MILK FOR CHEESEMAKING.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 152, 30 September 1926, Page 6

MILK FOR CHEESEMAKING.

TESTS AT HAWERA. ■Certain remarks made at tine! annual meeting of the New Plymouth Jersey Breeders’ Club concerning the investigations of the Federation of Taranaki 'Co-operative Dairy Factories on the cheesemaking values, of different classes of milk were referred by a Hawera Star reporter to the scientist of the laboratory, who was invited to comment upon them. At the outset, said Mr Veale it seemed that a wirong impression had been gained by Mr Griffiths when, according to the report, he stated that the object of /the test was “to find out if there wa s any better method of paying for milk for cheesemaking than on a butterfat basis.” The actual purpose of the investigation is to determine over a whole, season, the relative values for cheesemaking of the milk of the Jersey (high testing) and Ayrshire and 'Friesian (low testing) breeds, not only in regard to 'the q|u)an titles of cheese per pound of .butterfat, but also with reference to the quality and merit of the various types of cheese made, ; and their suitability for the export trade asi determined by the graders in New Zealand, and also by a select committee of experts in London. In the course of the investigation and of the laboratory work upon samples of milk, cheese and Whey, statistics will be compiled constituting a fundi of knowledge concerning the constituents of -New Zealand cheese of different types, and of the economic considerations of losses in the various . stages of jnannfecture. When it is remembered that practically the only data of this kind available are based upon American result's, the value of this investigation under purely New Zealand

factory conditions will be appreciatedIn editorial comment on the federation’s test, a New Plymouth paper stressed! the particular value of the investigation, on account of its being carried out under exact factory conditions, pointing out that 'the results of scientific inquiry Into industrial questions frequently last their value through being conducted under theoretical or laboratory conditions which could never be realised in actual practice.

Mr Veale further pointed out that, by obtaining special grading and quality reports upon the cheese when it reached England, the dairy industry would be gaining valuable information upon he kind of cheese most suited 'to the export 'trade. As far as he knew, an investigation of this nature, coupled with a definite knowledge of the analysis of the cheese and the kind of milk from which it was manufactured, had not been conducted previously. The bearing of such knowledge' upon the future of the industry is obvious.

Tt is quite likely that interesting questions, such as the soundness of the present method of payment for all milk for ebeesemaking by butterfat test may arise out of the investigation bint such was not the beginning and 'end of the test, as apparently suggested by Mr Griffiths, p'he main object is to determine which breed will best serve the New Zealand cheesemaking industry, and it seems not unreasonable to .expect the Jersey Breeders’ Association to show its confidence in their breed hy taking an official interest, but nevertheless the federation has safeguarded the interests of the Jersey breed by the inclusion of the herd of Mr .H. E Batten, a breeder of many (years’ staridling, whose cows have been reported upon by an independent Jersey authority as being entirely suitable as representatives of the breed in the investigation.