FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 295, 8 December 1908, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

PASTEURISED MILK.

The Mangatoki Dairy Co. is making a bid to be regarded as leading -the dairy industry within the Dominion. This company now place an absolutely pure butter on the market through a process of pasteurisation, the vvliole of the cream being put through that operation before being made into butter. For some time past experiments have been made with a view to placing a butter on the market equal to the best Danish, and this pasteurised butter seems to be approaching perfection. That i 3 the opinion of commercial men connected with the industry. Mr. Cooper, the manager, says this pasteurising process will eventually be adopted throughout the Dominion, if only for the fact that because of it uniformity of quality would be obtained . The" whole of the butter exported would be of high grade and the quality regular throughout. As will be readily understood, a little more skill is required in the manufacture of this high-class butter.

The pasteurising plant was installed last year, but owing to the high co-it of manufacture, and the butter not being known sufficiently to command tho higher price it deserved, the former me-

thod of manufacture had to be resorted to. This season the whole of the on;put is pasteurised butter, as an improved and cheaper way of handling lie' plant has been discovered. Mr. Cooper was assisted in the experiments by members of the Dairy Division. Another progressive move is thill Mr. Cooper submits every churning of butter at this factory to a gravametric.il analysis. This enables him to tell exactly what the difl'creiit ingredients of "the butter are. It shows how mucb butter-fat is being used to one pound of butter, and how much salt and moisture. A factory manager thus knows exactly what he is doing, whereas it was previously a matter of conjecture, —Star. '

Tlie report of the Hairy Commissioner, .Mr. D. Cuddie, on his official visit to British markets and Denmark and Canada, as well as a separate leaflet containing the annual report of his I Division, is now being issued. Co-operative cow-testing—tlie most important work than can be undertaken in a dairying district—looks like spreading in New South Wales, the only place Bouth of the line where it has been initiated, ad a second association is there under way.

The Hurfeyville correspondent of the }awcra Star includes the following laragraph in his letter:—One thing .bout tue milking maclracs, they are at times, anyhow) like "a friend in ieed and a fricad indeed.'' Recently wo young milkers (because one of hem was not allowed to go to the aces when he asked to get away) in evenge gave a week's notice to their mploycr, who milks 70 cows. Although he thing looked serious enough at this ime of the year, when most milkers are ngaged, yet owing to the macliines the j armer, assisted by his wife—who does lot usually milk—milked the whole 70 ows for three days in succession without any help, and reached the factory rith his milk by 9 o'clock. Surely this 5 "a feather in the cap'' of the machtcs, not to mention the ''decoration" allied bv the plucky farmer and his •ife.

Professor liabcoek, of milk-tester fame, has been making some interesting' experiments regarding the cll'ect upon dairy cows of giving and withholding salt. He found that if salt were abso-

lulelly withheld the effect was seen witl sonic cows in from two to three "week* and while some went "giving the show away." they sooner o later developed a state ot low vitality ending in a complete breakdown. Tin olivet win ino>t obvious at calving lime or immediately afterwards. In general the cows giving the largest amount o milk were the first to show signs o distress, while there wa- less tronlil when the animals wei • on grass thai in the cowshed. In an ordinary dail; ration there should he ahout :!ooz o salt, and even this, thougn .allieient fo dry stock per head., is hardly enongl for a cow in milk. The milk drain away a lot of salt out of tire system and, therefore, an additional ounce pel head should he added. Some time age the Kronen Government carried out ex periments to test the amount of sail required by the different kinds of farm ' stock. It was then found that a milk Icow required a total of _2oz daily which corresponds with liahcocks' figures, allowing for differences 'I in tiie size of tli:- different breeds. I,i ' tin., paddock tli" best way fo administer ' salt is to let the animals have ready ao- * cess to a lick, hut indoors "the salt must I be given with the food.