FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1919, Page 9

FARM AND DAIRY.

SETTLING THE BUTTER-FAT QUESTION. Sir,—Would you kindly publish the enclosed I report of the discussion to effect tire above, I this report being, In my opinion, one of the most important papers regarding dairying ever printed. The live' men ,of the Waikato are not going to allow any one breed of cows to walk away with "the unearned increment." I will keep your readers posted up from time to time as the matter proceeds, space for which I know, with jour great Interest in the Industry, you will grant,—l am, etc., W. B. WEIGHT. Eahotu. (Enclosure from WaUtato Times). There was an attendance of fully 60 farmers, brooders and others Interested in the dairying Industry at a public meeting held In the Farmers' Union rooms, Hamilton, for the purpose of hearing information and giving discussion to tho question of taking the necessary steps for the payment on the total solid contents nr milk instead of on the butter-fat only. Mr. A. W. Greeu was voted to the chair, and called upon Mr. J. Murray, general manager for Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co., to address the meeting. Mr. Murray said' that he was pleased to have the opportunity of saying a few words on such an Important subject, but he wished it to be perfectly understood at the outset that he was not advocating any particular basis of payment, but was there to give what Information ho could on the subject. He would, he said, be able to only touch on the fringe of H. The payment on a butter-fat basis would be held to bo perhaps not quite just to some breeders. Butter headed the dairy exports, but cheese had come into prominence of late years. In an ordinary analysis of tho dairy products of New Zealand, Mr. Murray Imparted valuable Information' In the following table, which 3liowed the solids not fat, and fat In various milk products:—

SN.F. Pot. Butter .. .„ .. 1.2 82.84 Condensed Milk .. 26.3 13.7 Skim milk .. .. 31.5 .3 Cheese 32.91 32.71 Whole milk powder .. 71.14 . 26.36 Skim milk powder .. 95.66 1.81

Mr. Murray, In elaborating upon the figures at some length, said that they Indicated that skim-milk powder was practically all solids. A composition of cow's milk of various breeds according to Velth, one of the best English authorities, showed:—

SN.F. Fat. Dairy Shorthorn .. 8.87 4.03 Pedigree Shorthorn .. 8.83 '403 Jersey .. .. „ 9.23 5.6S Kerjy .... .. 8.98 r.72 Red Polled „ .. 8.88 434 Sussei 9.31 4.87 Montgomery i. .. 9.02 3.59 Welih. .. ... .. 9.24 4.91 JFrlesian .. .. ■„ 8.61 3.51

In dealing with the popularity of the Frleslan breed In this country, Mr. Murray stated that It was generally recognised that their fat content return improved on the rich pasture of New Zealand. Dried milk operations were extensive In this district, and It was generally conceded that Its production would be greater as time went on. Thus the few following returns of milk to a skim drying factory wouia !>■ interesting. Based on payment on fat basis alone, reckoning butter at Is 8d on fat and powder, Is on fat, two cases could be quoted for general Information. The results were based on 1001b, of mlllf. .Tones delivers milk with 4 5 fat and 8 5 BN.F.; Brown delirors n.ilk with 3.5 fat and 9.0 S.N.F. .Tones receives 7s Od for butter-making and 4s 6d for powder, total 12s, equalling 2b 8d per lb. Brown receives 5s lfld for buttermaklng and 3s 6d for powder; total 9s 4d, equalling 2s Id per.lb. The difference in favour of Jonte is 2s Sd 1001b of milk. With payment on fat and solids not fat basis, the figures Mr. Murray quoted read: Butter, Is 8d per lb. fat; powder, 6d per lb. on powder. Jones receives 7s 6d for butter-making and 4s 3d for powder, making a total of lis 9d which equals 2s 7.33 d per lb fat. Brown receives 5s lOd for butter-making and 4s 6d for powder, making a total of 10s 4d and 2s 11 41d per lb fat. The difference in favor of Jones fs is sd, but Brown gained a Is on his previous payment The difference, Mr. Murray remarked, in favor of the higher testing milk was 2:! Bd, but It was reduced to Is 5d In the second case. Mr Murray then quoted figures showing the results from four breeds of cows paid for on different basis, butter at Is 8d and powder at 130s per cwt. They showed: Fat basis Pat & S.N.F. sd 8 d Jersey ... „ .. 15 0 14 0% Shorthorn .. „. 10 8% 11 \% .Montgomery .. .. 9 7 10 0 Frle3ian .. ..• ». 9 4 10 1% Tills showed that the Jersey lost lH4d though on the average she topped the list with total solids at Us per 1001b of milk. The Shorthorn was ..d more, Montgomery lid more, and Frleslan more. FIGURES TO BE FACED. These were figures that had to be faced, as they were authentic records. Skim dried milk, it was shown, contained 93.66 per cent, solids not fat, so how wera they gojng to pay the supplier on a fat basis on an article which contained only 1.84 per cent, of fat. If he were paid on a fat basis it would be unfair to the man who delivered milk high in solids, not fat. There was also the question as to the satisfactory carrying out of the testing, He had found that any man who could test accurately for ftrt could test accurately for solids not fat, The Babcock method had, he said, given universal satisfaction. To get at the solids not fnt they would have to get the density of the milk All tactoTy managers knew how to get the density of whole milk. It was known that pnaervatives in the sample had no effect on fat for „„*, i? k °?. k te i ( ' but tnc fl«»Uon was what would be the effect on solids not fat? That experiment was now being carried out In the laboratory at Palmerston North bv the anaiyslst, and It was hoped to have the information availablo shortly. Tho method must be ill . \ . "Wto quantity of the milk, get the test of the fat and uso Richmond rule to oetermlne the solids not fat. He was there simply to give that Information to them, not w J™.?,'.? any P artl ™lar method of payment; but he did not see why a man should not be paid an the particular solids he delivered in his milk. (Applause). SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

