I move the following motion standing in the name of Deputy Cogan and myself:—
That Dáil Éireann is of opinion that, having regard to existing costs of production, the prices paid to the producer for milk supplied to creameries and also for milk sold for human consumption are inadequate and ought to be increased so as to bring about an expansion of the dairying industry and consequently an increase in the cattle population and an improvement in the supplies of milk and butter available to the consumer.
At the outset, I want to make it clear to the House that I propose to confine myself to the question of the price of milk which is supplied to creameries. This is the particular line in which the farmers in my county and in the surrounding counties are concerned. I leave to other Deputies the task of dealing with the price of milk which is supplied to cities and towns.
I think that the present price of milk supplied to creameries was fixed in mid-April, 1947. At that time agricultural wages were 44/- per week. That was the fixed minimum wage at the time. Shortly after that, in a month I think, those wages were increased to 50/- a week, and on the 15th March, 1948, they were further increased to 55/-. On the 4th April, 1949, they were increased to £3 a week. In addition to that, in the intervening period, both national health and employers' liability insurance were increased by, I think, roughly 27½ per cent., so that if we add the increase under both these heads to the wage of £3 a week, we get a total of £3 2s. 7d. a week. Naturally, one would think that a very large increase in the agricultural labourer's wage, even though everyone in the House will agree that it is too small a wage for the agricultural labourer.
Apart from that, and considering that very heavy increase in wages, one would think that the price of milk supplied to the creameries would have been increased, but it has not. We are told by the Minister for Agriculture that there is no necessity to increase the price of milk supplied to the creameries, that supplies are increasing at such a rapid rate that there is no necessity for it, and that that is sufficient evidence that the farming community is well satisfied with the present price. I do not think I mentioned what the present price is. It is 1/2 per gallon for seven months of the year and 1/4, I think, for the other five months. The Minister appears to be satisfied that that is an adequate return to the farmer for the milk he produces and sends to the creamery.
Since this motion was tabled, considerable changes have taken place. The land of Ireland after continuous cropping and without sufficient manure, either farmyard manure or artificial fertilisers had become poor in producing food for other sections of the community when very little food— probably none—was to be had from outside. With the extremely bad winter of 1946 and Spring of 1947 the milk yield of cows has gone very low. Naturally, with the return per cow from the price prevailing at the creameries during the summer of 1947 the farmers were dissatisfied and said it was not adequate. But since then, through the mercy of God, the weather has become more favourable and, with the availability of fertilisers, the grass lands which the Minister recently described as fear gurta have improved, with the result that the milk yields have considerably increased in the intervening period.
Another factor is that, owing to conditions which arose outside this State, the price of store cattle has increased very considerably with the result that there is a better price for dropped calves than there had been. But, even taking into consideration these two factors, the higher milk yields as a result of better feeding grass, more feeding for the winter through better crops and also the application for artificial fertiliser to grass, I still maintain that an increase in the price of milk supplied to creameries is overdue and should be put into force immediately.
That leads us to the question of what would be an adequate price for farmers to get for milk produced on their farms and supplied to the creameries. I suppose if I mentioned any particular figure it would be challenged from all sides of the House. I think it better, therefore, to give the figures supplied recently by others with regard to milk costings. Last week, Deputy Keane stated that they had figures in Cork to show that milk could be produced at 11.94d. per gallon. He did not tell us where those figures were available. I have not seen them; I do not know if any other Deputy has. He did not tell us on what these figures were based, what allowance was made for the various items that go into the costings of milk. Therefore I think that is a figure which no one can stand over unless it is put before the public and analysed to see if adequate sums are allowed for the various items of costings. Therefore I think that I may dismiss that from consideration.
Then I come to the figures disclosed by the Minister for Health in reply to a parliamentary question on the 21st of last month. These figures were in connection with the costings of milk on the farm attached to Grangegorman Mental Hospital. In round figures, he said that the milk costings for the year 1948 were 3/1 per gallon, and that an estimate of the costings in 1949 would be 2/10½ per gallon. I am not going into the decimals which the Minister gave. Nevertheless, these figures are in striking contrast with the figure that Deputy Keane alleges was produced in Cork. What is the cause of the wide gap between these two figures? Obviously, the figures given by the Minister of Health were based on actual costings, the cost of food, the cost of labour, the cost of veterinary expenses and a few other items which he gave in reply to a parliamentary question yesterday.
The Minister for Health was questioned yesterday as to the basis on which these costings were arrived at and replied that on the 1948 figures the food of the cows cost 20.37d. per gallon; labour, 7.02d.; health maintenance 2.34d.; veterinary fees and expenses 1.17d., and miscellaneous expenses, 6.40d., making a total of 37.3d., or 3/1 per gallon. If we exclude the cost of food, which is, roughly, 1/8½., or slightly less, per gallon, it leaves for labour, herd maintenance, veterinary fees and expenses and miscellaneous expenses 1/5 per gallon.
