"There are certainly also adverse influences which must not be forgotten, but a careful examination of the whole position will probably lead to the conclusion that Australia is, on the whole, a good dairyman's country.
"The advantages include:—(1) Cheap land, (2) cheap cows, (3) inexpensive buildings, (4) a climate permitting cows to be in the open all the year round, (5) a convenient market and a fair price at the factories, (6) helpful Government supervision.
"The disadvantages are:—(1) Dear and scarce labour, (2) an inferior stock of milk cows, (3) occasional dry seasons, and (4) the farmer's inexperience and ignorance of scientific dairying."
These several points are touched on in this pamphlet in the chapters dealing with the individual States, but some general remarks are offered here in regard to the four points mentioned as operating disadvantageously.
(1) Dear and Scarce Labour.—Every young country at times experiences the difficulty of procuring sufficient skilled assistance to keep pace with the rapid expansion of its industries. Australia is no exception. Dairy farmers there have not always been able to obtain experienced milkers. The farmer with children old enough to assist him is at a great advantage, and some of the most successful dairy farms in the Commonwealth are worked mainly by the owners and their families. But where the herd is too large, or the family too small, the milking machine, which is really a valuable aid to the dairyman, has been pressed into use, with satisfactory results.
A fine herd of Holsteins.
There is no doubt that rapid as has been the expansion of this industry in Australia, its development has been distinctly retarded by the want of reliable milkers.
But what is the farmer's bane is the farm labourer's boon. The scarcity of labour has checked the farmer's operations, but it gives the man seeking employment a wider field.
Competent milkers readily find employment at $4.80 to $6.00 per week and keep. In every important district good dairy hands also have facilities extended to them for entering into arrangements for dairying on shares, with profit to themselves (see pp. 16-18).