[Illustration: 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).
(2) _An Inferior Stock of Milk Cows._--The fact that while in many districts there are to be found dairy herds averaging barely 300 gallons per cow per annum, with a butter fat percentage of little over 3.5, carried on the same class of land as herds which average over 500 gallons per cow, with over 4 per cent. butter fat, will enable any dairy farmer to realise how much room there is for improvement in this thriving young industry, and what scope there is for the man accustomed to get the best results from his land and his herd. But the Governments of the respective States afford special facilities by way of importing and placing at the disposal of farmers stud cattle of the highest standards. Private persons are also doing a great deal in importing and breeding high-class animals. Herd-testing associations are becoming more numerous. Farmers are learning that it is profitable to keep milk records and to cull out of their herds the cows that do not give payable yields, and pronounced advancement is being made in this direction.
(3) _Occasional Dry Seasons._--The effects of dry spells, which sometimes occur even in the best-watered dairying districts, can be greatly minimised by the conservation of fodder, by cheap and easy methods of silage. So rich is the country in succulent natural grasses, and so congenial is the climate, that farmers exhibit a tendency to rely too much on the bounty of the seasons. This is what the Scottish Commission meant when they referred to the friendly climate as being the dairyman's most dangerous enemy. It is true that in normal years milch cows may depasture the whole year long on the natural pastures, and on this food alone yield milk of magnificent flavour, producing butter and cheese of the highest quality. But there should be put by to supplement the natural fodder during dry times a supply of food either as hay or silage. The experts of the various agricultural departments strongly advocate the use of the silo, but the advice has not yet been generally adopted.