CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 621, 13 May 1876, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

The ordinary monthly /meeting of "the numbers of this Club was held »t the National Hotel on Tuesday last, the Oth instant The President, the Hon. E. Maclean, occupied the chatu. The following were the members piesent : — Messrs Ctark, Hunt, Pearson, James Knnciman, John Itunciman, Buttle, Parker, and \V. L. Martyn. The minutes ef the Iwo previous meetings wore read and confirmed, and the meeting proceeded to ballot lor new members. <_)nly>one name was proposed, that of Mr R. Parr, who was unanimously elected. The new member hero took his place. A motion was brought Forward by Mr Fisher, on behalf of Mr Hicks, in accordance with a notice of motion standing in tho name of the latter, who was abscmt. T.ie resolution is relative to tho annual inspection of members' farms. [As the resolution and the appended .remarks are somewhat long they will be 'jptiuted in a future issuo.J Mr James Runciman <tlicra read the following essay 'On " Übeeee-making" : — Mk PaEiiDßirr and Gjntlbxrx— >l have nude a feeble 'tJflbrt to col foci a few fucts, both from my own practical knowlpdue and from such rohabJo information a»tt coald'cillcct, periiuninL' to the making aud n.niiHfucturinjj of cl]«egi», wh oh I look upo 1 ) at a vory suriously neglected industry iv tbi* district, considering thtt it is esrintmlly a pintvrrul more tlmu a gmm growing district.

DAIK? MANAGHBItEXT CN ITtJ>fOr(JLAR BUNSE, Mure particularly direcfed to the making and manufacturing df <Cheete. Dairy farming has in erory ngo and every country constituted a nocciscry and interesting department of industry. Iho pastured lifo has always b<wn regarded as •ono of tranquil enjoyment, and poet*, both accent aud modern, incred and profane, have iuug it* pr.ii»es and extolled it« pleasures in the most glowing term* The sacrod vmtor oould use no stronger language >to ediorco bit meaning than the figurative emblem of milk and honey. An 1 we have from tho hand eff numerous writers thoir description of a country flowing with railk and honoy, "figurative of rt§ being agood pastural •couutry. But to convert the natural and artificial herbage into a specie* of food adapted *to the wants of human life is and has bson a prominent ■consideration from the earliest time to the .present time. Now the most useful df all *nim»ls'to mankind K3 the cow. There are a great many different breeds of the cow ipeciei known to tti in the .prosont day, and many men hold rery utrong and rery different opinion! as 'to which, ie the best, or in other wordi, which it the most profitable to conTert grass into human food — (when I nay grass I mean our general pastures) — but •uffice it to nay for our present purpose, that -the Alderney and tho Aynhire stand very prominent Hi producers of milk. but ny desire this evening is not to speak of the beit breed of cow* for 'producing milk, but to advocate the better use of the cattle such u we hare (of coune keeping in view »n improvement, in the breed moh ai is within our means). Tho production of ■ cheese, to my mind, is one which has been vtry seriously overlooked in this district, whether from a wont of knowledge of its inainlfacturo, or a want ofconronientni and appliances— probably both. I have no hesitation 'in giving it as my opinion that the Waikato country at prosont in'tho htndi of Europeans is wcond'to nowhero<in the production of oheost of a first-rate quality, and there are sufficient' cattle 'in the district to make scorei of tons of cheese. (There are large quantities used, and lmtoh that in used, I am sorry to eajy comes into the district from our sistor proTince». I have actuolly seen Canterbury 'dhaese sold over a grocer's counter in Canibridge, and I have seen a Canterbury ham set on u table at a pubho dinuer here ; aurely something is wrong. I am Tory sorry to admit that wo cannot competo with our Southern fellow-colouists in tho production of graiu, 'from some causo not yet explained either in tho climnto or tho soil — in my opinion 'both, butil say and Bay emphatically that we can produce cheese both in qnautity and quality quite thoir equal if not suporior. It is said that our cattle lire not equal to theirs in breed, but it does not follow that they are not nr. go^dtnilkerß. It. is very icldom that tho best trod ciktlt} are the <bost milkers, althougli it as

