Milk Testing.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 280, 5 December 1901, Page 1

Milk Testing.

A correspondent requests us to give the following report in connection with the Manawaru Dairy Factory Owing to the dissatisfaction that exists through the milk tests being so low, and the method of testing, a meeting was held in the school recently to discuss matters. Mr Leaman was voted to the chair. Mr Alley, convener, addressed the meeting. He objected to the tests being taken at the central factory, and considered it should be done at the local factory, under the supervision of any one oi the settlers, meeting-wan also addressed by* Several other suppliers, all dissatisfied with the present tests. A resolution to ask Mr Spragg to allow the testing to be done locally, under the supervision of any one ol the settlers, was passed. This would be a good plan ii the settlers understood the Babcock tester, which I don’t think they do. That the tests are absurdly low is apparent to all, and the question to be decided is why are they so ? Is it bad weather, or no substance in the grass ? Or does the Babcock tell the truth ? In the September 23 issue of the Belfast Whig, an influential Irish paper there are several letters relating to the Irish creameries. The creameries oi Ireland are mainly co-operative, and in no co-operative creamery is the Babcock used. The tests are made with the Gerber. The Irish experts state emphatically that the Babcock does not register the true amount of butter-fat. The same milk tested with both testers gave 0.4 more butter-fat by the Gerber than by the Babcock. That is, milk giving 3.4 with the Babcock gave 3.8 with the Gerber. This 0.4 difference is equal to £d a gallon. The Irish experts state that the suppliers whose milk is tested by the Babcock lose id on every gallon, while the company reaps the benefit. In Ireland those creameries that used Babcock discarded it as soon as the Gerber came out. One expert in his letter says that “it is well-known that the makers of the Babcock warn purchasers of the machine that it will not register the correct amount of butter-fat.”

I think the little I have quoted from the Irish expert’s letters will go a long way in explaining why the tests are so low. If our milk was tested with the Gerber, instead of the Babcock, the sum of £SB Cs 8d a month more would come to our district. Our factory is running 1000 gallons a day, and at a Id gallon loss it is easy to arrive at the total loss for a month. The Irish creameries are the most flourishing in the British Empire. The Irish butter completely swept the board oi all prizes in London, and Ireland will not have the Babcock. So farmers ! digest this and demand an up-to-date tester.