QUALITY FALLING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1781, 20 June 1913, Page 8

QUALITY FALLING.

BUTTER AND CHEESE. THE LACK OP CLEANLINESS. FACTORY MANAGER SPEAKS. At the New Zealand Dairy Factory .Manager.-*' Conference, several interesting papers were read. Mr. Jliddleton presided. Mr. J. Murray, of Taradalc, addressed the conference 011 Die subject of the cause and the remedy of detects in our dairy ptcducts. .Mr. .Murray said thai il- hail teen thought that the universal adoption of the pasteurisation of cream would be instrumental in overcoming irregularity in the quality of our butter, ami while tlio process had been the means 111 almost every instance ill producing uniformity ill tiie cream so treated, it was a matter of tho deepest concern why our butter had not readied the standard ol' perfection that one might expect. Ho asked: "Could we to-day put out our pasteurising plants and make as good a quality of butter as we did five years ago?" He answered: "Umpiiatically, No." Our cheese was going back in quality, our butter following. His candid opinion of tho cause was: (1) Quality of tno raw material and general conditions that prevail in the production of milk; (2) tho system that obtains in the manufacture of butter and checse. Any improvements that had been brought about with regards to better facilities for niilk-prodiiction and improved surroundings had been 111 many cases nullified by careless handling of milk. It would bo difficult to judge between -a dirty milker in a clean byre, and a clean milker in 11 dirty byre, li'or checse the latter would be preieruble from the standpoint of both hand and mechanical milking. It might bo argued that a clean milker and a dirty byre could not be connected, but we have instances, and many ol ibem, where the .struggling leaseholder and the share milker with short leases both of tho property and its filthy surroundings that cannot, only by legislative enactment, ho put in order. Thoso who had reached the stage of-unconcern in the capacity of a dairy farmer, '.1 factory manager or assistant, were better out of the business.

Continuing, Air. Murray , said: "Sufficient has been accomplished in tile majority of cases from a mechanical standpoint, both on tho farm ami in the factory, for the manufacture of the choicest chceso and butter the world is likely to produce, but unfortunately there are nlany features of imperfection that "too often get hidden under the cloak of mechanism which would savour of their true colour on being exposed to the light. After all, the difference between tho price of Danish and i\ T ow Zealand butter is not so great when ouo takes into consideration the difference between tho methods adopted by the Danish and iicw Zealand farmer in the handling of milk, and until a better system obtains by tho average New Zealand dairyman thero is little chance of effecting much improvement in the quality of our cheese and buttor. Mechanical milking has been a boon to the farmer, but dirty machines are a luenaco and a ourso to the industry. Why do you receive tho milk? some one says. Herein another curse; if it is not good eniugh for one factory it will bo taken at ■ the next, and so it goes on. The only remedy is in tho hands of tho Government. Compulsory grading raised tho standard of Ivew Zealand butler and cheeso; compulsory classification, and that only, will raise tho standard of New Zealand milk. So many competitors aro there'for tho purcliaso of milk and cream, that periodical, independent classification by Government officials seems to be the only way out of the difficulty. "Element of Unconcern." ! "Dairying communities should now be able to carry on their own herd-testing, so tiITTC tile attention of the Department could be devoted to another and equally important branch of the business, viz., the classification of milk and cream. It cannot be denied that there is an clement of unconcern that flows on unimpeded through tho community of dairy fanners engaged in the production of milk and cream that must be grappled with if we wish to even maintain our present reputation. Upon ivh.it foundation may we base our reckoning in pressing forward our claims for reform? The Government may go on from year to year with legislative enactment, placing ' restrictions upon the farmer which will only tend to drive him out of tho business. A dirty , milker is not going to stand to get cleansed before commencing his operations, but pay him according to the iiualuy of Jiis productions, and you will soon get him into line. If his returns are not suflicumt recompense for liis Lbour ho will begin to look round for a moro remunerative system, which lie will very soon adopt. Ripening Cream,

