BRITISH DAIRYING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 80, 16 January 1936, Page 8

BRITISH DAIRYING.

THE CREAMERY SYSTEM.

CHALLENGE TO THE DOMINIONS

The trend of agricultural practice in Great Britain is of absorbing interest just now. For some years tbe position of beef producers has become increasingly difficult and at tbe present time has reached a crisis, states the "New Zealand Herald." The price of beef upon the British market is below the cost of production and English farmers are turning to dairying as a means of carrying on. Recent reports from the Old Country give interesting details of the development of dairying there; in one county a butter factory is being erected cajiablo of dealing with the milk of 10,000 cows. This milk will be delivered to the factory and separated and the cream churned into butter. In addition to this unit creameries or skimming stations will be erected on either side of the factory at a sufficient distance to serve the farms which lie beyond the reach of the main factory. The cream from these places will be to the central factory for churning also, lne erection of other factories, working on similar lines, will follow shortly. So there is being established in England the creamery system we discarded—lor good or ill—so many years ago. What do these developments portend for the New Zealand dairy farmer, and how can he meet this new situation m his main overseas market? It is useless to say now, as was so confidently asserted some years ago, that the British beef market would always prove attractive to the farmers there, and dairymen would be fully employed in supplying the numerous large towns with liquid milk. That position has completely changed and enormous quantities of milk are now available for factory purposes. The problem to be solved is how to compete in the British market against the largo quantities ot iresh local butter available. • . • Obviouslv it is a question ol good quality and sound marketing methods, The adoption of the creamery system by English 'dairying interests requires our careful consideration. Under this method we exported some of the finest butter made during the history oi our dairying industry. There were many reasons for this good performance which have been recited at different times, but one feature of the creamery system has been overlooked. The milk is delivered to the factories each morning, the evening's milk being held on the farm.

One result is that .the butterfat re-

mains in tho milk, serum for about twelve hours. The effects of this long immersion are not known, but probably they benefit tho fine flavouring oils in Urn butterfat structure. It is interesting to notice in this connection that when milk was delivered and separated twice daily in this country the butter churned from the cream was of poor quality, and some of it was second grade. Such results were not unknown during tho operation of tho former creamery system when tho milk was separated only once a day. "With tho expansion of the creamery system in England large quantities of finest quality fresh butter will be available there, and to meet this new effort wo must alter our system of dairying somewhat and revert to more natural methods. In a large butter factory recently I looked long and thoughtfully at tho battery of pasteurisers. These are for the purposo of testing the cream almost to boiling point in an endeavour to improve its quality. Now it is acknowledged that the milk of a healthy cow kept and fed under natural conditions is of finest quality. It is time we realised that the cow knows her job. Her product, evolved in nature's own laboratory, is perfect in every detail and would remain so jf accorded right treatment after it leaves tho udder. Wo should also remember that no amount of factory processing can restore this delicate product to its pristine perfection once it has been damaged by wrong treatment or faulty feeding conditions. It is obvious that in continually raising pasteurising temperatures we are working at the wrong end and we will never reach pur objective.

It is equally patent also that complaints of flatness and neutral flavours made against our butter are largely due to these excessive temperatures destroying and dissipating the volatile flavouring oils in the butterfat. In effect we obtain from the cow a natural product of peculiar excellence and delicate characteristics which we should do our best to preserve without the heat treatment of the oream which is unnecessary as it is drastic. It was not always necessary to employ such "aids" to quality for in bygone years a Taranaki factory pasteurising its cream at a temperature of 65 degrees Fah. annexed practically all the prizes at the Palmerston North "Winter Show. It. is also well to remember the butter manufactured from raw cream which made such a name for this country during the early years of our dairying industry.

Our course of action is perfectly plain. Feeding and milking conditions must bo such as to ensure a natural product of the cow being sent to the factories, where it will be treated in a far less drastic manner than at present. How this can be done will be discussed in a future article.