Argentina Republic.

Northland Age, 11 October 1904, Page 3

Argentina Republic.

I Australasia’s Chief ComI pejtitor. ■ cisEINE. Hi not surprised to find that caseine manufactured in fairly large quantifor export in the Argentine when I that little or none of the skim-milk fed to the calves. As pointed out at beginning of tbias article, the ArgonHi prefer beef to butter-fat, or rather raising the calif on butter-fat inof skim-milk and meal. the large jjbtancia owned by uit Tandil. Tandil is from Buenos Aires, on the Railway. Near the town of is one of the great sights or of the Argentine Republic— “Rocking-stone.” Tins stone IBhe thousands of tons, and sits on a pivot* To prove that this great all you require to do is to a bottle under it, when it will be by the slight rocking of the at one tqne undertook to pull marvellous rock off its perch by a success. back to Dr. Santamarino’s which, is situated near the I must say that this is a interesting estancia. We should this a “ large,ranch ” in the northern States of America, or a “ run ” in The estancia is ovpr four Hue leagues in extent. In 1901 they separators in a factory at the At the time of my visit they working five separators, and over HOOO litres of milk were separated. In Hush of the season between four and He thousand cows are milked. They are Hmi adding about five thousand more to He herd, all of which are already tamed Hr milking. On this large estancia there Rfe thirty “tambos” or stations. Each Hie of these “ tambos ” is well fenced H|d watered. They also have paddocks H maize and lucerne. Besides, on each Btaiiibo” will be found fairly good Buildings. This sort of a farm will sound Higi to our New Zealand people. It, Bowerqr, requires enteiprise and capital mo carry on a business of that kind. Dr. pantamarino has also lately erected a flarge building and equipped same with an up-to-(kite plant for manufacturing caseine. He not only manufactures fcjie skim-milk from his own herd into caserne, but many of the estancieros who have separators sell their skim-milk to Jiim. Mr. Reynolds’ butter-factory at Tandil also supplies a. large quantity of skimmilk to the doctor's business. I was informed that the caseine fetches about £3O per ton in London. Coke is burnt for drying the milk, and the expense is not a very light one. The {Treat .trouble is to get details from such an experimental business. I would not recommend'this system of dairy-fanning in New Zealand, particularly the milking £■ ooess. lam quite sure our-New Zeand farmers can make a great deal more money by feeding the skim-milk judiciously to calves and pigs than by manufacturing it into a rough caseine for S. During the first qmu-ter of 1903 kilos of caseine , were exported from the Argentine.

; Dried Milk. The manufacture of dried milk is practically a new business in the Argentine. While in the country I visited Mr. L. Gahnan’s estancia at. Navarro, in the province of Buenbs Aires. A new plant has fust been installed in Mr. Gahnan’s butter-factory. A company has also been formed for the manufacture of dried milk in large quantities for export. At Mr.' Gahnan's factory three machines with a capacity of 80 gallons per hour are set up. The machines are made by Lane and Co., of Edinburgh. The process is a very simple one. The machines are nothing more than two large steel cylinders, 20in. or 22in. hi diameter and about 6ft. long. These cylinders are set close together; when heat is applied I should judge, with the expansion, they are only l-16in. apart. They are heated by means of applying dry steam to the inside of the drums. The milk is delivered'directly on to the hot cylinders by means of a perforated pipe, which throws a fine spray on to each cylinder, the high temperature causes a thick coating of milk to adhere to the cylinder, and while the latter is revolving the dried milk is shaved off by means of thin knives, which latter must be perfectly true and set close to tlfe cylinders. The dried milk when it is being delivered from the cylinders has the appearance of very thin white tissue paper. These largs sheets of milk if touched with the'hand will break readily. This substance is received from the cylinders into two large boxes, where wooden mallets are used for breaking up the dried milk, which is afterwards passed through a fine sieve, in order, as it were, to size it. After being passed through the sieves the milk has the appearance of fine meal made from a light-colored American com. It is then filled in barrells exactly like a 2001 b. flour-barrel, which are lined with parchment-paper. The dried milk is then ready for export. Any New Zealand dairymen or others interested can Bee a sample of this milk at the Dairy Commissioner’s office, Wellington.

