DAIRY PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1921, Page 10

DAIRY PRODUCE.

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER AND CHEESE. ON THE HOME MARKETS. METHOD OF PACKING CHEESE CRITICISED. While in England recently, Mr. D. Buchanan, of Tiakitahuna, made special inquiries as to the standing of New Zealand dairy produce on the Home markets. Speaking of butter, in an interview with a Dominion representative, Mr. Buchanan said that he was pleased to find that the majority of the people at Home were of opinion that our product was quite as good as Danish, and many were proud to point to the fact they had on their tables butter from New Zealand. When he was in England our butter was bringing 2s 4d per lb, while Scottish was in demand at 3s 6d. New Zealand cheese, however, was not as well spoken of as it deserved to be. Complaints were made of bad methods of manufacture and packing. Many consignments were packed before they were sufficiently ripe, with the result that owing to bad pressing leaving a ridge round the top, portions of the cheese moulded and dropped off. Very often as much as 101 b per cheese was lost, and the ribs of the crates left such impressions as to cause a good deal of mould and waste. There was no doubt that this could be remedied by a little more care being taken here in the preparation of the cheese -for market. When he was at Home our cheese was selling at Is 8d per lb retail, while Stiltons were selling up to 3s (Id per lb. Mr. Buchanan saw no reason why New Zealand should not enter the market for fancy cheese, which was commanding such high prices. The fall in the price of meat was causing less cheese to be eaten, and from what he could gather the prospects for our butter were better than for cheese. It was only in the hotels and restaurants that he saw margarine, which could be purchased for 8d per lb. ENGLISH AND SCOTCH SHOWS.

Mr. Bunchanan visited quite a number of shows, the majority of which were little country gatherings at which no permanent grounds were provided, and they were naturally carried out in the most primitive style. The entries were small, while the parades were not a circumstance to those at any of the New Zealand shows. The Royal Show, held at Derby, was quite an exception. There he saw the finest collection of cattle he had ever seen, including several breeds almost unknown here. He considered that in the matter of Shorthorns, Herefords, Holsteins, Jerseys, and Polled Angus we had all that we required, and had nothing to be ashamed of as to quality. The pigs were a wonderful exhibit, both there and at the Highland Society’s show at Sterling. At the latter the Clydesdale horses were a particularly fine entry, and the horses seen in the streets of Glasgow were undoubtedly the finest of the heavier class in the world.

At the Royal Show Mr. Buchanan was much struck by the enterprise of South Africa, which had a huge pavilion where specimens of all the products of that country were displayed. Outside were a couple of men who looked like prosperous farmers, and who were touting for emigrants. The pavilion was crowded during the whole of the show, and quite a large number of young men with money were induced to go out to that country. South Africa was the only country which took advantage of this form of advertising, and Mr. Buchanan thinks that the New Zealand Government might do worse than turn its attention to advertising in the same manner. AYRSHIRE STUDS VISITED. Mr. Buchanan visited most of the big studs of cattle in Ayrshire, including that of Mr. Thomas M’Grath, the celebrated breeder at Challock, Newton Stewart, Wightonshire, where he saw the famous Aryshire bull which had cost £IO,OCX). Mr. Buchanan secured a couple of bulls from there, one being twelve months and the other six months old. The latter he Jias re-sold to go to Australia. They are of the “new” Ayrshire tjpe, which are now all the fashion, and the cows of which are putting up all the records in that part of the country for butter-fat. The mother of the bull, which he is keeping, took second prize at the Highland Society’s show for cow in milk, with three of her progeny, and would have been first had she not lost five points for calving a fortnight late under the conditions. COW TESTING. Mr. Buchanan was very much interested in the manner in which testing is done in Scotland. There, instead of testing an odd cow in any herd for 365 days, the whole of the herds have to be tested for 273 days, a real commercial test, which is of considerable value. The testing is carried out by county testing associations, and is done by women, their work being supervised by an official cheek tester. This had gone far to improve the herds for milk production. Mr. Buchanan deprecated the system in vogue here of a 365-day test, for which only one or two of the best cows m a herd are selected, as being of little use. He considered that the one in vogue in Scotland was much better in every way.