FARM AND DAIRY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 90, 7 December 1931, Page 2

FARM AND DAIRY

M . . .. I NGTES FOR THE PRQDUCER. III BRITAIN EATS MORE BUTTER. !l:i Lower prices for butter appear to have had the effect of increasing its I consuinption in the industrial districts ... of Great Britain to judge by the lat[||i est report of the Economic Section of llll the Empire Marketing Board. In .'■I November, 1926, the Board had cari||l ried out a survey of , the retail ■ de- »'! mand for butter in Stoke- on-Trent, iljj Burton-on-Trent, Stafford, .and LoughIII borough, and two years later, in view X of the sharp fall in the price of the Peommodity that had occurred in the interval, the survey was" repeated. jjn It was ,found that retail prices: in I! the shops fell by about six pence .a X pound. t Over the same period the II total weekly saies of butter rose JJjj from 423cwt to 473cwt., an increase ■*' of 12 per cent.; the proportion of the I Empire to total saies rose from 28 X per cent. to 36 per cent. Saies in ||S each of the 152 shops visited rose by III 331b a week. £ There was a considerable drop in I the saies of Siberian butter, largely X because comparatively little Russian llll butter was imported in 1930. The llll number of shops stockjng Irish Free "*'• State butter ihcreased, althcfttgh the consumption fell. The most' striking : change occurred in the case of New Zealand butter, which was found in _ nearly twice as many shops in 1930 r as in 1928. Danish butter still held the lead, with 37 per cent. of the total in 1928, and 36 per cent. .in ,] 1930. New Zealand's percentage rose from 11' to 23. Quality of our Cheese, Much has been heard of late concerning the quality of New Zealand cheese', . and an effort has been made to prove that the Canadian article is superior to our product. This contention is to a large extent based upon one fact, that Canadian cheese has reached a higher price on the London market. The assumption, which we j are asked to take, that the Canadians manufacture a better cheese, is totally incorrect, however. The only reason that the Canadian product fetches a higher price is that it is matured for six or eight months. Were New Zealand cheese treated similarly it would unquestionably command a similar price, but our authorities evidently consider that the cost of ma1 turing it would not be warranted. for | the extra value realised. In this connection, special interest ■ i attaches to the statement made the ^ ' month before last by Dr. Ruddick, the Dairy Commissioner of Canada, in a communication he sent to the Bellville branch of the Department of Agriculture in Canada. Dr. Ruddick's yf statement is as follows: — • £ "During my recent visit to the dairy | produce markets in the United Kingi dom, I was very strongly impressed 1 with the growing unpopularity of late | fall-made cheese from Canada. The 3 complaint is that they 'are pasty, im?i mature and poor flavour. | "If this matter is not attended to | . it will soon be impossible to sell cold = I weather cheese in the United King- [ i dom. Time was when anything could | be sold. That day is past. The at- § ' titude of the trade is why handle | imerior Canadian cheese when good 2 New Zealand is always available. The | demand for high-grade Canadian is I | as good as ever it was and it brings 1 j a premium, but unproperly cured 1 | cheese is not wanted at any price." \ I The passage in Dr. Ruddick's stateij ( ment: " when good New Zea- \ j land cheese is always available" is ? i deserving of special emphasis as i showing that the Canadians — our bigj | gest competitors — think more highly : [ of our cheese than many of our own \ p-eorle do. [ Criticism of our ovm product with- : in our own country is a striking case ! of "crying stinking fish." ■ . •

London Dairy Show. I A recent visitor to Great Britain has been criticising the "spasmodic advertising of New Zealand in Great Britain, and flnds fault with New Zea- ' landers in rot exWbiting their dairy I produce at the London Dairy Show. It is a case of a critic discussing a sub- , ject'he knov^s nothi'ig about. To ex- ' hibit our butter and cheese at the big dairy show of London is inviting | defeat and a bad advertisement instead of a good one. The show is held at the worst? time of the year to enable New Zealand to exhibit the best quality produce, in fact, it would meari competing with the previous season's produce or produce made in the very beginning of the season. On the other h'and, the show suits rival countries. Unless we can compete with our very best quality produce ifc is best to leave the competition to others. Dominion Bull's Progeny. A happening unique in the dairying world of New Zealand is that a Dominion-owned Jersey sire Was represented by winning progeny at the great American Jersey Club Regional Show, held recently at Ohio. The sire in question is the well knowri Island l>red bull, Sybil's Volunteer, imported by the Taranaki breeder, Mr. J. S. | Jones. Prior to exportation from JerI sey Island, Sybil's Volunteer, when

only a yearling was given a few consorts and the resulfcant progeny purchased for America have flashed ,his name around both hemispheres as one of the great sires of the world-wide jersey kingdom. His three-year-old daughter, Brampton Standard Sybil, winner last year at the American National, scored an easy win in her class, defeating the elect of several of America's greatest breeding establishments. The Jersey Bulletin (U.S.A.) commenting upon her, described her udder as "almost perfect." La'ter in the day a daughter of Brampton Standard Sybil, and thus a grand-daughter of the New Zealand owhed sire, ' scored an easy victory in a great class of forty heifer calves and was ul|;imately selected as junior female ch'ampio'n. oAnother daughter of Sybil's Volunteer (imp.) 'in Daisy's Princess, was second in a wonderful classs of four-year-olds,. defeated only by the Island cow, Bullseye Sybil, probably the outstanding cow in America today, who was purchased by her present owher recently for £980.* "Good enough to win in almost any com-

__ ; - J pany" is what the Bulletin says of Daisy's Princess. | It is evident- that Mr. Jones has been fortunate in getting hold of what must be one of the world's greatest breeding bulls before his true worth became known. No wonder he has received a cable from America asking him to'put a price on Sybil's Volunteer. |