A questioner asked how was it suggested to S"£ ?, el . ch . ,Bdhw » l 'l supplier's ffilk when the butter-fat was taken out? taken of the whole milk as it came, U :o the £?, orj !' B J i h< " they would determine, a* At content and the solids not fat. Mr G, J. Smith, who recently came oul from i"™'' ; nd 1» *t Present superintending the «.,?'."V* a drled ml & fact( *y »t Waharoa, Jl",, IS te4 "> s P e »k. Ho saia that he hoped that they would not consider him an authority, as he was concerned only with the mechanical part of such factories. The payments "over iS n W S re J h 8 >ald ' on the total milk recolv- - . u. l d not cone lnto "10 pros and cons as to which was the better system of payment; that was something for them to thrash out among themselves. m°o W , a . bout lne maa who » dd 9 water to his asked m Pay ° n lbe total weleht ' waa Mr. Murray replied that Ne3tle's people at Warnambool (Victoria) paid on the whoiemilk lecelyed It was all "pooled" in a vat and a sample taken out of it The whole of the suppliers were paid on one test on the whole milk. Farmers here do not like that method; I oont wonder at it," added Mr. Murray. As far as watering was concerned, the farmer would only water once. There were no solids to be got out of water, unless it were mudl (Laughter). Mr. Lye asked if intensive feeding would affect the solids in milk? Mr. Murray said that he could not answer the question as proven by testing, but he should say it would. The Chairman said that he had printed information on under and over-feeding which he would make available to Mr. Lye. THE OPPORTUNE TIME. Mr. W. L. Ranstead moved a motion advocating the changing of the system of pnvment lor milk supplied to dried milk factories to make it on a total solids basis. The mover said that what they wished was to be paid on what they took to the factory. Tho present was tho golden opportunity to start away with tho new system when tho factories at Vtuharoa and Cambridge would be open. Thev should urge the directors to treat this Important matter as one of The speaker quoted figures which were accepted by a committee of the English Board of Agriculture, which was set up for the purpose of fixing the standard of milk for sale. These figures were the same as quoted by Velth, and were the result of over 6000 analyses, including 4100 Shorthorns and 440 Jerseys. "From these tables it could he seen that a man with a Shorthorn herd must supply 138 lb of milk to equal the butter-fat content of 1001b of Jersey milk. Thus 1381b of Shorthorn milk contained over 31b more soiics other than fat than the 1001b of Jersey milk. At the present time dried skim milk powder was worth about £l3O a ton, or Is 2d per lb gross. Taking 240 lh butter-fat as being the yearly production of a good cow and working on the knalysis shown above, It was found tho following amounts of solids other than fat were produced yearly: Jersey, butter-fat 2401b, other solids 3941b; Shorthorn, butter-fat 240 ib, other solids 5581b. This meant that If butter-fat only was paid on, the Shorthorn man lost 1371b of skim powder which, at Is 2d per lb, to £8 on each cow annually. Figure this on a herd of, say 50 cows, and It would be easily seen that a new system of payment should be adopted. The cost of the manufacture of dried skim powder w»» Svt ctntl (2V»d) In Aatwloa.

EXPERIENCE TEACHES. fvnm' "londi''e 1 ondi ''e "1" motion, quoted from Mr. d'flallaghnn, head of the Dairy Division or New South Wales, giving; the result of an experiment carried out at the PanAmerican Exposition at Buffalo. Five cows o each breed were tested over a period of six months. Dealing specifically with the Jerseys and Frisians tested the figures showed TrL far "">' IM| b of mUk tho former yielded J.jSlli fat and 9.021b solids not fnt. Tho Wlesian figures for 140.91b. milk were 458 and liM. There was a gain to the Friesian, according to the butter-fat supplied in solids not fat over the Jersey of 3.22, which was a very considerable difference. To tho speaker's mind they had arrived at the time when they should bo paid on a fair and equitable basis. At present they were not getting a fair deal. BUTTER-FAT AND SOLIDS. Mr. Mlssen, while holding that tho motion Should not go through in the form set out, said that the Jersey breeders wished also to be paid on a fair and equitable basis. 1.e., on an analysis of butter-fat and au analysis of solids. Mr. \V. E. Clark asked if the test for solids would be a costly one? Mr. Murray replied that investigations were being made on that point at the moment. A simple way of testing for solids not fat was by testing the density of the milk. The only way was by the Richmond xule, which should bo quite simple. Mr. Misseu thought that thero should be a further meeting before a motion was put through. Tho attendance was comparatively few set alongside the vast number who would benefit or otherwise by the scheme. Mr. Ranstead said that If the matter was alkwed to drop and no resolution passed and no committeo appointed, there was no saying when it would be heard of again. Ho was quite agreeable to altering his motion afcng the lines Mr. Mlssen suggested. Mr. Hammond said that tho resolution would not bo final, as It was for the supplier tnrraselves to deal with tho matter later on. UNANIMOUS VOTE. Finally,the resolution was amended and carried unanimously by the meeting as follows: "That the time is opportune for changing the system of payment for milk supplied to dried milk factories, and this meeting urges the directors of tho various companies to commence paying 011 a butter-fat analysis and also on an analysis of solids other flian fat."