quite within ou» power to combine both qualities to a Urge degree. I have hud it repeatedly dunned into my ear "it will not pay." I will endeavour before I finish to sqow that it will pay, and pay wolL Surely on the face of it, if our fellow-settlers in the Southern Provinces can produce cheese and ship it to Auckland send it 100 miles inland, the very article our district is faraoui for, it ought to pay handsomely to vi ou the spot 1 It will not only pay for local consumption but it will pny to toad to Auckland, and I am fully periu*ded that we not only oan but will drive other provincial cheese and bacon out of the Auckland market, and beat tkein both in quantity a»d quality. And I am also sure that our herdi of oattle will much improve and be largely more profitable to the farmer as soon as a proper system «f dnirying u established. In the first place there will be many more calves reared than there are at present, as it is the general opinion, and justly so, that it will not pay to keap a cow a whole year to rear one calf upon our «ncloied pastures which hard -cost suck an aniouut to clear, plough, iow and fence ; but from my own experience and knowledge the farmer who dairies 20 cowt and rears 20 calves, and o«n keep them well till they co mo to their profit, will have more clear profit than the farmer who buys 60 head of store cattle and fattens that number each jwr. I am not only prepared to «how that a -cow will rear ker calf, and rear it well, hut will alio make £3 worth of clwese and £1 worth of bacon, consequently one of the most profitable parts of | pasbural farming is almost entirely overlooked. i Many farmer* of my acquaintance in this and ■urrounding districts could and would milk 15 to 20 coirs without auy extra expense in the man* agement of their farms, were it not lor the want of conveniences, and the amount of drodgory it entails on the female portion of their families. There are also instances where cheese-making has been tried ia the home dairy, and .had to 1)0 discontinued because it would not pay fcrom -a varioty of roasons. It may bo th»t from a want of proper appliances an article is produced not very marketable through its want of uniformity in quality caused by unavoidable circumstances, such as & difficulty in procuring rennet or colour■ing; or tho rennet may be weaker one day, or the wife or daughter who usually make the ohetse may through indisposition be unable to attend to her usual duties forieveral days, and the aishtant who (takes her place for the time may perchance singe tLo milk or may break the coagulated milk a little too aoon, and consequently a lot of the best ef the cheese goes oJP in the wh«y, und then comet * poorer cheese. Many morn causes mi^ht be mentioned to make* want of equality ia tho private cheese dairy. Ail these causes are greatly obviated in the factory, for there are proper appliances, and everything is brought up to a certain standard, and tho cheese consequently produced of exactly the same .character. The merchant or retailor may fleud for bit 6 cwt or half ton of cheese, and knows that he will get exactly the one quality, not tho least fear of one cheese being inferior to another, which he cannot depend upon from the mnall dairy, Aleo there are many, vrho have no knowledge of cheese-making, who would milk a certain uuuibor of cows if they >could deliver the milk at a given time and place at so much per gallon, and have nothing more to do with it. There would, I believe, be ample scope for mch enterprise if & cheese .factory were situated in the centre of a distriot such as this, *ay midway bttw«eu Cambridge and Mr John Martyu's, a distance of some ,7 miles, where the most of the farms .range from 50 to 500 aores. When a factory has been ttlkod of, tho questions have been asked, will it pay — will it work ? I answer both questions in ■the afflrmfltive. A factory will not only pay the farmer bettor for tiie production of the milk, but will produce a more uniform quality of cheese than any private dairy of from 15 to 20 cows u capable of doing, I don't care how well the latter be managed. Althoagh I am fully persuaded of the profitableness of the homo dairy, I am just a* .fully certain of the factory system being more profitable to the farmers. Be would milk his cows morning and evening and deliver to raaqy gallons of milk at a given time and .place each morning and have nothing further to do vwith.it. He