Condensed Milk.
The Preserved and Condensed Milk Industry promises to become important in the near future. Six factories are now in operation.
Messrs. Nestle and Co., the world-renowned firm, have invested $480,000.00 in their Preserved Milk Industry in Queensland. It speaks well for a country when an old-world firm such as this is prepared to invest so largely.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
A large area of South Australia is eminently adapted to successful dairying, and while the summer is dry, rendering it necessary to make provision for succulent feed for several months, the temperate nature of the climate enables the dairyman to keep his cows in the open right through the year, the natural shelter in timber country being sufficient, except on a limited number of days of extreme wet and cold. Stall feeding for weeks at a time is unknown; the necessary shelter sheds can be cheaply provided, while the labour of feeding is, under these conditions, reduced to a minimum. In the northern districts conditions are not so favourable as in the south, but even here dairying can be profitably carried on; the fact that land is much cheaper compensates for the shorter period during which the natural herbage supplies practically all the feed required. In some of the driest of our farming areas dairying has largely replaced wheat-growing, and, although the yield per cow is naturally not so high as under more favourable conditions, still low rents and large areas of natural pasture enable the farmer to make a fair profit.
The Cream Cart, North Coast, N.S.W.
The Dairy Industry, though of considerable magnitude, has not made as much progress as was anticipated. This is probably due to the fact that wheat-growing and sheep-breeding combined offer greater attractions to the farmer. These industries require a great deal less labour than dairying, besides which the work is not so continuous. So long as highly profitable returns can be obtained from the production of cereals and the breeding of lambs, the Dairying Industry is hardly likely to make the progress that would otherwise be possible, though there has of late years been steady and continued development in the industry, especially in the northern districts. In the south and south-east, where conditions are more suitable, there has, on the other hand, been very little extension.