POINTS FROM LETTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 69, 22 March 1934, Page 27

POINTS FROM LETTERS.

BUTTERFAT PAYMENTS. In a rcccnt issue of tlie "Star" there appeared a letter asking for information on tho question of payment for milk for cheese-making, and the probability of proprietary dairy factories being established and paying for milk 011 its casein and butterfat content. The figures shown in my letter supply the answer to your correspondent's question. They show that the present system of payment solely on a butterfat basis for milk for cheese-making is inequitable, as it penalises the suppliers of the. lower testing milks and pays a premium to the higher testing suppliers. A table of payments has been prepared by Mr. I'. O. Veale, dairy research chemist, which provides a perfectly just system of payment for milk. This table provides for payment for the actual amount of cheese made from each supplier's milk, and is the system which the proprietary company would adopt if such a company were established in Taranaki. At a recent meeting this season of suppliers to the Cardiff Dairy Company, Taranaki, a discussion developed on the lines of high-testing versus low-testing milk for cheese-making, and a touch of urgency was added to the matter by the rumour that a move was to be made to establish a proprietary cheese factory in the Cardiff district for the reception of milk from low-testing herds to be paid for according to its value for cheese-mak-ing. The chairman, Mr. C. A. Marchant, said that at the annual meeting there had been comparisons and criticisms of the Cardiff company's payment. To show that the yield of cheese per lb of butterfat had a greater effect than any other factor 011 the payment per lb of fat, the chairman gave figures relating to other factories (A, one in the Wairarapa; B, one on the Taranaki coast; C, one near Cardiff and Cardiff itself): — Cheese per Value 1001b at 5(1. Test. Yield. fat. £ s d Factory A ... 3.G 2.72 272 513 4 Factory 15 ... 4.25 2.00 200 5 8 4 Cardiff 4.43 2.51 251 5 4 7 Factory C ... 4.57 2.40 240 5 2 0 CHEfiSE PRODUCTION PER 1000LB FAT Ton. Cwt. Qr. Lb. Factory A 1 4 1 4 Factory B 1 3 0 24 Cardiff 1 2 1 14 Factory C 1 1 3 24 Thus the difference in yield per 10001b fat between factories A and C, low test and high test respectively, would be 2001b cheese, which at 5d a lb would mean £5 8/4 extra for factory A. Factory A had paid out lid and factory C ( J.3(Jd per lb fat to suppliers. Later on tho secretary read the monthly yields and tests for last season at Cardiff, as follows:— Cheese. Milk. Yield. Test. September 2.00 3.87 October 2.03 4.04 November 2.01 4.1!) December 2.54 4.33 January 2.47 4.3(5 February 2.49 4.55 March 2.45 4.SS April 2.48 4.!K) INTERESTED.