QUALITY BUTTER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1932, Page 9

QUALITY BUTTER

DAIRYING IN DENMARK

ALL-YEAR-ROUND SUPPLY

METHODS ARE THOROUGH

(From "The' Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 24th November. While Mr. Eliot B. Davis (Auckland) was in Denmark this month inquiring into the pigl industry he naturally met a number of business men with other interests,as well—dairying and eggs:chio£'ly- flu; egg industry i,-> ;i.. niarvcJlous enterprise. The eggs [ are ■ cleaned -and stamped in the home, and then "taken' to the bacon factory, where' they arc sorted out. into sizes, packed and shipped to .London in thoir hundreds of millions of dozens. :■ '. .. "The quantities of butter, bacou and eggs, when calmly surveyed by New Zealand farmers," said Air: Davis, '' must give them ■ sojiio idea of what possibilities lie in front of the Dominion, and all to be won by hard work and intelligent farming. Denmark is supplying England with produce at the rate1 of approximately £1,000,000 per week, without taking into consideration other countries to which her produce goes. Their farming methods in the first place, and distributing or business organisation in England is so remarkably'efficient that, one can honestly applaud them for their remarkable thoroughness." Mr. Davis was given a great deal oJ: uiiurnuitioi) regarding fodder eaten by the Danish cows, the return i'u butter, ownership, housing, winter arrangements, chart-recording of each «:uiuial, and so on. In: November -all th.-i cows wore under cover. They 'are' placed i'u stalls from Ist October to Ist April, their food during the period consisting of beetroot, turnips, mangels, swedes, hay and straw—all arc grown by the f armor himself—cottonseed cake, linseed cake. The cottonseed is "best, though it all adds to the expense of feeding. But the country benefits in the: end because' as much butter is produced in winter as in summer. This means that the ■Danish supply of butter is constant, all the year round wliile the New Zealand supply drops anything froih 35 to C>o per cent, in the late autumn and winter. A WONDERFUL SIGHT. ,■ Mr. P. Ronholt took Mr. Davis over his farm at Tybjuggaard. In, one stable 240 cows of the red Danish breed were housed. Each cow there is milked'by hand twice a day. The whole process or! the cattle farm goes on in-this stable. The cows have their calves in. separate boxes, and three or four, very line bulls also have quarters in this stable. '"It was a wonderful sight;-" said -Mr. Davis, "to see this number' of cows contentedly chewing the cud, some lyingdown, ' others standing, of ' course in very close proximity to one: another. Their main feed consisted of hay,, bar-■ ley, straw, beets", turnips, aiid mangolds. They. were, divided into six lines, with forty cows in each line.'' Every cow in the stable has its own chart, showing pedigree, date of last calving-, percentage of butterf at, pounds-weight of previous day's milk, and so on.- The ■.stables are visited regularly, by a Government official:wlio-takes-..a-.test to get ■the best results and to eliminate all undesirables. ' .!"'■' "I was very much.impressed by these stables," said Mr. Davis, "which so forcibly brought homo to me what I liiivo already stated regarding the uniformity of supply, because- it- is perfcelly obvious that the- cows are able :to produce, .-just. ,i^s .niucli .rriiljc. . f uu.der these" conditions in cold weather "as when they are in the fields in the spring and summer. The whole system is one which should commend itself to the New Zealand Government; tho farmers in. -the; South Island especially .would find.a largo, increase.in the production, of "their, millc if sucli methods'- were followed, instead' "of" leaving the cattle to face air the elements of* -a- winter quite as bad as they have, in Denmark." , The cattle- seemed perfectly contented, close- up to one another. They arc not divided by any partition and there is ample room for the men. to walk down the centre.for watering and., feeding. The stables are the acmo of cleanliness—another factor contributing to Danish success —a condition which cannot bo achieved without hard work on the part of the farm employees. Tho immense quantity of valuable manure is carefully stacked and turned to the best use on tho farm; :. . FINE MILK; FINE BUTTEK.: One. of the' questions which Mr. Davis put to. an authority in : Copenhagen— Jli, A. Brmkmann'—was: Why was. the price of Danish butter so much higher in England than the price of New Zoalarid in-. England? . He said: "Because Danish butter is so.much better than New Zealand. . .. "Why?" asked Mr. Davis; "Bccauso," was the reply, "in Now Zealand the milk is skimmed on the farm and the cream then sent .to the factory. Very often, so : I understand, two .days may elapse between tho time the cream is sent to.the factory, and the skimming, the consequence being that, tho cream is slightly sour, beforo.' it. reaches the factory. In order, to neutralise this some kind of alkali is used to counteract tho sourness. The main thing required for making fino butter is to have fine milk. In Denmark the milk is sent to the dairy twice daily—morning and night—and it is in the dairy a very short while beforo its conversion into butter is.started." Mr. Brinkmann did Hot think therewas one farm in Denmark which was, at the outside, more than throe miles away from the nearest dairy. Consequently, no neutraliser is required, the Danish butter gets a better texture and consistency, with more life in it than New Zealand. As for tho flavour, the Danish, is in every way superior.- Every cask of Danish butter that is shipped to England bears tho factory brand and the date the butter was made. Consequently" there is no speculation, and when a London merchant buys butter that is dated he is sure of what he buys, and he also knows by whom the butter is made. There- is no date on New Zealand boxes, and the butter may be hi store either' in England' or in" NewZealand for months before coming into consumption, whereas "the Danisharticle is soon on the'market, and there can be no doubt as to its degree of freshness. Danish butter is never lhore thiiu seven days old when sold; it is shipped twico a week, and though the vessels have -refrigerating,.space it is very rarely used. Mr. Briukmann.gavo it as. his. opinion that tasting butter in a cold store is a very difficult thing, for tho taste varies when the butter reaches a normal temperature... He considers that every kind of food must lose something in the process of cold storage. '.'Tho public, is prepared to pay for Danish butter,'? Mr; Davis was told. "They prefer its texture, flavour, and freshness. Ideal butter should taste like cream, but New Zealand butter does not possess, this qualification. . I speak without prejudice of any kind —lisirnply. answer your question regarding relative prices. The best New Zealand butter .is almost without character as regards taste; tho second quality has other faults." In the opinion of Mr. Br.inkniann, .Russian butter had a.better flavour, than New Zealand,.and its quality was excellent because the milk reached the factory so promptly. He'-piiid--high tribute In the selling power displayed in London for Now Zealand Yiiit.feY.*remarking that it compared most favour-.

