ASSOCIATED DAIRYING: A NECESSITY OF THE TIMES

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2504, 28 July 1888, Page 6 (Supplement)

ASSOCIATED DAIRYING: A NECESSITY OF THE TIMES

« — At a meeting held at Sefton (C.'interbury) to consider the advisability of establishing a dairy factory in that district, the following interesting paper was rend by the Chairman :— In entering upon a consideration of this subject, the dominant idea should be that of an Association of farmers making up their milk in one centre, having a community of interest, and being proportionate sharers in the fortunes of the concern. The ordinary Joint Stock Company is not the best for thin business, but limited liability with pure co-operation. In order to carry out this idea properly, the farmers intending to supply milk to a proposed factory should guarantee to milk a given number of cows, so that an approximate idea of the quantity of milk likely to be received may be arrived at. This information will enable you to decide on the amount of capital required to purchase land, erect buildings, and provide plant. Tiie capital may then be raised by dividing the number of cows, each cow representing a share, and every supplier being responsible for one share per cow whose milk he is sending to the factory, payment to be made pro rata as the returns come in ; but before commencing a standard of quality should bo fixed, and all milk coming below that standard on the average of the season should be fined at the rate of per gallon for every one per cent, of cream deficient. Thus if you set the standard at eleven per cent., the fine to be enforced down to eight per cent, below which the milk should be rejected. I would further suggest that it would be advantageous to all concerned if you gave a similar premium for all uiilk averaging over the standard quality. The business will require a Committee of Management, elected from among the shareholders, who shall act as Directors, whose duty will be to raise capital, provide the necessary buildings and plant, appoint a manager, and sell the products of the factory. At the end of each season they will have to make up the accounts, and after deducting cost of management, to pay the proceeds to the patrons in proportion to their milk supply, allowance beiug always made for variitions in the quality of the milk. The simplest and most satisfactory milk test is the cream gauge, Objections havo been raised to this, but, on the whole, experience shows it to be suffieently aocurate for the purpose required. I now come to the question whether buttor or cheese is tho best article to be produced in our factories, In order to promote a better understanding of tho subject, I hr.ve been at some trouble to pet accurate figures on each side. Thero are arguments for both sides which deserve reßpectful attention, and the mat'er will most pKfebly be decided by local considerations. An abundant supply of pure cold water ie an absolute necessity for butter-making, if possible, more thnn for cheese-making, as the former takes taints so rpadily that bvod vessels washed in bad-smelling water would injure the fine aroma of butter so necessary to perfect sucSess. I propose to lay before you first the results obtained at a butter factory in the North Island, which has the separator and all other modern machinery in use, and whero an article has boon produced which has been pronounced fine by competent judges, and has made excellent prices in foreign markets. lbs. milk p.c. cream Oct. 1887 33 produced lib butter ... 8 Nov. „ 30 •■• 9 Dee. ~ 28 „ „ „ •■• 10 May 1888 23 „ 14 This gives an average of about 201bs of milk at 10 per cent, of cream to mako llh of butter. The factory received 12,000 lbs of milk daily during tho height of the eeavon, and tha average cost of manufacture is stated at Id per lb. Cheese in the Plemington factory has been made as follows :— Season 18S3-1884. Of lbs milk made lib green curd. 10| „ ~ ~ lib cured cheese. Average of the season 11 per cent of cream. Season 1884—1885. lOibs 9oz. made lib green curd, lllbs ~ lib cured cheese. Average 10 per cent, of cream. Season ISBS-1880. lUlbs of milk rnado lib creen curd, lllbs ~ ~ lib cured cheese. Average 10 per cont. of cream ; The average cost of production in labour and material has been Id per lb of cured cheese. Let us examine these figures as a guido to the comparative profit of butter and cheese-making:—Buttor—29lb of milk will mako lib of bntter, worth in London, say, Is; cost of freight, oommissions, &c, 2d ; making with labour and material at Id. Net return at the factory, 9d per lb. Cheese—Judging from past experience, 4Jd per lb is a fair valuation of the price of cheese at the factory, and taking 111b as tho standard for lib of cheese, then 291b of milk will make of cheese, worth, ot 4Jd per lb, Is ; cost of making, at Id per lb, 2Jd ; net return 9Jd per lb, thus showing a profit of one farthing per gallon in favour nf cheece-making. The value of the whey is, in my opinion, quite equal to the separated milk, and is a very profitable source of income to dairy factories, as pig feed, in many instances payiug the interest on the cost of the buildings. A review of the pros and cons of this question leads me to recommend to any new dairy company to put in plaut for making both butter and cheese, and probably it will be found practiceable to keep the factory open during the whole year, by making butter from May Ist to December, thus catching the Colonial anri English winters, and making cheese the remaining months, which would arrive in London at the time whpn the markets are bare. This proposition, of course, raises the question of winter dairying, too large a subject for this paper, but one which demands attention at some other time.

