BUTTER MAKING AND MARKETING.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1922, Page 7

BUTTER MAKING AND MARKETING.

REVIEW OF CONDITIONS. IN AMERICA AND EUROPE. During his latest tour of Europe and America, from which he arrived home in Palmerston North this week, Mr. F. J. Nathan made a close study of the various branches of trade, but particularly of the dairy produce markets, with which his firm is so intimately and largely connected. Mr. Nathan is not a guide-book tourist; he went into the fields and by-ways for the first-hand information he sought, and his summing up of the conditions as he found them has an originality and keenness that makes it of particular value to the dairyman at this juncture. DANISH METHODS. In conversation with a Manawatu Times representative Mr. Nathan declared that from Denmark, in which country he remained for some three months, our people had still a great deal to learn. This country could never hope to compete in the English or American markets until it could guarantee a continual supply to those markets. The first essential towards this object was the institution of all-the-year-round milking. A comparison of tne returns of every factory supplier nf the day of the highest and the day of his lowest production for the year show a decline of fully 100 per cent., and so for three or four months of the ysar there is little or no butter to export. While in Denmark he visited twelve factories, and the difference between the highest and lowest points of production waa never more than 15 per cent. The animals were stall fed throughout the long and cold Winter, and were milked throughout the year. The most common type of cattle seen in the country was the Danish red, which was probably bred up from the English milking Shorthorn. No other breed was met wiHi in the central part of the country. In the north were several Jersey herds of a very fine staanp, and in <the south Holstein cattle were well represented. There was no doubt that every animal was well bred. A bull was sold by a stud farm during his stay for 2000 guineas, and a lot of six-months-old bulls brought £5OO each. The cattle, like the sheep, goats, geese and every other domestic animal or bird, are always tethered, and the pasture is changed after each milking, which takes place three times daily. Their methods for the manufacture of butter are much the same as ours, or to be more precise, the methods which we copied originally are still in vogue. All the vats that Mr. Nathan saw, however, were of aluminium. In the whole process of manufacture the greatest economy and thrift are practised. In the fields after reaping, the grain is raked and re-raked, after which the few remaining ears on the ground are gleaned by hand. So with the milk. After £he can has been emptied in the whey vat. it is put upside down on a tray and allowed to drip. These last drops are gathered, filtered and used with the rest of the milk. The skim milk belongs to the company, which, ‘‘starters” it and sells it back* to its suppliers for hog feed. Every supplier is on a very small scale, so that this carefulness is not to be wondered at. For example, in one

day. one comparatively large factory put tkrougn 1000 gallons of milk, and this quantity was made up by no fewer than 212 suppliers. Denmark, with an area about equal to that of Wellington province, has 1600 dairy factories, while in New’ Zealand we have fewer than 600. The same careful and painstaking methods are used throughout the manufacturing process, and the butter is placed the same week on the London market—-a tremendous advantage in competing with butter from countries further overseas. ‘Fresh shipments arrive in Mew York every fifteen days. AMERICAN TRADE PROSPECTS. Apropos of this, a New York operator admitted to Mr. Nathan that our Dominion’s butter was very good and marketable, if not quite equal to Danish best, but any prospects of establishing trade with his country were spoiled by the fact that we could not under our present working conditions, guarantee regular lortnightly delivery. The demand in the U.S.A, was for very high-grade butter of superfine brands with a grading of at least 94. Another barrier to the marketing of our butter in America was that the Health Department regulations' prohibited the importation of butter containing preservatives of any kind or quantity. These two difficulties would have to be overcome before we could gain a footing on the American markets. A rather remarkable point observed by Mr. Nathan was that the western districts preferred their butter heavily salted, while the Eastencrs demanded fresh butter. CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND. Turning to the state of things in England, with particular reference to .butter, the informant said that the only adequate description of affairs up to November last was “appalling.” The British Government, during his sojourn in England, had 24,000 tons of Australian, New Zealand and other butter on hand, which was of very inferior quality and would undouh*-’.Uy affect our market when released lor consumption (which, it is understood, has since been done). There were, in November last, 1,750,000 unemployed, with every prospect of the number reaching the tuo million mark. This large army of workless was living on doles, and the wealthier classes were being taxed very heavily, and they were also practising economy perforce. There had been a slight revival in some trades, but in others the position was still black. The local proauction of butter and cheese Had inereased in England and Ireland of months and late consignments oi New Zealand butter had realised Wrices. Whether the condition of thin s would continue to improve it was rather earlv to sav, but it is Mr. Nathan’s belief that the firming tendency will be maintained.