The Dairy Industry.

Manawatu Herald, 17 May 1894, Page 2

The Dairy Industry.

• Mr Valentine, the Chief Dairy Expert to the Government addressed a number of gentleman at Paluierston last week. During his remarks be mentioned that the chief point that '■ they had to consider was that .good quality must be ensured. - Thb' efrt of butter and cheese making commenced with the production of the milk, and the chief element 'was to ensure quality and uniformity — in butter, of colour, textuue 9^§fk^pti; and in cheese of condition, colour, texture and flavour. After- tfaaig| their great care should be to secure proper transit from the 'produced/to the consumer, and to see .jthafr^e product was kept as near its ". njp^al condition as possible. If they w^ntejl an appreciative and profitable martlet th*>y must see that, their produoe wa=i carefully treated and pro : p|rly handled. The question of trarisH was receiving every attention by^ |Jf<e Department. Keen competition had sprung up on ihe Continent, and by the adop* tion of a sound system of winter dairying these countries were able to supply the English demand nearly as well in the depth of winter- ofc in the height of summer. .Nevertheisui he ht>td :. that our buW£, •; attended to, must leacl the "van "ul that time of year. We iiad aJBo^JB deal with competition -fronr '&& sister colonies, especially ViifiWW He thought, however, that they had but little to tear from. .^Vic^pria, although one point in- thatf^cplotjy'i favour was that they had «i<£blisjne<3 their industry on the factory : ; pjin. ciple. For export, their choicest butter was nofc so fine as ours. :/ One great drawback to our Hfcrade had been the large quantity of inferior dairy butter shipped by unscrupulous people, who had no regard either for quality or condition, Qne of the chief characteristics In the success of a dairy farm was the careful seleotion of stock. They had plenty of choice. They might have Shorthorns, Shorthorns crossed with Ayrshires, Devon, Blaok Welih, or Channel Island breed, and several equally good and well-known breeds, but the most important of all was to see that their sires descended from good milking strains. It was essential thai; their battle should be good, and, it wpn]d hp weM for them to consider that at oosfc --aY much to keep a bad animal as a good one. For preference he would run one or two of the Channel. Island breed with seven or eighJKshjO*£* horns, or Shorthorns crossed with Ayrshire, and for this reason, that the milk globules of the Jersey cow are much larger that those of other breeds, and naturally assist , the globules of the latter to rise to the surface and thus give better results. The chief element in the decay of butter was the amount of buttermilk left in when it was packed. The cows should be milked thoroughly. If the dairyman would divide (he milk from each cow into four' part^ji as it was milked into the bucket, *iie^^v would soon realise the vast importance of thoroughly stripping the cow's udder. The first part would contain about 8 to 4 per cent of fat, while last portion would contain 30, 35, and very often 50 per cent.

, Tile department had udder consideration several amendments to. the Actj .which 1 , if carried into effect', would considerably benefit the industry. . Td sum up, the chief difficulties > iH the way of an increased export trade were — the number of tim'e3 the .butter was handled before it reached the consumer; the number of middlemen who reaped a benefit; ~- ihe want of proper grading ; the inefficient ineatts of' transit j add the small number of distributing centres. Let, them overcome these difficulties, ' wuu til? future of the dairying industry of New Zealand was secured. In answer to questions, Mr Valon.tine said there was a great demand* lor tinned butter, which was sent * Some almost -exclusively from one place* although there was no reason why the*e should not be a large output* l?he best cooling apparatus was based 1 on 1 the principle of Lawrence's capillary refrigerator.