The cost of the building and plant for making both butter and cheese may be stated approximately at about £3 per cow. But too small a factory does not pay relatively so well as the larger ones. At least 300 cows should be guaranteed, and the whole of the milk sent regularly, as, if guarantees are not faithfully fulfilled, the machinery has to be run just the same, causing disappointment and loss. The returns obtained by farmers sending milk to the Flemington factory have been computed at from £7 to £7 10s per cow per annum, and on the land Irom which the milk supply is obtained two acres will keep a cow very well, I think you will agree with me that this result compares very favourably with any other system of farming at the present time. Clean, sweet milk is an absolute necessity for the production of fine goods iu any factory, as no man, however clever or oareful, can hope for success unless he receives the milk in first-class condition. Your manager should, therefore, be vested with large discretionary powers as to the rejection of milk, and of course requires the full support and sympathy of every shareholder. In the present state of the dairy industry in this colony we need a greater interchange of views in tho various questions of interest. A Dairymen's Association would be of immense value to all concerned. A meeting should bo held in tho winter months, at whioh the subjects of dairy cattle, their breed and milking qualities, quantity of milk, results in cheese or butter, general returns of work done in various factories, freights, packages, temperature of cool chambers, and all kindred subjects may be fully ventilated. Such a meeting could not fail to be of the greatest possible benefit to all concerned, developing emulation on all sides and producing that pride in work so characteristic of nil earnest men in the prosecution of their daily calling. None of us is eo perfect that wo can learn no more. We must evor be attentive etudeu/S

if we would keep abreast with the spirit of the times, and it is only by disseminating useful information nnd oxohnuge of ideas, together with careful record of tho experiments we nvike, that real progress is miido. Further, by such intercourse the barriers of prejudice would be broken down, and the foundation luid of a trade which must ultimately be of lasting benefit to the Colony. Tho Government muy greatly assist us by giving special facili ties in travelling to and from the meetings of tho Association. I havo unbounded faith in the future of New Zealand dairying, nnd do not hesitate to predict for it a great position in the economy of the farm. But its order to obtain the best results, we mint resort to associated dairying - . \W shall be manufacturing almost exclu-ively for expert, and wo are being constantly romiudid that success in London ciin only bo attained by large shipments of uniformly high quality. Retail grocers in the metropolis and provincial towns do not, care to purchase any article offered them, unless they can be assured of a regular supply of the same goods. A recent letter from a wholesale English house strongly emphiisisos this point, We can only meet this demand by the erection of proper buildings and machinery, and the appointment of a competent, person ablo 1,0 manufacture goods of the highest clan.--. Uniformity and excellence of quality are tho groat essentials of success, but incompetent managers and inferior produce can only result in disappointment ard loss. In reply to questions, Mr Hirding said ho estimated 300 cows would give the factory 1000 gallons of milk a day. It was difficult to say what would be a fair average price for the factory to pay for milk, as in the case of butter we were entering on a now line of business. Canadian butter fetched 100s, equal to Ud per lb in the London market, and if ours was of equal quality lid in London equalled jlld here, which would enable a factory to give a shade under 3d per gallon for milk. He found that his factory had averaged four hundred weight of cheese per cow, and he undorstood from conversation with his clients, that they calculated on feeding one cow to two aores and getting a gross return of £7 10s per cow.