OUR DAIRIES.—No. 1.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 572, 6 January 1882, Page 2

OUR DAIRIES.—No. 1.

Up Balguerie street some half-mile beyond the precincts of the Borougn is a nice little dairy farm of 20 acres, owned by Mr Mullins. It is of course on a small scale, only nine or ten cows being kepr, but the excellence of tbe cheese produced there, one of which it will be remembered took the second of the prizes offered by theFarmeis Club at the late exhibition made us think that the process by which it was manufactured must be a good one. Of course the first thought that must strike anyone interested is the feed off which the cows milk. In this case it seems to be nearly all cocksfoot, with a little rye and clover. There is a good deal of scrub at one end, off which no doubt the cows get many a bite ; but the great advantage of the place is that it is intersected its whole length by a good creek. There are dividing fences, but in this dry weather tbe cows ramble over tho whole section. The place is securely fenced so there is no worrying the cows to keep them within bounds. It will thus be seen that the first conditions are all fulfilled, the cows having variety of food, Bhade. and plenty of water. Like all cows that are well treated they are very quiet, there is no rousing about with whips no shouting, but they go into the bale quietly and in '[ order. Many people may think this a trivial matter, but the writer ia of opinion that the milk of a cow that walks quietly home to be milked is far better than that of one that has been heated, by being rushed into the yard with the aid of dogs and stock whips. Mr Mullins makes his cheese as usual every morning from the milk taken from the cowa on the previous evening and that morning's milking, He is extremely careful of all the vessels used, which are not only scrubbed and scalded, but allowed to be in the running creek that any impurities may be removed, and the press, a lever one, is outside, so that there is none of the usual unpleasant smell one notices in dairies. The milk when first placed in the vat is raised to a temperature of 85 if it is a cold and 80 if it is a warm morning, considerable judgment being required in this particular. The rennet used is taken from Mr Mullin's own calves, which he generally kills when they are four or five days old for that purpose. It goes a great way, Mrs Mullin telling us that one had been sufficient for about 12 cwt of cheese. Afler leaving the milk about an hour to curdle, the curd is cut a little, but not too much, or the cream ia likely to run off with the whey. Another half an hour's rest and then if necessary, a part of the whey is warmed to bring the temperature of the whole up to 80, and it is all worked up. Another half-hour and then some of the whey is heated so as to bring up the whole to lOUdg., if it is cold, or 95 degrees if it is warm weather. After standing a bit U is worked ap s_*3 tii-e whey taken off. The grer.t

object is to get tbe whole of the whey off. Tho curd is cut twice and worked till it id quite fine and dry. It is salted an! then pressed. The'receipt for this wiy of making cheese was given to Mrs Mnllins by a Mr Bates, who used to work for Mr Piper at Duvauchelle's Bay. More however appears to depend upon the judgment used than any thing else. The difference of temperature to which to raise the material according to the heat of the morning, the extraction of the whole of the whey and none of the cream, and the scrupulous cleanliness of the vessels used, are some of the main points to be studied, but as Mrs Mullins says, "You can't make good cheese without you make use of your brains." There is no smell of cheese in Mr Mullen's house, though the cheese, of which there is at present in stock some 16 cwt (he makes about two tons per annum), is stored in one of the rooms. Here again cleanliness is carried to perfection, the boards on i which the cheese is stored and the covering of the cheese itself, as well as the floor and walls of the room, being scrubbed as white as they can be. In all the 16 cwt the writer did not notice a single puffy cheese, all were firm clean and well saved. It is small dairymen of this stamp that do tbe greatest good for the country. A farmer who can produce a ton of cheese from ten acres of hilly land annually, is a benefit to tbe district he resides in. The writer hopes to give sketches of this kind weekly, and describe tiie method pursued in as many of the principal dairies as possible. A very unpretentious one has been chosen for the commencement, but it is not the quantity, but the quality, of the cheese produced that is the main object, and it was the exceptionally good flavor of Mr Mullm's cheese that created an anxiety to observe the method adopted by him. If through these papers a better method of making cheese is adopted in some dairies, the pro duct of which is at present almost unsaleable, they will not have been written in vain.