SWISS DAIRY FACTORIES. PROFITABLE CO-OPERATION. [Press Paris Correspondent. )

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2254, 18 December 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

SWISS DAIRY FACTORIES. PROFITABLE CO-OPERATION. [Press Paris Correspondent. )

Exi'fcKIKNOK h*s proved that Iho most profitable u*e to which milk can in geuoral be apphod is to convert it into cheese. In mountainous countries the aver.igo pric^ of milk, when consumer! by the farmer's household or givon to young sto"k, is about one sou, or five centimes, per quart ; converted into cheese, that quantity of milk would represent double the price, or two sous ; often 11 to 13 centime^, per quart. A faitner having but one or two cows cannot make the profitable Swiss cheese called Gruyere, which necessitates for each operation at least fifty or fifty-fivo gallon 1 * of fresh milk. This explains why in Switzerland co-operative ch^e-o-f arming 1 is a necessity. There are but 3000 farmers having eich 20 cows and above, and 30,000 who have but one. Naturally, the latter send their cow as a contingent to the summer herd, duly receiving a pro rata dividend out of the ultimate cheevse sales ; that ia to say, the one cow farmer obtains II or 13 centimes, instead of five, per quart of milk by the association principle. The cheese factory rents a sufficient extent of mountain pasture to feed the number of stock composing the summer herd. Each owner of a milch cow is credited with a mean average yield of milk from the animal. In November, when the cheese manufactured during the summer on the mountains has been sold to the Society and all expenses deducted, the profits are proportionately divided. Ir is rarely that the peasant receives a share less than the minimum price 11 centimes per quart — for his cow's milk, or double what he would secure if working on his account. The Association manufactures three kinds of cheese — rich, demi-rich and pooi as also butter, skimmed milk, and sugar. The first quality of cheese is prepared from tho whole milk ; the second from a whole morning's milk, plus the partly skimmed milk of the eve ; and third is made from creamed milk alone. The ro moved cream is converted into butter. Morning and evening the cows themselves come in to be milked and afterwards disperse to ft-ed. The mountain dairy is veiy simple, but fitted up to treat economically 300 quarts of milk daily for cheese or butter, and to preserve this till sent to the October market. The chee a e is transported cither on a siiyrht sledge or on the backs of men. The mean average weight of cheese, in shape and extent recalling the head of a big drum, varies from b"6 to 881b. Till lately the shanly-dairi-js had piggeries in their vicinity, i o thit the pigs could consume the whey. This arrangement lias ceased to pxict nnoe the whey is being boiled down for sugar. Each quart of whey contains about oue-sixth of .in ounce of sugar of milk. In tho unrefined state this sugar sells for half a franc per lb. A special factory refines it, and the chemise purchase ail ttfat can be supplied. The Swiss r-ice of cattle are eminently adapted for their native mountain pastures ; they are remarkable for their docility and, one is tempted 'ilrnost to add, intelligence. These mild qualities are the outcome of the natural kindness with which they are treated by their caiet.ikers, and the scrupulous cleanliness to which they are subject. If the Ar:ib loves his mare, the Swis3 is not behind in affection for his cow. Switzerland turns out annually 8000 tons of cheese, which represents a value of some £1,400,000. In order to put an end to intermediaries between the farmer and the consumer, a society was formed in Mulhouse, a largo raanufacturidg town iv Alsace, for the sale of fnsh milk. The result has been a remarkable success all round. The society receives about 11,000 quarts of tnilk daily, and sells on an average 8500 quarts. The milk unsold is converted into butter or cheese ; two pounds of butter are obtained from 25 quarts of milk, formerly one-third more milk was required to produce this quantity, and the economical difference is attributed solely iv causing the cream to rise by a very low temperature. The greater the cold — relatively — to which the milk is subjected the more cream is thrown up, <in d the more butter the latter yields. M. Tweifel's experiments corroborate this. He tested 200 quarts of fresh milk, of which 100 were allowed to rest 12, and the other 24 hours, subjected to various temperatures. At 36 degrees the cream yielded was 16 and H£ quarts respectively ; at 45 degrees 13} and 12£ ; and at 79 degrees 5£ and 6 quart?. Thu9, a temperature of 30 degreeß cnus»eß Bearly two-thirds more cream to b3 thrown up than when the temperature is more thiu double. Dr. boxhlot attests that there is a difference ot 6 per cent, in point of lichne.ss between the fir»t and the last milk taken from a cow, hence, " lastingd " or "drippings" are sold for the use ef weakly individuals at three times the price of ordrnarv milk.