could then attend to nis ether farm duties. The price I eotimate the 'factory con give would be 6i per gallon. A building and necessary f ttings and machinery, (it present prices), for the manufacture of 500 .cows milk .into oueeie., would not exceed £350— that would molude a hone and spring cart. Now to commence with the milk of 200 cows, which 10 farms of 20 cows c *eh .would give, and to take the very small average of one gallon a day, per cow, for six months — that i* allowing three months to rear the xjalf— ,((or I am no believer >in skim milk or whey calves) and three months for the cow to run dry — six mouths at one gallon per day would be IS2 gallons ; and as .it is an authenticated fact tbat one gallon of milk will produce lib to .lib Boa, ofclieese when Gt for the market,; .that would be 1821b* of cheeee froiu .each cow, and to take the average price at 6d per lb would be £4 11* from each cow for ux months. 200 cows sustained through the whole year would produce 73,0001ba of cheese at Gd would be £1,823 The expense* for the management of the factory would be d Manager, £150 ; 2 assistants at £75, J815O ; say 60 uorea of land, rent, £50 j interest on building, £30 ; d<pr«ciat ion on do. and repairs, £10 ; nxtra food and shoeing for horse, £35 { total, £d 2 5: leaving a balance of £1400 to to be divided between 200 cowi, amounting to £8 10 a net from each after rearing her calf. Then 1 there remains "the whey to be converted into bacon, which would give £1 per cow, £200, so that ceoh cow would show a clear profit of £4 and her calf £2. which .makes a. total of £6 from each cow, per annum. Or again, were the proprietor of the factory to purchase tho milk at Cd per gallon, taking the same quantities, ''t would leave him a clear profit of £304 3s 2d, besides tho whey — and the farmer m that case would recoive £8 15s lOd for eaoh cow for «ix months, and the calf— all these calculation! are based upon a cow only producing one gallon of 'tail lt per day, which i« .in exceedingly -email yield, as -it .is only a middling cow that does not give that much at one milking. ' Now .considering that I have advocated the making of cheese by the .factory system, lit may not be out of plnce to say o little nbout the making of cheese in the home dairy for the beneiflt of the uniaatiated. The sooner the milk can be strained and tho rennet and colouring put in it after "it comes in from the. cow, the bettor, viz, to take as far as posiiblo the advantage of ■the natural heat. >lf tho evening's milk is to be added} the cream which rises through the night 'ought to be skimmed off, and warmed to near boiling he*t with a little of the now milk, and then be put in to 'the tub amongst'the milk, the whole being brought to 85 to 00 deg. Then add the rennet -and take care 'that it <ii properly mixed. It da almost -impossible so give any idea what quant ty ofrennet to put.in per gallon,. for .that entirely dtpends npon the-strength. It as bettor to make enough rennet at once io last a fortnight, than to beaddingto.it daily as some do, and it-is also better to cvi up the >rennet prdtty small when put into steep, whioh should be done in£l9 days beforo using. As toon as the milk is (Coagulated, which should take half .an hour, a .long knife, such as will /reach ttke bottom of tho tub, should bo used to out the coagulated milk from side to -tide of the tub; about one 'inoh opart, then across, leaving it about one inch square. (Then leave it for,«bout ilO minuted, and having washed the 'hands clean, pass one hand quietly 'to the bottom of the <fcub, and as it were, bring the bottom of the ourd to the top very gently. Next sproad a cheese olothovorthe top and put a slight weight on, und let it stay for about ten minutes, -and then commence to ladle the whey oil' as it comes to the top which jproccss will itake about an hour. As soon tie the curd is sufficiently 'together to put in the dreeper, ,put it in and add a .little weight, and cut it every five minutes until all tho whey ia dreeped out, which will take quite two hours ; then put it into the curd milk and grind it, passing it through two or three times till it is as small as wheat. Next add the salt, about bib to 201 bof curd. Theu pack it into tho vat as tight as it can be kueaded, and put ifc mto the

