A DAIRY CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Issue 1337, 15 January 1912, Page 8

A DAIRY CONFERENCE.

SOUTH ISLAND ASSOCIATION. The annual conference of members of the South Island Dairy Association was held at Lyttclton on Thursday last, Mr. J. Gray presiding. In the course of his opening address the chairman, according to reports to hand, said that during the past year the, dairy farmer had had little to grumble at, for high prices had ruled. Tlio dairying industry was o. young one, but it had a big future and all had a good deal to learn. Tho presence of droughts in manv other countries last year had made a big demand tor butter and cheese, with the result that cheese, sold at 735. per cwt. and butter only a shilling below Danish prices. This distinctly showed how necessary it was for New Zealand to produce a good article- if it wanted to goi to the forefront- of.'.lho market.- New Zealand was well adapted for dairying, and it behoved country men from one end. of tho country to tho other to unite and further the project. Agricultural Departments Co-operation. Mr. D. Cuddie, Director of the Agricultural Division, stated that ho had pleasure in associating himself with the conference which enabled his Department to keep in touch with the producer. As regards grading stores he was a firm believer in the open-door policv, which enabled a man with a little practice to become (|ualified to the work of judging the different grades. The Division encouraged the system and his experiencehad been that the factory managers who attended these inspections the most frequently turned out the best quality. The policy of tho Department was to push the work on as much as possible. The standard of grading had risen of late, but thero was room for improvement. When faults had been found in any particular branch of butter the inspectors had always gone to tho factory and righted the defect. He was sorry that his staff was not as large as he would have liked, to cope with the industry. For various reasons dairying in Canterbury had not grown during tho past ten years as he would havo liked. In 1900 there was as much butter turned out as in 1911, but cheese showed an increase of 300 per cent. Apparently the time was not far distant when the dairying industry would grow. Tho province favoured tho settler in many other pursuits, but no doubt the cutting up of many largo estates would offer more extension. . He had no hesitation in saying that tho?e going in for the industry would get good returns, for at the present time, tho producer would not keep paco with tho demand. Not Yet Perfection. The London market last year had been very satisfactory and the reports bad been highly encouraging. The quality of the cheese had been well spoken of as far as grading was concerned, but the timo was not ripe for producers to run away with the idea, that _ they had reached perfection. In view of tho competition from other centres it was important that'every effort should bo made tc- bring about an improvement. One weak point was the milk supply. He knew of several people who took a great deal, of caro in this respect, but there were many others who were not too careful and it was unfair for tho former to have his milk mixed at the factory with the inferior article. Tho Department would make every effort to extend the work of instructors to farms mid ho could say that during tho past two years* good results had been achieved. Last year 3500 farms had been visited. In one district out of sixty farms it had been found that forty of them had their stands erected in wrong places and there was adanger of the milk becoming contaminated. Pressure had been brought to bear, and tho result was that the arrangements were now far more sanitary. Factory Methods. Speaking of tho factory methods Mr. Cuddie said that as a general rule whero carried out on up-to-dato lines a large amount of good had been done. During tho past two years there had boon a marked progress in the pasteurisation of cream for buttex-m'aking, with Che result that it was getting more uniform and better-keeping butter than previously. Unless the system was carried out the correct way it was better left alone. Mistakes were often made in skimming too heavily. The.control of acid in cream was a. most important matter. A number of tests made showed that more attention was needed in this respect. Cheese made under the alkaline test was a good guide, and tho butter-maker should bo persuaded to mako close observations of thn alkaline- method. Thero was also the nece=sity of seeing that the temperature was correct. . Expansion of the Cheese Industry. In briefly referring to the expansion of Ibe cheew industry Mr. Cuddie said that in I'JOO 50(lfl tons had been manufactured, but in 1911 it had grown to 30,000 ton-. From January 3 there had Im-n an increase of 23 per cent, but butter had fallen off about 19 per cent. This was no doubt due to bad weather. Mr. Cuddie referred to the neenl; innovation nf an instructor in swft cheesemaking, which he said many people view under a misapprehension. Soft cheese, with few exceptions, must be sold directly ul'lor Iwing manufactured. When people became acquainted with fancy chce-o there would probably lie si good market for it locally, and in litno it would add value to thn dairying industry. Regarding the i cmestion of cow-testing. Sir. Cuddie stated I that last year oyer 500Q cows had been I

tested and it was expected that this vcar the number would bo increased to 10,0110. The results were being watched vcry closcly. During the past twelve months one company in the north had started manufacturing casein, it was at the present juncture too early io offer an opinion on another product.