THE JERSEY COW—AS A POCKET TICKER.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1918, Page 6

THE JERSEY COW—AS A POCKET TICKER.

To tin; Editor: Sir.—Kingly allow me, although delayed 'bv pressure of )>ul>lic business, to accord a vote of thanks to (liosa able Jersey barrackers, the president of the Brooders' Society, and Mr I'reetli for giving me an opportunity of proving to your level-headed readers (not being Jersey owners) beyond a question of dou'bt that the '"dear little Jersey" is, in eheescmaking, in relation to the other breeds, the robber cow. while in dried or sugar of milk she will lose ±lls a year for h«r owner, who, however, before these two industries are much advanced, will have to send her to keep company with, the Ayrshires in the "Xever Never." Apparently the ability of the=e gentlemen consist in completely evading and, dodging my official iigures, viz., that a cow giving IOOUOIbs milk test produces 7W) lbs dried milk, against -190 lbs dried milk from the 7000 lb 5.0 cow, resulting in a win of 210 lbs, which at 100s per ewt equate £ls pet annum for the low tester. The president's letter, by the way, after cutting out the ''Mr Wright" is almost identical, sven to the out-of-date gag about Tariki tests, with a letter dated from Stratford that appeared in the Dominion during the Wellington town milk supply rumpus, causing people to ask what Tariki tests had to do with Wellington milk supply, unless it was a free "ad." When your correspondents lrave digested the ligures I am now submitting, tiiey wilt know "what manner of man I am" in that I have forgotten more about the Jersey than they ever learned, for I have found her out and on paper. They havn't.

Mr Frceth deserves an encore in the thanks line for making the most daninins;- admissions a Jersey man can maUo, viz., that there is no whey butter in 3.5 milk, and that it is from the Jersey milk the wliey .butter comes that helps the factory'bills. Great, Caeser! Is not this the very point the Uolslcin pusii are trying to impress on go slow factory directors, tot without avail? I say right here—and no writer in the wide world «m contradict mc—Mat the richer tlie milk in chceseroaking the greater the loss; that no manager can make a profitable cheese with milk over 4.3, and that the whey butter, which is mostly made from Jersev milk is sold for, say, Is sd, while the silly factories pay out Is 9d to 1« lid for it,"a loss from 4d to Gd per lb, which is taken out of the pockets of the Ayrshire, Holstein and Shorthorn owners. A plain Jersey man said to me: "It's poking up easy money sending in Jersey milk, but its blooming rough on you fellows to have to make up the difference between whey butter and cheese. The day has come when milk lnuslt be standardised, but that would be too much like efficiency for the average New Zealander. Either that, or Jersey milk must be treated separately and paid for separately. The trouble'is that many Directors "(I am one myself) can"t get out of the rut- Thev are too cautious, like the Scotchman, who, when he was pouring you out whiskey and you said "stop," ho stopped on the spot. Xow we aw going to let figures talk, figures from factory accounts, duly audited and passed at annual meetings; therefore reliable, and these show how the factories getting the solids stand out froin those getting the fats, like the sheep from the goats. I take representative factories, the first three having practically a Jersey supply:

Test lbs clioese from lib B.T. Bell Block .. 4.15 2.53 Rongomai ... 4.1 2.5 Tari'ki 4.00 2.5 Merrivalo ... .1.59 2.04 Otauto 3.G 2.7 Jail's 3.7 2.61 Cape Egmont 3.7 2,G The loss through Jersey milk is so enormous that I propose deferring giving the figures in detail for another occasion, as there must be some regard for your valuable space, but when it is shown, that as compared with Otauto, Bell Block should have turned out .01 or three-fifths of a lb more cheese to each lib of butter-fat than it did, then it is time we heard no more about the cows that pick our pockets. Next, we come to quality, and an official of a Jersey milk supplied factory, when asked last autumn how they were getting on witli cheese, replied: 'Badly, our average teat is about 5.0, and we are only making muck." While the case of the invalid in W&nganui (which I personally vouch for, names and dates supplied if required) who was put on an exclusive milk diet, the milk coming from a farmer milking over 100 Holsteins, patient rapidly improving, suffers relapse, Dr. cannot find cause, improvement continues, then another mysterious relapse. Dr. determines to detect cause, goes to milk supplier, finds that milk boy had run short on those two occasions and had gone to some people owning pedigree Jerseys, and the too rich milk from these cows had produced distressing symptoms. In conclusion, please permit me to say I am only acting in defence of my pocket, like the Oaonui shorthorn milk supplier: "I am wearied, carrying these Jerseys on my back," and if any correspondent (imitating the boy who stood on the burning deck) wishes to reply I would suggest, Sir, that he gives figures 10 upset my figures, and explain why a Holstein with a 3.5 test can beat, say, a Jersey 5.0 tost by £ls a year on dried milk basis, and that he omits (he "Mr. Wrights," of which no less than fourteen appeared in the two letters above referred, as this continued repetition must give your linotypists, like myself, a tired feeling, to say nothing of the weakness of the craze that has to he bolstered up with these personal appeals. —I am, etc,, W. R. WRIGHT. Rahotu, July 30.