CHEESE VERSUS BUTTER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 226, 1 September 1914, Page 1

CHEESE VERSUS BUTTER.

Which Pays The Best? b'peaking upon the old problem of cheese versus bulter, Mr Wesley Spragg addressed the annual meeting of numbers of the New Z. aland Dairy Association as fellows:— "The question cf cheese versus butter-making has bee.i threshed out thoroughly by ycur geneivl manager at your creannry meetings. The popular opinion is that for some little time past chees: has paid rather better than butter has done. Farmers and other 3 who have talked in favour of cheese appear by their talk to think very little cf the value of the ikim-milk by-proJuct in butter-making, while others value it highly and appear tc give good reasons therefore. On the other hand, the value of fortified whey is .

a factor which is not to te left cut

tf sight. Mr Pacey has, at creamery meetings, demonstrated to you

that, everything considered, the difference between butter and cheese

for the previous year has been a negligible quantity. Possibly given similarly favourable conditions of manufacture for both, it was in favour of but'.er. For a cycle of, say, five years this was certaicly so. The main reason for the belief that cheese is going to pay better than butter i 3 thai Canada's supply has fallen off or has been diverted away from the English market. A whole book might be written on this subject, but jou will be satisfied with a btief recital cf ths latest figures of the general imports into Great Britain for the year ending June 18th, 1914. Up to that date the imports in hundredweights of cheese into the United Kingdom for the preceding lour years were:— 1311 , 1912 1913 1914

783,443 734,272 816,395 897,337

"For the sake of comparison 1 repeat the figures showirg the imports of butter for the same pericds 1911 1912 1913 1914

2,233,328 1,910,132 1,938,606 2,054,270 "lhese statistics are supplied by R. and W. Davidson, of (ilasgow, in the market report dated June 21st,

1914. You will s-:e that the imports of che;sc have increased by

14£ per cent and the imports of butter have decreased by 8 per cent. Without troubling to analyse the countries of origin the easy conclusion is that for these years cheese has been an increasing quantity a: d butter a diminishing one. In my judgment ttie prcspects tor the future, even in the near future, are that the cheess supply will con-

tinue to increa : e and the butter to diminish with the result that prices for butter will improve by comparison with cheese. The general belief, however it has arisen, that tlnre is going to be more money in cheese than in butter, will continue to operate as it has already operated in causing butter-making to be neglected and mere cheese to be manufactured. Soulh of the Auckland province this change has practically taken place. Even the Waikato ha 9 been invaded, and money is to be spent upon dual plants with the object of preparing to manufacture cheese or butter as may appear best. Last eiasoD New Zealand exports of ch°ese exceeded in value her butter exports.

"I have before now pointed out the difficulties of making a correct forecast for a season. If you could know with certainty at the tCKinnrg of a season which was going to be the better cf two maiketo, you could take advantage of the better one, but no one should know better than the dairy farmer that the British market is dependent u(.od the world's climatic conditions, with the additional complication of what the manufacturers the woild over may decide upon doing during a certain season; these and other important factors upset forecasts badly. Leaving accidents of weather and other irregular influences out of consideration joj may generally

expect th' t if chccsc was a payw

pnpjsitioii list y r.r, there will be a deposition to makj caecee fcnei neglect butter. No man is yet Kite enough to know with certainty beforehand v.hat the v.cither ar.d

the world's manufacturers jire going tj do, but a good, rough rule to adopt is to go count-.r to the accepted popular intention. If the people are generally attracted to cheese-making, then make Lutter to meet the shortage which will certainly follow a general diversion from butter to cheese and vi:e versa.

