THE BUTTERFAT TEST IN CHEESE-MAKING.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1918, Page 6

THE BUTTERFAT TEST IN CHEESE-MAKING.

To the Editor. Sir,—Although you have rightly closed down on the "battle of the breeds," it will not do to shut us off from getting a sound understanding respecting the fairness or otherwise of the butterfat i eat in cheese-making or in casein making. This is a question of the very greatest importance, and calls loudly for the very fullest discussion that it is possible to accord it. Ido not therefore attempt to make any apology for again seeking to direct the attention of your readers to this most important question. In my former letter, which appeared in your issue of 28th August, 1 contended that the butter-fat test in the above industries was an imposition, and I still so contend. What kind of a criterion is it of the true value of a product that sanctions the handing over of profits beyond his earnings to one supplier, and refuses to allow another supplier to get value for the wealth he has contributed? That is exactly what is taking place in every cheese factory in the country. And yet we have an Hon. Minister of Agriculture, a Dairy Commissioner, and a whole staff of socalled experts, who coolly stand aside and allow the directors of cheese factories, etc., to quietly hand over money to one supplier which he has no claim to, and under-pay another supplier who has an honest and unpaid claim! And this goes on year after year, and nobody must say a word, because, forsooth, some ill-informed person a long time ago positively affirmed that the butterfat test \va3 a true criterion of the value of milk for any purpose! Oh, my dear friends, what beautiful long ears we do have! But just let us suppose a case or two by way of illustration. Here, then is a man with a Jersey herd which gives 1,000 lbs of milk per day with a 6.5 test, and say that he supplies the factory for six months of the year Out of every hundred pounds of his milk three per cent of the butterfat is left in the whey, leaving three and a half per cent to bo" incorporated in the cheese. At the en sof the season the company pays out 2s per lb for butter-fat supplied. Our friend with his G. 5 test therefore gets 13s for every 100 lbj of milk supplied. But as 3 lbs of his fat was left in the whey and was afterwards made into whey butter and sold at Is 3d lb, any child in the third standard ought to know that our friend has been over paid to the amount of 2s 3d on every 100 lbs of milk supplied, and as he supplied ten times that amount every day, he is getting credited with £1 2s 6d every morning, which is not his at all, but belongs to the other suppliers. Now, as there are seven days in the week, and as seven times £1 2s Cd is equal to £7 17s 6d, and as there are 26 weeks in six months, we find our friend with the 6.5 test gets £204 15s free gratis for nothing! Then again, here is a man with a Shorthorn

or Holstein herd who sends 2,000 lbs of milk with a 3.5 test. The whole of his fat is incorporated with the cheese, and so the company loses nothing through whey butter on his account, but his low test of 3.5 is compensated for by nature in the shape of other solids apart from fat. These on an average will amount to about one pound of cheese per 100 lbs of milk, and as lie supplies 2,000 lbs of milk per day it follows that he delivers 20 lbs of cheese at lOd per lb every day of the week, and docs not even get thanks for it. Here then is the man, who in reality is the backbone and ribs of the cheese industry, robbed every morning to the tune of 16s 8d in order to enable the directors of a cheese company to pay £204 15s to another supplier who has not earned one copper of it! —I am, etc., • J. O. TAYLOR. Lepperton, Ist October, 1918.