Legislative Assembly

Quebec. We have some of them in this House too. This is an electronic age service to dairy farmers. It provides complete and accurate inforamtion on the feeding, breeding and management of each cow in the herd. An analysis of the dairy busi- ness operation, it shows the net profit from milk over feed and labor costs. This service is a combination of the best services of existing programs now available to Canadian dairy farmers. I think perhaps I’ll cut this thing off for a while. Yes, I’m going to quit.

J. Walter Dingwell: Does this do away with the Dairy Herd Improvement... Hun. Daniel J. MacDonald: No, we’re going to continue both. J. Walter Dingwell: You’re going to continue both?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: This is going to be new. In fact, this is pretty precise and I would say our better operators will probably take this now.

J. Walter Dingwell: Have there been many applications?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: In the vicinity of thirty to date. In the vicinity of thirty. We have sent two men up to MacDonald College to learn how to apply this service and they will be working with the farmers that are interested in it. This will be done on a computing basis and people that are really interested in this business. . ..

J. Walter Dingwell: Is it an extension of the Provincial Department or a service that the Federal provides?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: No, this is Provincial. It’s put on by ourselves through the assistance of MacDonald College. We have to get our final data all processed at MacDonald College in Montreal and they are in agreement to do this.

J. Walter Dingwell: What estimate is the cost to the service to those thirty farmers? Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: To the producer? To the farmer?

J. Walter Dingwell: No, no, to the taxpayer. Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: For the taxpayer?

J. Walter Dingwell: How much is it going to cost the Government for the few people who may wish to avail themselves of this service?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: Not too great a cost on it, Mr. Speaker. Not too great a cost to the Province. Our Dairy Division we now have doing the Dairy Herd

Improvement Service will also conduct this service. J. Walter Dingwell: Is there to be no new personnel or. . ..

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: No new personnel.

J. Walter Dingwell: No new personnel?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: No new equipment. Walter R. Shaw: Will it cost the producer anything?

Hon. Daniel J. MacDonald: $6.00 a month. I haven’t got that figure with me. I thought I had it. It slipped my mind at the time. It’s not a high cost. It certainly costs more than the D.H.I.A. but there’s a lot more provided. This gives the farmer return value for his feed, what he should be feeding and all the rest of it. It’s really quite a service. Mr. Speaker, I think I’ll call it five-thirty.

Continuing on with my speech of this afternoon, I was glad to see the Leader of the Opposition admit that the hot air was over there.

(Laughter) (Applause)

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