BETTER DAIRY PRODUCE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 252, 23 October 1919, Page 7

BETTER DAIRY PRODUCE.

KEEPING QUALITY UP. OVERXME2JT GRADERS' SHAKE. FACTORY MANAGERS CONFER. DEMONSTRATION OF GRADING. Mreiagers of butter and chee»e fac- I iries.ii all parts of the Auckland pro- ' nee fathered in the city to-day to \ iscUBB the quality of their products and i iin information about means of attain- I ig a uniform high standard in both j >mmoditins. The assembled managers Iso met at luncheon, and presented an luniinated address to Mr. A. A. Thornm, who has attained to 25 years' serice in that capacity under the Departient of Agriculture, and for a large art of the time has been senior grader t Auckland. This afternoon a special meeting of the New Zealand 'airy Factory Managers' Association Auckland district) is being held. The conference -_ this morning took lace in the airy and well-lighted gradlgroom on the top floor of the Allele-: md Farmers' Freezing Company's coo] :orage plant in Breakwater Road. Mr. '. Cnddie, director of the dairy division f the Department of Agriculture, was resent, and the demonstration work was one by the four local dairy produce raders. ABOUT FORTY DELEGATES. How keen tho Auckland dairy eomnnies and their managers are to nprove the quality of their products nd maintain a uniformly high standard as shown by the fact that nearly 40 I angers and directors of butter and lieese factories took part. It was bvious that all of them were eager to ■>nefit by the conference, and by the pportunity of inspecting n wide range f other people's butter and-cheese. Mr. .T. Ambury, on behalf of>the Auckiind IParmers* Freezing Company, wel-om-ed the delegates to the works. The ompany, he eaid, would 'be glad if theyi vould go over the whole of the plant md make a thorough inspection. It vould al*o welcome an} - suggestions they night have to offer about the handling )f their products, -and if there was any •atise for complaint, it should be stated, le considered that such confereneee a3| he one before them were an excellent lid to the industry. There was still iiuch to learn, and by "getting together" hoy could do much for dairying in New 'ealand. DANGERS OF ISOLATION. Mr. Cuddie said that he was very glad o see so many pre-sent. He believed that •uch onferencee were of great 'benefit to iradera and factory managers alike. By neeting in this way tiie raanigers could alk matters over with the graders, and earn the reasons why their butter and ■heese were graded. They were enabled vlso to bring their difficulties forward md obtain advice upon them. Isolation >vas bad for * factory manager. Unlees :ie had an opportunity of sampling and discussing other people's products hie jstimate of his own output might be•ome inaccurate. A manager might take .-ertain oteps with the object of improving h:e product, and find later, to his loss, that he was going on quite wrong lines. • Regular conferences of this kind would tend to prevent such errors. Regarding the handling of dairy produce ay the Farmers' Freezing Company, Mr. Cuddie -aaid that the trade was very well catered for. The company had everything in excellent order, and nothing seemed to be too much trouble to it. A vote of thanks to the company was carried by acclamation on the motion of Mr. C. J. Parlane, president of the Dairy Factory Managers' Association. Mr. Thornton, explaining the procedure he intended to fellow, said that he was very glad to see that the factories ir. one district had taken to heart the rather low.grading of their butter some time ago, iind had made very successful efforts to improve it. He was now able to say that the butter from fiis district was substantially better than it had been in the poet. The managers then devoted about an hour and a-half to going over about 80 boxes of butter, and a number of samples of cheese in company with fche graders, who stated the number of points awarded in each instance, and their reasons for awarding them. Many questions were asked and answered, and a,ft«r some of the managers had located samples from their own factories the graders were consulted again on various points, and the possibility of improvement.