press with a very light weight at first, and then turn it and giro it a changed cloth. In about two hours after that change the cloth about four timei a day, and the cheese will bo suttlciently pressed in 21 hoars if the curd has been properly attended to. After it is taken from the press it is then put upon a Bholf to win, and U turned twice • day for a week, and once a day after for the first month ; then twice a week while it remains in tlie churn room, which place it has a right to re, main for three months before it is fit for tha market, although much of it finds its way to the grocer's counter long before it is three monthi old, which is no credit to the maker, and a rery great injustice to the cheesa. In nine eases out of ten this is the reason that the southern chsej* is considered of a better quality than cheese made hews — simply because it ha« b«en kept until it is properly rape the other haying been sold when mere curd. Nothing looks worse than to see a cheese all little cracks lying an a grocer's counter, and I am of opinion that it would b* quite within the province of this club to offer t> reward to each dairy which produces half a ton. and upwards, of Id per lh, lea/ing the .quality for the consideration of the producer. la conclusion, I will quote the following from a recent issue of the Waikato Times:—-" At regards the working of these ■establwhnienti and their remits, after nineteen years experience ifl associated dairying, during which time the «ystem has been put to the sereiest tests, the American dairyman finds it more economical as regards labour, building*, ■dairy machinery, and appliance! 4 while the factory product on an average will sell for enough snore than that made in the indiriduul farm dairy to pay tha entire cost of making. Another important result of the system has been a constant imj>r«remfint in the dairy management, and the better knowledge to all that pertains io milk and its products than would naturally obtain under the old system. It has .established a special profession or calling, upon which men enter with a viow of making it a sole bueine^s. They, therefore, -seek to perfoct themselves in it, and as skill and sucoeßs are sure to be properly rewarded in thi« department of labour, q reat emulation .exist* among manufacturers to excel in their tat. During tbo first ten years of the factory system ct received much opposition, especially from thoue who had only a superficial knowledge of its operations. So strong was this opposition among the old dairymen that it was pretty generally believed that the system xould not leng endure* and it was confidently predicted that the factories would be abandoned, and those engaged in them would return to the eld plan of indrriduai or farm dairying. 'But the factories, meanwhile, were steadily gaining ground, And dairymen entering upon th« new .system found in it.«» much relief, as well as profit, that they could nvt be induced to abandon it.; and -so to-day associated dairying in America has <somo .to ho recorded as ■& fixed inetition," Mr John iFisher agnoed with ithe .essayist that there were many objections against a private dairy i in the present «tate of the labour market he did not think it would pay. At ene time -he .had milked 30 cowa, and on sending the cheese to Auckland the first time the price he gofcfor it, after deducting expenses, was Sd .per pound. He thought a factory in .t level district, <with good iroade,, would sneceed. He could not agree with Mr lUmciman that it was a. disgrace to -Be© new ohee.se on a"" grocer's counter.;" some people would not eat old cheese, and many liked what was called a piece of •" curd * He (Mr ltuncimau,) would find it to 'his advantage >if he made cheese to Hell it newThere ir.is a great rkk in sending cheese down 'the river, and he related an instance of some cheese getting overboard near Rangiriri, and floating do win the river on itH own account. He hoped ffchat the others would give the result of their experience. Mr Y. L. Marfcyn asked if lit was usual to send for the milk from the .factory, or whether it was taken tli9re. Mr James Hunciruau said ihe ibod purpoeehyieft that out, as lit vas a matter that'Coald be arranged between thofpartioe. His own idea was that the producer should take it a certain distance net&o exceed tw» miles. The President theugUt tte estimate given by Mr Kunciman -very law. In one paitt of Victoria a 'person made £'ISOQ a year from &0 cows. In America, where the manufacture of .cheese had much improved, practical men, with a knowledge