FARMING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4680, 28 March 1924, Page 4

FARMING.

THE BUTTER INDUSTRY. • • VALUE OF PRESERVATIVES. At a meeting of. the New Zealand Dairy Produce Importers’ Association lie'd in London on 14th December the resolution given below was passed. The Association is composed of practically all the merchants who arA handling dairy produce from New Zealand. The resolution was sent to M" Massey, Mr S. M. Bruce, the Minister for Health, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Board of Trade, the High Commissioner for Now Zealand, and the Minister of Agrieultuie in each of the Australasian States. The resolution reads : “ Regarding the use of preservative i’> the manufacture of butter, it is the opinion of this association that if the use of preservalive.be prohibited in the manufacture of butter i . will do incalculable harm to our overseas dominions, and place their product al a great disadvantage as compared with European countries such as Den111’14, France,’ and Holland, which countries can deliver their butters to rehttTcrs in Great 'Britain within 48 hours of despatch whereas the butter from New Zealand has to be carried 12,000 to 14,000 miles, and when the boats arrive in Great Britain they are many times two or three weeks in the discharging of the cargo. Such butter would never be able to compcta with Danish butter without the aid of preservative. A certain amount of New Zealand butter has been sent to this country without preservative, but has never given the same satisfaction as' does butter that contains preservative. From New Zealand we receive a larger quantity of dairy produce than from any. other country in the world, and with encouragement that country can turn out six to ten tin-.cs the amount she is doing to-day, and any action on the part of the British Government to retard this development would hurt the domin-' ions, and would eventually be alto.getlici against the interests of Great Britain. The firms that constitute the above association have; for thirty years handled blitter containing preservative. and though .testing it daily ■have never experienced any ill effect from the small quantity of preservative' that is allowed to be used for the purpose, of retaining tlie good ■qualities’ of the butter when first manufactured.”

CHOOSINQ 4 COW. Quite a learned paper was read at the World’s Dairy Congress by a big American authority on hbw to judge a dairy beast. He enumerated all manner of signs and points that the farmer should know in selecting the most desirable type, but he forgot to mention what we consider the most important point of all, and that is the head. The great muzzle, the good eyes set well apart, and the matronly expression are points which, if the ordinary farmer could be persuaded to always look for, would assuredly prove a better guide than hunting for milk wells, tortuous veins, esI’nleheons, length of tail, and other alleged signs of milking power. The great muzzle and wide head and good Width between the eyes are invariably accompanied by a good wide body, a great tpring of rib, and a good heart girth. A friend of the writer, and a very keen breeder, enthusing about quality and type in dairy stock, says that a man who has an eye for a good animal can generally select a goo.l wife, implying, of course, that it is a ha”dsome, comely woman that appeals to him. The parallel is hardly correct. The great-thing that appeals to a man in a woman is not so much comeliness of form and prettiness of face as expression and the character that goes with it. And we believe that the most successful breeders are men who attach some importance to expression in an animal’s face, and regard the face as a true mirror of Ilin body. Judging by some ilecisiohs wc have recently witnessed in the show ring many people have still a lot to learn before they arc able to judge the true value of an animal. W-3 sav' one animal in a class selected as a winner , that certainly It.gd s a, big udder with any amount of veins on it. and the cow did look a making sort, but she was narrow, slab-sided, and obviously did not have the constitution demanded by her apparent capacity, while another animal alongside her, and passed over, had all the ap> pc-rance of a. producer and a breeder —a great head, a magnificent, spring of rib, and exceptionally level and wide hindquarters. In these days of

contagious disease and the enormouf difiicii'ty of grappling with some phases of it, constitution is of paramount importance, and should be the first thing looked for in the show ring. Too inany of pur judges are led away by veins, escutcheons, long tails, and other cupposed signs of milking capacity. This reminds us, of the old story tol'l of a very capable American judge, referring to these-supposed short cuts to determining the capacity of a cow, remarked : ‘‘They say they’re signs ; well, I’ve heard it said that if you sec ten geese walking in a row with their toes in it is a 'sign the children will have measles light the coming season.”