asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the amount of milk delivered to creameries in the periods 1st January to 17th March in 1973 and in 1974.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Milk Deliveries.
39.
In the period from 1st January to 2nd March, 1974, the latest date for which particulars are available, deliveries of milk to creameries amounted to 21.02 million gallons as compared with 24.2 million gallons in the corresponding period of 1973.
Does the Minister regard this as a serious decline in milk supply or is it a change in the supply pattern of milk during the winter?
The decline in milk supplies could be due to a number of causes—the very unusual wet weather during that period; the poor quality of fodder, particularly hay, in the 1973 crop; and probably the poor price of calves during that period. People possibly kept the calves that they would have sold otherwise. There is no indication of anything other than more expansion of milk production on top of the record level of 600 million gallons last year.
Will the Minister not agree I was right when I spoke about fodder? I said exactly what the Minister has said now.
I have forgotten what the Deputy may have said in the past.