of chemistry, v/eru employed to manage the factory., and, in consequence, ithediaese was of uniform quality. Cheese-mnking must not be left -to inexperienced persons. It was weil-kno-wn that the "thermometer used by our wives and daughters was seldom of the same dharacter. He had made cheese for many years, f»nd on one occasion he, an --coajuuetion with others had •chartered a vessel to Australia, and his cheese — <about five tens — fetched the highest prioe in tho Melbourne market. He said that cheejso was 'four times as profitable as birfter. He also (thought thai Mr Jtuncinian's estimate 'for -tho -building wa3 low. Mr James Hunairaan said he had gone carefully o-ver the matter., and he thought the estimate a very fair one. At the present time there waswa.sie ofanifkinthedistrict. The hot weather 'had a great deal to do with 'thi6. > Tho Presidont said that he could .not' agree with Mr Huncimau in saying 1 that the Waikato -cheese was-cqnall to the' Canterbury cheese. Clover was not so good as old pasture.; he thought the Southern cheese was BrnierMr Hunciman said that cl&ver was not so good »for butter as old pustnre, but for cheese it was equally well stated. Ehe President eaid 'there was another point to be considered if they went dnto dheese maTcing. The 'land 'became 'exhausted in time -of the necessary iproperties. 'In 'Cheshire where the.chief.production was cheese, the land become sso im- | poierished, .thafcit was thought advisable to appoint a commission to enquire into theimafctev. tin their report ithey «dvoicafced 'the nppHcfttion of bones to the land, which brought back all its fertility. It woe •found that certain land was suited lev dairy purposes and that other «oil waa adapted tfor -stock -raisincr, ibut too aaaodh of «one 'thing always produced Ihe Bamo result, (the .impoverishment -of .the dand. Certainly steers did not 'exhaußt the land as soon as cows. At the present. flay "the Cheddar system was lnrgely in vogue, and it had been adopted >in variouß iparts <<t£ America and 'elsovrhere. Mr James Hunciman asked if lime woulfl answer the same purpose as bones ? The President thought it would, and 'life was glad to cay that stone lime could now be procured in Auckland. Mr John ißunciman mid he had seen large quantities of cheese, and it did inert strike him that the Waikato cheese <waa more liable to crack than any other. Mr A L Martyn said .ho had not made «tiy ehesse .for Me uteusoue] .stated theuq,

viz that it -was a "killing business' to make it at Lome. He would support a factory for a y«ar at tiny rate to give it a trial, even if-he lost by it. It did not pay to keep a cow a year for the sake of one eal£ and he generally liad to keep 40 .cows tto get SO calves. He would be glad to see ;» factory started. This wis all the 'discussion. Mr Clank moved a vote of ikonlcs to Mr Runciman for iiis interesting -essay. 'This was seconded .by Mr Parker and carried. Ma: Clark called tlte -aiteartaoia of the meeting to the fact that this And the preArions meetings had been ]ield after the full moon contraiy to the rules. After a rather protracted discussion in which several members took pait, it was absolved ±hat the rules be adhered to. Some -discussion was also raised on a OTOfion of Mr Clarks proposing to abolish the rale making it incumbent upon metnT>B!re to deliver an essay in their tarn. It ■was thought that it would have the effect .of getting snore members, however the matter dropped without -any conclusion having been come to. > The following notices -of motion were Made- — Mr Clark gave notice that fit th« next meeting he would propose the folio wiag for members : Messrs *S T -Soddon, H Reyaolda, Williams, <Mata Mata) And Air James Eancimam g»v« notice t&at -at the next meeting he would move that a ♦committee -he appointed to carry oat the resolution, affecting the ** Branding Act" «tjLnding on the books. The President said be had received a letter from Mr Greyling of Taranalri to yytfiat he intended to give & series of lectures on fanning at the various settleanente dm the Prorince. He was a very -cleverroaain, andhe<(tUe President) wished to know if the Club would assist the lootur<ei' in so far as to attend his meethigThe members present said they would Ibe glad ito do -so, and tba President said ihe would .aoquaiat Mr GreyJing <of the fact. Tliis -was all ihe baeiness, find after tho rasual vote -of thanks the meeting separated. '<