FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 210, 4 March 1912, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

BUTTER OR CHEESE?

Company to consider the making cheese Mr. Marx referred to the difference ,„ the returns from butter aid cheese on present prices. He explained that cheese at 72s per cwt. gave a .fcturn of oyer Is 4 %d per lb for butterfat including whey and starter-butter and butter at 133s returned over Is Wj the difference on a million pounds of but' ter-fat amounting to £12,500. Regarding the comparative value of bye-nro-onnS: "froximaHy 5000 cows y'ielding .20QIbs of butter-fat each, would return £2 lfls, a total of £12,500 on skim milk On whey allowing for extra new milk required for calves and the purchase if pollard or other pig feed, in addition to , that required for skim-milk, £1 per cow * would be a high estimate, leaving a dif- ' ference of £7500 on bye-product? in favor of butter-making-thus, there would J\o a Jr, 0U pi ' osent market Fices of , 1 I™ ttklng a mm ™um deduction ot £2OOO per annum from butter-fat to erect buddings and instal plant, there would be a net balance of £3OOO in favor ' o.t cheese, approximating three-farthines per pound on butter-fat, plus interest . to shareholders on paid-up cheese factorv capital. Taking the past three years tor purposes of comparison on the basis already given, there would be shown:Season 100940, butter beat cheese by £7500; 1910-11,' butter beat cheese bf £6500; 1911-12 (subject to variation & prices to end of present season) cheese beats butter by £3OOO. Regarding the respective feeding qualities of whey and ; skim-milk, ,the chairman slowed that.the I v?« 8 T r was e( l ual > b «tter-iat was . sightly better in skim-milk as against skim whey, and approximately there were 301bs of solid curd per lOOlbs of new milk, giving some 720,0001bs in all, with an almost entire absence of curd' in whey. The deductions to be drawn from the figures given were that a cheese factory .would require to pay at least twopence per lb more to justify a butter factory going in for a dual plant. The approximate average difference between ' butter and cheese butter-fat returns fdr the present and the pa3t two season* was one penny per head, but taking the present season prices butter would''he beaten by at least one penny per lb. The exports to the United Kingdom during ' I9M showed a much greater falling-oflfin cheese than in butter, thus indicating i continued lead in'prices for cheese and' . the exceptionally high prices would re, ■ suit in increasing quantities of butter substitutes being used, thus checking the consumption of butter.—Argus. -THE BACON. INDUSTRY.

PROGRESS IN DENMARK.. The special correspondent in Denmark'' of the Sydney Morning Herald; in tht eourse of an article on the bacon inf, flustry in that country, says:— The rapid increase of bacon in-i dustry >in Denmark is one of the nioit noticeable features of the co-operativ* movement. Within the last 15 year* Denmark's exports to England have risen; from one million to five million poundrf - sterling, while the total number of foworf factories, consisting of over 37 co-opera* tive concerns, have increased in number * to over 60. The co-operative bacon factories are/of course, the direct outcom* of the co-operative dairying movement. But while they tfwe their origin to the dairying industry they are quite a. distinct branch of rural enterprise., i.Th* societies have organised a federation with Hs headquarters at Copenhagen, which is often quoted as,one of the most, ■ efficient intelligence bureaux in the world? To this federation are due' the following, figures, which show the magnitude of ,th« industry as the result of organisation;. In the year 1888 there was only one facP ' tory, and the number of pigs killed amounted to slightly over 20,000. Their* cash value was £57,000, or an average price per pig of £2 9s. Five years later 14 1 factories had sprung into existence, and the number of pigs killed increased to 297,000, or an average price per pig of £3 'ss. From that time onward?, although there has been a fluctuation-in the value of bacon, there has been a. steadv. increase in the nijmber of factories and in the number of pigs slaughtered. In 1002 there were 27 tive factories accounting for about 800,-' 000 pigs, whose total value was £2,500™ 000. Out of the £5,000,000 which repreiv scnted Denmark's bacon exports last year to Great Britain, about £4,000,008*' were distributed among shareholders of co-operative factories. The remaining: one-fifth belonged to private factories. RAPID PROGRESS. 7 "' The first factory was organised, as I - have said before, in 1887, and Its rapid and successful growth is due to 'the same factors /which made the organisa- r ■ tion of the dairying industry possible.'' These were (1) the widespread practical 1 education of the farmer; (2) the thoroughly systematic manner in which a national scheme for the improvement of the quality of the pigs has been un*f dertaken and maintained; (3) the rapid-, ity with which the' farmers of the country adapted their system of farming to the requirements of the bacon factories so as to secure uniformity of supply and uniformity of size and quality; 1 (4) "the public spirit exhibited in all cases by the • banking institutions of the country in financing the people's factories, and the co-operation in many instances of the municipal bodies in corporate towns, tmi of associations of merchants and traders, in many towns and villages, with the efforts of the local farmers' societies, to provide the capital necessary to erect and equip these factories; and (6) the assistance given by the Government in providing.experts and by assisting, th« prosecution of'enquiries in foreign dountries, and" by advancing subsidies to steamship owners to ensure more frequent transit to England.