk, and pear tree, with large blue or
swamp gums, and an underbush of what are known as cathead ferns.
Stringy-bark trees mean a poorer soil, and any land bearing them should
be avoided if possible.
Any person of eighteen years of age and upwards may select an area not
exceeding 200 acres of first-class land, provided he does not hold land
on credit under any previous Act. He is required to pay a cash deposit
of $0.04 an acre at the time of sale, an instalment of $0.06 an acre for
each of the two following years, $0.24 an acre annually for the next
four years, $0.36 an acre for the next four years, and $0.48 per acre
for the next eight years. The survey fee is paid, one-fifth in cash and
the balance by four equal annual payments, with interest added, unless
the selector elects to pay it off at once, when interest is remitted.
Every encouragement short of giving the fee simple of the land away for
nothing is afforded the intending settler, and he can acquire a freehold
on easier terms in Tasmania than anywhere else.
[Illustration: Ayrshire Herd, New South Wales.]
Clearing the Land.
Clearing a selection for dairy farming is a very different operation
from the clearing required for fruit-growing. Where the land is to be
laid down in pasture, no ploughing has to be done, consequently the
cost is very much less. In clearing land for grass it is the best plan
to first of all "ring" all the eucalyptus trees. This consists in
cutting a ring round the tree with axes through the bark and sapwood, or
alburnum, into the brown wood beneath. The crude sap, bearing in
solution the various organic matters which the roots have extracted from
the soil, ascends by the outer layer of wood immediately beneath the
bark to the leaves, where it is elaborated into plant food. When this
layer is cut through, the food supply is immediately stopped, and the
tree dies. The operation of ringing is best done during the winter, when
the sap is down, and if properly performed at the right time the tree
always dies very soon. If possible, the ringing should be done a year or
two before the general clearing is commenced, as all the dead leaves,
small branches, and dead bark have time to fall, and are then burned off
with the rest of the scrub. The next operation is to cut down all the
brushwood and smaller growths with bill-hooks, and then the rest of the
scrub is felled with axes, and allowed to lie until quite dry, when it
is burned off. A good burn should leave very little to be cleared up,
but sometimes, where there is such vegetation as sassafras or fallen
tree-ferns, a good deal of "picking-up" has to be done. This means that
all the unburnt timber on the ground has to be rolled together and
burnt. Tree-ferns should not be felled, as they do not burn well. The
best way of killing them is to cut off the fronds just below where they
spring from the stem. Some knack is required to cut in just the right
place, but it is easily acquired. There are certain precautions to be
observed in burning-off, which the settler should make himself
acquainted with. Information on this point and in regard to any matters
of practical interest to the beginner will be furnished gladly and
without charge by experienced officers of the Department of Agriculture.
[Illustration: Clearing the Land.]
As soon as the land is burnt off the grass may be sown upon it. No
cultivation is usually given, the grass-seed being sown upon the ashes
remaining from the burnt scrub, which forms very effective manure.
Cocksfoot is the grass par excellence for this work, as it is very hardy
and nutritious, and not attacked by insect pests to the same extent as
others. Sometimes a mixture of cocksfoot, English rye-grass, and white
clover is used, or the two grasses alone are planted. Local information
is the best guide obtainable as to what it is best to plant. Dairying
thus becomes practicable in a year or two, and returns are received much
sooner than from any other branch of agriculture. It will, of course, be
necessary to clear a certain amount of the selection for cultivation, so
that crops may be grown, and it is often better and cheaper in the end
to devote the poorer and less heavily timbered parts of the holding to
this purpose, and buy manure. Some selectors clean up a part of the
ground of roots and logs, leaving all the big ringed timber standing,
and plough it up. It requires some skill to steer a plough under these
conditions, but very good crops can be grown in this way.
Butter Factories.
Properly equipped butter factories are situated at Launceston (2),
Deloraine, Burnie, Emu Bay, Wynyard, Stanley, Smithton, Wilmot,
Ringarooma, Derby, and Pyengana. In the south there are only two of any
magnitude, one in Hobart, and the other at Bream Creek. A well-equipped
factory has been established on King Island, in Bass Straits, a locality
that has been found very suitable for dairying.
Dairy Herds.
The dairy herds of the State until a few years ago were of a somewhat
nondescript type, very few farmers having realised the necessity of
improving the butter-yielding capacity of their stock. Recently,
however, great improvements have taken place, as the dairying industry
has advanced, until now many Tasmanian dairymen own herds of the highest
standard. The work of improving the milking strains of cattle is in the
hands of the farmers themselves, but advice and assistance are always
obtainable from the Government Dairy Expert.
Cheese-making.
This is a highly profitable branch of dairy farming, and the product is
so small in bulk compared with its value that it is eminently portable.
Cheese-making can therefore be carried on under conditions where other
forms of production would be difficult. Some skill and knowledge are
required, but the Dairy Expert regularly gives lectures and
demonstrations on the subject in all the principal agricultural centres,
so that any intelligent person can easily obtain all the information he
requires.
The principal cheese factories in the State are situated at St. Mary's,
Pyengana, Emu Bay, Devonport, and Circular Head.
The cheese produced is very good in quality, and a considerable export
trade will soon be developed in it.
Bacon-curing.
The production of hams and bacon is one of the collateral industries
connected with dairying, as the skim-milk and waste products form a very
valuable food for fattening pigs. Excellent bacon is produced in
Tasmania, and a good deal is exported, but not nearly what might be
produced.
[Illustration: Group of Prize Bulls.]
Dairy Factories.
It is the introduction of the dairy factory system that has solved the
problem of success or failure for the dairy farmer. These institutions
are becoming fairly numerous throughout the State, and are all equipped
with the most modern machinery and managed by expert men. The farmer
nearly always, nowadays, has his cream separator, and all he has to take
to the factory is the cream, which does not occupy much space, while the
skimmed milk remains on the farm for feeding pigs or calves. Some of the
dairy factories in the State are proprietary, but others are on the
co-operative system, under which the farmers are the owners, and share
in the general profits, as well as being paid for their cream.
McCARRON, BIRD & CO., Printers, 479 Collins Street, Melbourne.
[Footnote A: The personnel of the Commission was as follows:--Sir T.
Carlaw Martin, Edinburgh (Chairman); Sir John R. G. Sinclair, Bart.,
Barrock House, Wick (Vice Chairman); Dr. J. H. Wilson, F.R.S.E., St.
Andrew's University; Dr. Shirra Gibb Boon, Lauder; William Barber, M.A.,
Tererran, Moniaive; J. McHutchen Dobbie, Campend, Dalkeith; James
Dunlop, Kilmarnock; R. B. Greig, F.R.S.E., Cults; William Henderson,
Lawton, Coupar-Angus; James Keith, Pitmeddan, Udny; E. E. Morrison,
M.A., Bonnington, Siravithie; and Alex. M. Prain, Errol (Secretary).]