STRATFORD DAY BY DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 44, 1 June 1910, Page 8

STRATFORD DAY BY DAY.

CASEIN v. FAT. AN IMPORTANT INVESTIGATION. AFFECTING PAYMENT FOR MILK. . (From Our lies id cut Correspondent.) ' Stratford, Last Nipfht. - It has always been a moot point among < milk suppliers at cheese factories as to • whether the payment for milk supplied i should be 011 the basis of butter fat < content or not. If there had been a : way of readily or easily determining the , easein it certainly would be logical to pay for milk for cheesemaking on a basis of fat and casein. Hitherto the oasem content of milk has been ascertained only by a long chemical process, or by calculation from some formula. It is a prevalent idea among dairy suppliers that the casein and fat in milk bear a constant ratio to each other, that is as the fat increases the casein aoes also in a constant ratio. This, however, although fairly true for milks of average fat content, that is from 3 to 4y 2 per cent., was not proved for milk containing 5 iper cent and upwards. It is) well known that no ohedar cheese can contain more than about 3.8 per c.ent. of fat, so that any surplus fat is regarded as lost in the whey. The man with the rich cow argued that as the casein increased with the fat he was entitled to a proportionately greater price for his product. Investigations have been made as to ihow far it is true that the fat and casein increase together, and ilr. F. J. Heatley, M.A., M.S.C., of the staff of the local District High School, has. been in communication with numerous experimental stations in the United States and Canada 1 on this matter. He has received letters from Professor E. B. Hart, chemist at the experimental station in connection, with the Wisconsin University (at which it is interesting to note Professor Babcock is assistant director), bearing on the casein investigations. In the 24th annual report made to the Wisconsin University Professor Hart states that there is no constant ratio of the casein to fat in cow's milk, further than one of the factors in controlling the rati#' is that of th? individuality of the cow. The relation of easein to fat varies amoug an.mals of different breeds, a«d also among animals of the same breed,! and lastly determination of the casein contents' as well as the fat contents is necessary in determining the value of: the milk of any single cow for cheese production. As a result of his investi- j gations the Professor devised a method j of testing casein which, according to Bulletin 150, is' simple and operative by the unskilled, and can be used with aecuraev by anyone when due care is exercised.' The test has been demonstrated! v.ighly (inasmuch as the necessary test bottles, etc., are not yet procurable in! the Dominion), and proved that the casein contents of mii'k could be ascer-| tained in about five minutes by anyone i who has been once shown the method. The process consists briellv of pouring a given quantity of milk into a mixture of chloroform and acetic acid in a pro-, per test bottle. The acid coagulats the albumen of the casein, and the whole! lot is then shaken for few seconds! to enable the chloroform to dissolve out! the fat which is mixed with the curd.j The bottle is then put into centrifug.il nwc-hine and whirled for about 7'A minute.-. This separates the easein as a, little pellet, which rests above the fat! and chloroform solution, and below the] rest of the liquid which contains the! sugar, etc. The neck cf the bottle is graduated so that the easein percentage' can be read off. It seems probable that 1 this experiment will very materially affect the present system of paying out for milk for cheese. At, the las', night elan's of the dairying instruction given at the Stratford Technical School this experiment was made, and it says a great deal for the good work being oone by that institution and the keenness of the teachers' that to Stratford should be the honor, as far as I can ascertain, of being the first school in the Dominion to bring such an important matter under the notice of students andi dairy farmers. It is suggested that a 1 fair way of paying out would be to [ ascertain the fat a.nd easein percent-1 ages by testing, add the two results and! divide by two. To illustrate this, three] cows from the Wisconsin farm are takenl as examples. Jewelettn (Jersey) gave| 2.92 per cent casein and (1.02 per cent.| of fat, giving a paying average of 4.471 (nearer the cheese fat content); Muriel j (Guernsey) yielded 2.03 per cent, casein' and 6.04 per cent of fat, average 4.03 ;| Marie (Holstein), 2.15 casein and 3.03: fat, average 2.59. In this way a cow! with good casein per cent, and fair fat) wjntqnt would not be penalised, jor would a cow with a poor casein content but high fat receive as much advantage over a good cheese cow as she does now. However it is decided to pay out, the fact remains that a rapid way for estiI mating casein is now available. It may be interesting to notice that at the experiments at the Wisconsin farm the . Hoi stein, Brown Swiss and Ayrshire were found the best breeds l for cheese, i inasmuch as tliev had a higher percent- ' age of casein to fat than did the Jerseys or Guernseys. Certain individual ani- ■ mals among the Jerseys and Guernseys • show av high a relation of casein to tat as certain other individual animals of other breeds. The case against A. P. Wood and S. Appleby of stealing thirty sheep, the ' property of F. Bayly, was concluded today, the accused being committed for 1 trial. A man named N. Marshall was brought before the Court this morning on a charge of obtaining goods and money' 'by false pretences at Mokau, and was remanded to New Plymouth. | j A special train with the engineers of the Bail way and Public Works Departments went out this morning as rar as ( Te Wera. . The alterations to the Foresters' Hall j are now practically completed, and the , result is a great advantage to those [ who wish to use the hall for dances. , The Foresters- held a very successful \ dance last night. The Stratford seniors are visiting Eltliam on Thursday. °