Whatever the cause of it, the cost of producing milk on that farm attached to Grangegorman was considerably more than the price the farmer gets for supplying milk to the creamery for manufacture into butter. These are actual costings arrived at on hired labour. They were so represented to me and I have no reason to doubt the fact. These are actual costings based on a high agricultural output. How then can the figure which Deputy Keane gave of 11.94d. per gallon be justified? Going further than that then, Deputy Fagan said last week that he had been speaking to a farmer from County Limerick and that that farmer told him that he had an average return in the past year of £51 per cow for milk supplied to the creameries and that he got £9 apiece for the dropped calves, making a total of £60 per cow. We have no reason to doubt what Deputy Fagan told us. Nevertheless the House has no proof as to the accuracy of those figures and cannot, therefore, accept them as accurate. Unless there is definite proof of particular figures, the House need not accept those figures.
I propose now to give figures for another area. These are figures that can be authenticated. These are figures that can be checked in the Department of Agriculture. Killeshandra Creamery is the biggest creamery in my county. It gets its supplies of milk from three provinces, Ulster, Leinster and Connaught. It should, therefore, be a fairly representative area. The supplies to that creamery in 1947 totalled 2,841,134 gallons; in 1948, they increased to 3,167,834 gallons; and in 1949, they increased to 3,939,227 gallons. That represents an increase of practically 25 per cent. over three years. But there are qualifying factors. In the first instance, as I mentioned at the outset, the poverty of the land and the poor feeding qualities of the grass in 1947 naturally left a very low point from which to start. It was not much more than half the supplies of milk received by the same creamery in 1939 so that there was a rather low starting point and the 25 per cent. increase on that is not so very impressive, although it is something for which to be grateful. But there are other factors entering into the picture. That area covers approximately 25 miles each way. It is fairly well catered for by auxiliary creameries or collecting stations. Yet, there were a number of farmers who would not supply milk to the creameries for one reason or another. The number was not very large because it is the custom of the farmers in that area to supply milk to the creameries. When the subsidy on home-made butter was removed in 1948 those farmers who did not supply the creameries found that the price for home-made butter was unremunerative and they then began to supply milk to the creameries. That was one qualifying factor.
Another important factor was that in the harvest of 1948 and the early months of 1949 the co-operative creamery commenced to provide fertilisers on credit terms to its milk suppliers. Under those credit terms payment did not begin for the fertilisers until the following July and August of 1949. The result was that something approaching 1,000 tons of North African phosphates were distributed to the farmers and spread on the grass-lands in that area. I think myself that was largely responsible for the increased supplies of milk in 1949 as compared with 1947 and 1948. Possibly some people may look upon the money returned to the milk suppliers from 1948 to 1949 as a net gain. Those who understand farming know that that is not so. We must not forget that this 1,000 tons of phosphates had to be paid for eventually and that must be taken out of the gross return from the creameries. In addition, there was an increase in the rates of from 6/- to 8/- between 1947 and 1949. That, too, must represent a costing item in the production of milk. When these things are taken out, the net return to the farmer is not so very great.
I want now to make a comparison with the figures for these Limerick cows about which we know nothing. We do know that the grass-lands of Limerick are superior to the grass-lands in Cavan where milk production is concerned. But we have not been told the type of cows they have in Limerick. Are they cows that have been bred over a long period for milk alone? We have not been told the breed of the calves, a matter which would have an important bearing on the ultimate value of the calves. I propose to give for comparison purposes the figures of the number of cows in the Killeshandra creamery area and the cash returned from the creamery for these cows. I have not got the total number of cows for 1947. In 1948 there were 13,506 cows, supplying 3,167,834 gallons of milk, an average of 235 gallons per cow. In 1949 there were 14,862 cows supplying 3,939,227 gallons of milk, a total of 265 gallons per cow. That represents an average increase of 30 gallons. Let us take the 265 gallons per cow in 1949 and calculate the return at 1/2½ per gallon. The House may possibly wonder how I arrive at that figure. I am sure the farmer Deputies understand it. The price from the creamery is 1/2 per gallon for the summer period and 1/4 per gallon for the winter period. The amount of milk supplied during the winter period and sold at 1/4 per gallon would be much less than what would be supplied during the summer period. Therefore, we could not strike an average of 1/3 per gallon. I suggest then that we take 1/2½.
I suggest that 1/2½d. is a fairly good average and that it would compare very favourably with all the creameries all over the country. At 265 gallons per cow—1/2½d. per gallon—the yield is £16 per cow. How does that compare with the £51 a cow in County Limerick? But, not wanting to take advantage of any figures to bolster up my case, I would suggest that we might add 25 per cent. more to the number of gallons each cow gave to be accounted for by the amount of milk we claimed at home and consumed in the home and on the farm over the year. If we take 25 per cent. of £16 it brings us up to £20 per cow. If we take into account the increased value of the dropped calf for the last two years I would say that £3 of an increase in price over the two years would be a big figure to add on. We would then have taken all the factors into consideration that would go to explain the increased income as the result of better grass and better drained fields for cows during the Winter period, and so on. On these figures, I suggest to the House that an increase in the price of milk supplied to creameries is now due. It has been due for a considerable time but it has been withheld.
I put the case for the farmers of my county and, I might say, for the farmers of the country. I commend this motion to the House and I feel that in justice to the farming community an increase should be given. If other sections of the community had any sense of justice they would have no hesitation in agreeing that an increase is due to the farming community.