"I bear in mind that New Zealand is not eingular in turning its attention to chees 5 . You must 1 remember that Cenada is by ro ireans out of the market yet. Then | Australia is beginning to manufac- | ture and its pionuct was comj menced last year, while Siberia is I coming upon the cheete market in , a surpri ing manner. I u:derstar.d i (hat a score or mere of Sibsrisn I batter distiicis hsve this year j switched on io c'netse and, in the whole, given gcod cheese-makers, that country is bitter suited for making cheese than for nuking butter. You will not forget the definite swing which has taken | lacc ' in New Zealand towards abandoning j butter-making for cheese production. My conclusions are that cheese is going to be made in plenty during the n.xl two, three or fcur years. "Another point for consideration is that the chcese-consumi'g population of the world is small by comparison with the butter eateis. Ihe cheese eaters a:e estimated to uumbcr 45,000,01.0 ct people, while the estimated number of consumers of butter is over 250,000,000. If a company were newly starting in business and had no factory, *no system, no connection or goodwill and wanted my judgment, as to whether it shculd prepare to make bu ter or cheese, not merely for today but for a ejele of years, 1 should be inclined to advise it to toss up,.., a penny and if it came down heads then make butter, if tails then cheese. What I m:an is that it could not make much of a mistake whichever way it decided. The case would be quite altered if it had a factory already built arcl equipped and a businus aire: dy established.

"In this statement I have di - cussed the matter at art from the influences of the present war in Europe, but wd have to do. I with things as tfiey staid at the present moment, and there c:'ti hardly Le a doubt that the dislocation ot the production an I transportation of butl.r in Siberia and in Luropr, and of the manufacture of imitation tutter on the Continent, will give £ premier position to butter this year.

i >rE6TK>N OF QUALITY. "Our siiar. Ii; Iders vvil! remember thi-t notwithstanding tie opinion of the management, tlie cemipar-y will at any time respond to a request ' by electing a chee.-c faetoiy in any ! i.istrict where it is cksi:cd; of 1 cours-', subject to suitable fi iancial 1 and other m ans being a-rsngcri. "1 hj question of (|ul ity either in cheese or butter is the other important point that I have to raise. Theie h a fairly general opi.'ion in London that New Zealand h not maintaining her old standards. I:i this 1 am afraid I cjLcur, and in these Cays when science is p:rftcling the manufacture of imitation butter nrel • rgar.ire ! capital is putting these cheap ar.d attractive butter sulstitjtes in every body's way, we have to give attention to quality. This subject has b en discussed so freely of late tnat I need not detain ycu longer in referrirg to it. Machine-milking and he me srparaeion are b! imeJ for the reduced quality. J have nothing tj aid to what I said a year, ago on the subject of home sepa'alion, and I do rot want to repeat myself more than is necessary. The summary is that whatever may Le said in Its favour, and much can be said, it is blamed the world over for reducing quality. An Australian Commisskn which recently visited New Zealand has placed its eor.demnati m ot home separation influences cn record. Kight down the western coast cf America I met with laments ujon the injurious results of th? gathered cream system in their local dairying. In Washington ar.d Oregon, for instance, States which have many qualifications for dairiyrg, the opinion was that gathered cream had worked almost irremediable mischief, while traders who were receiving New Zealand butter p.e i ted that the New Zealand quality would either force reform or wipe the local dairying business cut of existence. 1 have told you this frankly but without c.\aggeration. Everybody row knows that the eviU of both milking machines and horns separators are connected almost exclusively with irregularity, carelessness and want of cleanliness. Each cf your factory managers report thai collected cream is dtlivercd to them in pert'.cl condition, but much uf it is rot. The faults are in maiy cas-.s due to a mistaken idea which has been u vvi-ely fostered that up-to-datj factory work can renovate damaged cruirn. Even novices in dairying sh'.uld by this time know that this is rot tru?. Our po-ition ij that where practicable we prefer a milk supply but we are furehasers of dean, 3tur.il home separated cream in any quantities. We probably already hive t.e largest supply cf cream i f this kind of any firm in New Zealand, we have the most up-to-clate appl.ances and skill for dealing with it. We pay the highest price for it and, by way of completely correcting a mis-state-men's which 1 am torry to learn is still being made in the Waikato, I may aiJd we arc glad to get it.