"Unlike butter, the pasteurising process is yet m its experimental stages With regard to clieese, and that it will became universally adopted is a matter for conjecture. The handling of such a volume oi mine and the necessity of carrying out tile process in a limited time are fi.ctors '.hat have to be contended with in contra to tho improved yield and quality of the umshed article. Moisture in cheese seems to. be. one of the burning questions of the day; but to the old fault again, there is less harm brought alwut by increased moisturp content than by increased coreless milk production. The modern is equipped with better facilities to produce a moro uniform article than obtained a few years ago, and a higher grade and moro profitable article would be tho result if the quality ot the raw material was there to work upon. Ihe ripening of cream for buttermaking, however, is a matter that calls lor wider knowledge 'and more extensive experiments. Tho factory manager with years of experience should be guided more by the actual results -of his own experiments, coupled with Home reports, rather than those of a few isolated ones that have been carried out by the Department the results of which should not follow as a recommendation of their universal adoption throughout tho Dominion regardless of the influences of the variable feed and climatic conditions that prevail, I here is a tendency at the present juncture to under-ripen as 'much as there was to over-ripen cream tome years ago with tho result tluit in many' instances the quality of our butter will not hold ■I his applies more especially to firstgrade quality cream. It is 'beyond the reach of the Dairy Department, with its present facilities, to carry out systematic experiments in the ripening of cvenui, compatible with feed and climatic eruditions that prevail, but it is imperative that wider knowledge through repeated experiments should be sought after without delay, and so effect a more reliable basis to work upon, especially for those of limited experience. The fact of unsalted butter in many cases showing better keeping qualities than salted is not, in my opinion, so much due to the influence of the salt itself as to that of the degree of acidity ill the cream prior to being churned. A Word to Makers. "Butter-makers in too many instances build too much upon* the foundation of procuring a high grade, when their butter is fresh, rather than devoting their time and talent, and adapting themselves to the more-important feature of the art of making ail article that will stand the test of long keeping, which is by far the more important, anil will in theOul gain them a better reputation. The class of man that one generally finds now-a-days in the manufacturing branch of the industry is sufficiently intelligent, as welt as anxious, to follow upon lines that will lead him, his employers, and his country, to an established reputation." IMPROVING THE MILK SUPPLY. Jlr. J. 51. Faulkner, Ngaire, addressed t.he conference respecting means of improving our milk supply. Ho said that the primary reason for tho unfavourable reports from Ixmdon regarding our produce was faulty producfion of the railmaterial. Visits to farms would demonstrate I ho fact that on a large majority of farms insanitary methods were employed. Among other tilings lie advocated Ihe thorough cleaning of cows' udder* and teats before milking by hand, ami the application of a little' vaselene to obviate the use of Olio wot hand. The milking machine wo.? a splendid imitation of nature, but a largo number of ma-

rhinos wo handled contrary to all roeognUi'd laws of hygiene, and ilie quality of our iiroduco was .suffpriiig in consc<l nciico. The covered'pail should bo substituted for tlio present millc bucket. HOME SEPARATION. IJr. A. J. Isdale. of Taihape, spoke on homo separation, which, lie said, ibad Rrown very rapidly in Now Zealand ill spite of powerful opposition, 110 thought that there was lint a butter factory in Xew Zealand to-day which did not handle .some home-separated cream, while quite a number received all their supply in that form. In his district there were some farmers who delivered home-separ-ated cream which was as Rood as tlio creameries produced, but these dairymen were in a minority, and the gjeat bulk of the home-separated cream was inlinitelv inferior lo tlio ereamcry article. Under (he creamery system New Zealand earned a high reputation for butter, but unless existing conditions were changcd we would, wit'lv a system of homo separation, injure the quality and the reputation of our produce.. Under tlio conditions of to-day it was impossible for as Rood butler to* be made in a. factory run wholly on home separator lines as in a factory run viholly on the creamery system. One remedy lie suggested was inspection. combined with instruction.