THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1917, Page 7

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

STORAGE 01 CHEESE. In ij» manual report. Mr. D. Cuddie, flirector of the dairy division, makes some observations of interest to those engaged in the industry. lie says:— Owing to the shortage of cargo-space for cheese on the steamers loading fov the CWjed Kingdom large quantities of this produce has accumulated at the various shipping ports. The stores have been greatly Congested almost from the beginning of the season, and have not yet reached normal conditions. Never before in the liistory of the New Zealand cheese Industry has the need for the cool storage of all clieeEe teen so strongly emphasised as during the past summer months.

It is safe to say that anything from £25,000 to £30,000 has been lost to the dairy farmers of the Dominion through the excessive shrinkage of cheese alone, to say nothing of a loss in quality caused by overheating. These losses 'have occurred mainly in the clieeso produced in the provinces of Taranaki and Wellington. Large quantities of the cheeso been damaged owing to being held j.ln buildings the temperature of •which !.coruld not be properly controlled. The dairy companies making cheese in the Auckland province, however, have been in the .fortunate position of being able to tool-store tlfe whole of their ci.ccse, the Auckland farmers 1 Freezing Company having provided suitable accommodation for the entire season's output. Therefore all cheese shipped from Auckland has been sent away in good order, and excessive losses in shrinkage have foten avoided.

A portion of the cheese coming forward for grading at- New Plymouth has been partially cool-stored, but neither the temperature of the various chambers bor the circulation of air has been properly regulated. Consequently the cheese stored at this point has been more or less detrimentally affected. These (irregularities have been brought under the notice of the storage company concerned, and it is hoped that by the opening of next season better provision will have been made for the storing of cheese. In addition to the cheese held at the freeiingworks many thousands of crates had to be tt'ored in other buildings in order to relieve the pressure for room at the factories. The cheese in these stores Buffered badly during the warmest weather, and caused much anxiety to those responsible for its supervision. At I'atea algo the cheese-stores were greatly overtaxed, and the receiving of theese had to ba discontinued on several occasions during the season. Although the West Coast Refrigerating Company had provided some extra accommodation it was found insufficient to deal with all the cheese offering. Here again ihe of the different chambers could not be controlled us desired, but everything possible was done to make the best of the facilities available. Alterations to the building «nd additions to the plant have now brought these works up to date, and in future case 3 will be held under approved conditions and at the desired temperatures. Owing to the shortage of space at Paten somf cheese had to be graded at a central building at llawera. This to some extent helped to relieve the pressure. The harmful treatment which much of the cheese receives prior to leaving New Zealand has been brought under tho notice of the producers frcm time to time, but they do not appeal to take as much interest in this phase of t'heiv business as its importance demands The position is one calling for immediate attention, for there is no guarantee that the accumulation of cheese at the main ports will be any less next year. If cargo space is shorter than it lias been large quantities of cheese may deteriorate to such an extent during the summer months as to become a total loss and unfit for shipment. Hence the urgent necessity for extending the cool-storage accommodation for cheese a' the porta mentioned above.

PASTEURISATION OF .MILK FOR CHEESEMAKING A further extension of the system of pasteurisation r.s applied to milk for cheeaemaking has taken place during the year. In all, seveaty-six factories are now fitted with regenerative pasteurisers and the necessary coolers for treating the milk. In the Auckland province no less than twenty-seven cheese factorios out of a total number of fifty-Four are fitted with these machines, twenty-six of which have been installed within the last twelve months.

This principle of cliessemaking has In many instances effected a remarkable improvement in the quality or the product, fheese made by this process being much better in flavor, and also in body and texture, compared with the cheeso made at the same factories from raw milk during former seasons. The cheese is not only superior in flavor when made, but its keeping quality has also greatly Improved. This process bids fair to become very popular, and already many additional pasteurising plants havs bean ordered. SUPPLY OF RENNET. "When the season opened it was learcd, on account of a threatened shortage of rennet, that the production of cheese might bo seriously interfered with. Fortnnatclv this did not happen. It was ascertained later on that the majority of the dairy companies had taken the precauioa to obtain stocks of rennet in advwice of their requirements. iSubsfiquor.tiy shipments of later orders, about the arrival of which .there wp,s some doubt, came to hand, much to the nlief of those companies which Lad r.o surplus supply. Further relief was afforded when it became known that a substitute In the form of pepsin could be used, Early in the season the question of utilising pepsin was considered, and information having been received from the Dairy and Ccol Storage Commissioner of Canada as to the success which attended trials of pepsin in. thai country, t Division was able to take the mattw up without delay. A series of trials were then made at the Kapango dairy factory,which proved conclusively that .pepsir. of the right quality was suitable for supplementing the supply of rennet, oi- for replacing the latter if found necessary. Pepsin in quantities being available about this time, many of the dairy companies decided to procure a sufficient amount of it for early use. The ir.«tnictur3 ir. eheesemakhii/ have since visited many of the factories in order to | introduce the use cf pepsin, ar.d. tulcen ; altogether the result has been quite satisfactory. The newly formed New Zealand CoJ.ierative Rennet Company was fairly w-ossful in collecting calves' veils duriDar the early months of the season, <*nd t> twenty-five thousand of tliem were f ,:ed to England to be made into ■ t for return to New Zealand. The irs' of rennet fr"in I'' s « source have ft - rreived in the Dominion. It is .