ably with the Danish butter-selling. The Danish J'.-inm-r says: "When Die market is f^ood there is no need to advertise. "When the niarJfel is bafl he. j lias; no nionuy with wliieh to advertise. DANISH AVERAGE PER COW. | Fully 50 per cent, of Banish cows are in Controlled Societies who send exports to test and give advice as to food, etc. A good farmer knows the value of every cow ho owns, and when he gets from the Control Society a specification .of.' the production of caeli of Iris-cows he reads and studies it seriously.

Going back sixty years,", the: average Danish- cow, said. Mr. Erinkmanii, gave only oO kilos; the average to-day is 15U kilos; and ho hopes that eventually the Danish cow will give 300-kilos per annum—but .t-hair .may not--be for many years. -"-When wo do attain, that there will be no use for margarine," he remarked. The suggestion was mudo that in the winter -trine cows" in- New Zesvliind get too little to-cat; millc .cannot be obtained without feed- The. Danish cow,cats on. an. averago 30.00 fodder units "per year. It niay.bc!gr;issj hay, grain, anything! but;'a fodder unit is the term used.- "■ ■ ••" ' :

Finally, Mr. Davis remarked:- Ml feel confident that wheitNcw Zealand farmers sec the hundreds of millions of pounds sterling waiting for them in the English market, they will wake up. to tho great future which lies-in. front of them, and forgot their neglect of the past. ..... ; . : .... ,

"In summing up my conclusions' on the great and remarkable success- of Danish agriculture, I attribute it firstly to the wonderful co-operative systemswhich permeate the whole country, both as regards financial, institutions- and agricultural industries gene-rally,- and, secondly, to the-untiring energy • and undoubted skill of the.farm labourers.

"There is ample scope in "New Zealand for n lesson under- both■■■ these headings!"" ■