If this system proves a success, a milk which is so easily handled and shipped is almost certain to meet with a good demand, particularly in a country like South Africa. I may explain that the sample of milk to which I'gave a trial test did not prove . a success, for the reason that the caseine did not seem to dissolve, thereby leaving considerable sediment. The Meat Industry. One of the peat industries of the country is “ saladeros,” which signifies salted or jerked beef factories. These factories also make extract of beef, etc. About 45,000,000 dollars is invested in this business. The principal market for this “ tasago ” or salted or jerked beef is found in Brazil. Before these saladeros were established, the only exportable animal products were grease from boileddown animals, tallow, and hides. Now they have fifteen or sixteen of these saladeros, and,' from statistics given by Senor Ronaldo Tidblom, there were slaughtered at these institutions for making jerked beef 403,000 cattle in 1901 and 253,100 in 1902. It is also said that ibout 250,000 head of steers are sent into Jniguay and Rio Grande (Brazil) for the impose of supplying the The total export of ras 24,296 tons, and

It is claimed that,this jerked raeiit industry cannot ,be done away with bly the establishment of meat-freezing works, for the reaspnithat Brazil and Cubk will always require and must have t(ksago. These countries also take leanejr and lighter cattle# for this purpose from the Argentine thn| those sought after by the freezers and cljportgfo Although I expert on meatfreezing works, I ani going to give Some practical facts with reference to what is being done in this, thft* greatest of industries in the Argentine. During my; short stay-in the Republic I was successful in getting through some of the mdljt important freezing-works in the Argentine. The first freezing-works I visited was at the town of Campana, and by the kindness of Mr. Graham, representative of John Cook and Sons, I was able to get a look over the whole premises. This was the first meat-freezing works started in the Argentine, and dates back only to 1883. It belongs to the River Plate Fresh Meat Company. They have a kill-ing-capacity Qf upwards of six thousand sheep and four hundred steers per day. This company also started the first export chilled meat business to Great Britain in 1901.

The chilled-meat industry is becoming an important factor in the Argentine meat trade. The advantages in favour of chilled meat over either live cattle or frozen beef .for export, as claimed by the Argentinos, is, that the price is higher on the British market than for frozen beef, and also that the expenses incurred in handling live-stock for export are much higher—tha,t : is,, transport, etc. The River Plate Fresh Meat Company are now extending their premises. They have erected large -buildings where the sheep will be housed over night. This is found necessary owing'to the fact that when it rains the sheep get wet and muddy, which makes the killing much harder and more disagreeable next morning. This idea might be adopted to advantage in New Zealand. These buildings or large sheds need not necessarily be very expensive.

At Campana they have a good wharf, where the 1/trge Home steamers come alongside. The mutton and beef is taken direct from the freezing-chambers, where the small tnicks are run Vight into the chamber, and during the loading a set of outside insulated doors are shut and opened to allow the tnicks, wdiich run on a narrow railway, to pass in and out. This scheme seems to work well. The. steamer “Langton Grange” was loading a large A shipment of beef and mutton at Campana at the time of iiiy visit. TJiis was being shipped by John Cook and Sons/of Australia. The chilled meat for the British markets is loaded in a similar maimer, only instead of having the tnicks run to the wharf in the open, they have built a sort of insulated shed or tunnel, which protects the carcases from exposure vto the hot sun. This company qwns largo grazing paddocks or estancias, where .the surplus stock are kept, also paddocks for. resting the stock in close proximity to the works. J f

I may also mention that in connection wjth the chilled-meat business operated by the River .Plate Fresh Meat’Company in 1901 they exported 29,919 quarters of beef, and from the Ist to the 31st January, 1902,.their exporta, 38,148 quarters. Later figures I was not able to obtain. There seems, however, to he a rapid increase in the exports to Great Britain, and from what one can learn from recent reports from London, this factor in the meat-market at Home seems tp be alarming the Beef Trust of the United States and the Australian shippers. It is claimed by shippers in the Argentine that their meat is competing fairly successfully with the meat from the United States, and that they are in a position to lay it down in London cheaper. (To be Continued.J