be hoped that further and larger supyilies of veils will be collected during the beginning of next season, for it would bo unwise to allow this \.;luable material to be wasted, notv, itiisiar.ding the fart (that pepsin i« ilr t present much cheaper than rennet. CASEIN. It has been estimated that prior to the war about 10,(M)0 tons of casein were used annually in Europe, the bulk of this supply being produced in France, Scandinavia, and Argentina. The production having fallen off after the outbreak uf war,, and that from Argentina finding a nuu'kvt in the United States, It was to be expected that more inquiries would be received in New Zealand to make up this shortage. That expectation ha 3 been realised, and the price has risen in sympathy with the increased demand.

So far this industry jias been conGned to the North Island, 'where nine raw casein factories and one drying-sta-tion have been in operation during the year. Other factories have been running for a portion of that time. Altogether 3932 bag 3 of casein, weighing C:iO tons, have been exported during the year, and, in addition, somo fourteen boxes of food casein The export of this product for the preceding year amounted to 118 to« 3. At the present time only one drying factory (where the greer; curd is treated and prepared for the market) i< available, which means that those factories situated a considerable distance away f.re ',iut to some inconvenience in forwarding tin 1 raw material to the dryingstation. The qusstion of provid'ng mere facilities for drying the casein has been under consideration, and it is expected that, some provision will bo made for this extension in the near future.

The officer of the Division (Mr. Peder«cn) who has a special knowledge of the preparation of casein ha 3 devoted a good deal of his time to assisting those who have commenced this work without any previous experience, and the help tJnis given lias resulted ill the production of a more uniforiu article. Some experiments in connection with the saving of casein from buttermilk have also been undertaken, nnd this work will be taken tip again later on. The whole of the tasein exported has been officially graded find the packages marked to denote the quality of the contents. If the present market values of casein be maintained an extension of the business can be looked for during the coming season. INSPECTION OF DAIRIES AND DAIRY UTENSILS. While tiie inspection of dairies krom which the supplies of milk or cream are delivered to factories is under the control of the Dairy Division, it has only been possible to undertake this 'work to «. very limited extent. The reasons for this limitation have jcen already so fully explained in previous reports that there is no need to again refer to them here. It is sufficient to add that as far as time would permit the instructors liave visited those farms which were sending inferior milk or cream to be made into cheese or butter Altogether 788 farms were visited on this account luring the season, when the cause or causes of deterioration in the raw material were, as ,i rule, Iccated. The main source of the trouble in this connection was unclean milking-machines; in fret, quue a number of these installation.) -were found to be in a filthy, not to say disgusting, condition. In extreme rases the owners wcro ealled upon to cleanse the various parts immediately, or, as fin alternative, to discontinue their use forthwith: but it is to ie regretted that in some cases a later inspection disclosed an equally unsatisfactory state of affairs. As the number ot mechanical milkers ftas increased enormously owing to the scarcity of hand milkers since the war began, it will be seen that the risk of contaminating s, large quantity jf milk has also been increased. This u confirmed by the instructors reports from every dairying district in the Dominion. Furthermore, the past year's experience has proved the absolute necessity oi some drastic remedy to prevent the use of milking-machines which are allowed to become foul and insanitary through the neglect of ignorance of the owners. Unless some such step is taken In the near future the dairy industry of Sow Zealand will undoubtedly be placed dt a serious disadvantage in competition with that of other countries on the open markets where our produce is sold-

_,ABO'R DIFFICULTIES IN .iEGAED TO DAIRYING. Owing .o the continuation of the war formers have experienced great difiioulty In obtaining any extra help required during the busier part of tho year. Offers pf higher wages in many instances were of little avail, and much of the farmwork has had to be postponed for the time being, the owners having to confine their efforts to attending to tha dairy herds. Moreover, the position has become so acute that a number of the farmers have already decided to milk fewer cowa next year. >ln a less degree the same trouble jias arisen in connection with the engagement of dairy factory employees, more especially in the case of skilled men. Quite a number of first and second as sistantß, as well as a number of factory managers, have joined the Expeditionary Forces, and it has been extremely difficult to fill these vacancies ; in fact, dairy companies havo been to engage many hands who have not had tho nccea6ar'y experience iq this cl&sa « work.