DAIRY ITEMS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10265, 7 February 1899, Page 2

DAIRY ITEMS.

"Weekly Press and Referee."

Universal Milk Tables. A ready reckoner for calculating - the cost' of milk supplied for the production of butter and cheese under the factory system has j been prepared by Mr G. A. Hurley, secretary of the National Dairy Association of New Zealand. It is upon the percentage of butter fat in the milk that the cost is calculated, and dairymen and factory managers and secretaries find it by no moans an easy matter to calculate the cost of 23,750 gallons of milk showing 3.74 per cent, of j butter fat at per lb of fat. There is a \ considerable labour in working out such a sum, and many would be glad to be relieved of the trouble. Mr Hurley spent about eight months in compiling* the tables, for which no less than 10,000 calculations had to be made and checked; and factory mana-1 gers and milk suppliers will find the work extremely handy. The tables are so arranged that a fourth standard pupil could be trusted to make an accurate calculation from them. The usefulness of Mr Hurley's work has been recognised by the Agricultural Department, and Government has subsidised the publication. The tables are issued in two editions. The factory edition has been made extra strong to stand rough usage, and is issued at 15s 6d, and the suppliers' edition is handy enough for farmers at 7s 9d. Feeding the Dairy Cow. At a convention of dairymen in Delaware County, New York, F. A. Converse gave) an address, in which he said : : —"The farmers who have adopted the intensive system of farming are makmg the most money. Every i fanner should know just what his cows are' paying him, and just where he is losing. He should find which are his poor cows by testing the milk twice a month. He Bhould produce the most milk at the time it will bring the highest price, and produce ib at the lowest cost. . Raise your own cows instead of buying them. You cannot buy the kind of cows that you want. Use a thorough-bred sire and breed from your best cows. If you have cows that will give 3000 pounds of milk per year, do? not be satisfied until you have raised the average above 5000 pounds. We must' make the surroundings of the cow in the winter as much like those of summer as possible. It is possible to produce milk for the six winter months as cheap as during the six summer months, if you feed ensilage. , The cow needs succulent food. You cannot add water to dry food and make as much milk as you can with green or succulent food, containing the same quantity of watersWhen the pastures become short, supplement them with soiling crops instead of grain. Tou cannot bring a cow up to her normal flow of "milk with grain. The butter fat in the milk is not fixed by the food that the cow eats, but by her breeding. You cannot feed any more fat in the milk when you get it up to the normal condition. American Butter in Cape Colony. The American Consul reports from Capetown that large quantities of butter are imported into South Africa from Australia and Denmark. He is informed that recently from 3000 to 4000 boxes (of 561b) from America have reached Capetown thtuugh London. This was shipped as 'Australian butter, all the American marks on the boxes having been erased and Australian marks substituted. By this means all credit to the, products of the American producers is lost, and this action is prima facie evidence that the American butter is now satisfactory .although complaint is still made that it is too yellow. Oth_r »_ip__«ntß of butter to the amount of several thousand pounds have also been recently received direct from America with the American marks thereon.. Th. absence of the Australian Government stamps on the first mentioned pja2kf ages attracted notice, and the attention l of the Australian representative in London was called to the same, and it is stated that the matter is now being invest-gated by him. There was also a difference in the packages, the American ones being more solid or substantial. United States producers are advised to have trade-marks or brands of their own, duly registered and, if possible, Government stamp- or murk- on the packages. The demand for American butter is from July to October, when the Australian and Denmark butters are not on the market, the former occupying the market from October to May, and" the latter from May to July, these months being the butter-making seasons of the respective couhtriea. Clean Milk. The milk inspector of Chicago, writing to Hoard's Dairyman on the demand for clean milk, says:—"Some dairymen have complained to mc that although they strained their milk through three thicknesses of strainer cloth, their dealer in Chicago sometimes complained of dirt in the milk. To these dairymen we must explain that there are some kinds of dirt which no strainer will remove. That is, dirt which will dissolve in water or milk. To prove this they can take some of the black dirt, such as cows get on their udders when walking through "slews" (sloughs) or in wet barn yards, and putting this dirt in some clean water, stir and agitate it well, then run it through a strainer. Let the strained water stand a few hours, and on examination it will be found to have some dark settlings near the bottom of the liquid. This is just what occurs in milk, and the best way to produce clean milk is to keep the dirt out, instead of trying to strain it out. This can be done by washing the adder* with water. This ahou-d be doc*

just before commencing to milk the cow, aa the washing will start the flow of milk, and if the cow is compelled to wait very long before she is milked, the milk secretion will not be as large as when the cow is milked immediately; and in cold weather the water should have the chill taken off so as not Us cool the surface of the udder too much." Patent Milk Concentrator. •A private exhibition of a patented appara« tvs ii_- cones-lit rating milk was given recently in Dunedin, at the residence of Mr W. B. Walters, the patentee, and the result of the operations proved most satisfactory, the milk taken out of the concentrator being quite equal in flavour to fresh milk. The apparatus is simple in construction, and by it about one-third of the water is extracted, by evaporation, from the milk, which is diluted to taste when subsequently required for use. Mr A. G. Kidsbon-Hunter, city analyst, reports most favourably on samples of the con* centra-ted milk submitted for analysis, and considers them of good colour, taste, and odour. By the process he considers the good properties of the milk are retained '.uninjured, and, if properly bottled, the preparation, is free from all living micro-organ-isms, and should keep, without deterioration, for a number of years. A report of a Royal Commission, which recently sat at Home, says:—"No doubt the largest part of the tuberculosis which man obtains through his food is by means of milk containing tuberculous matter." The report concludes by urging the importance of using sterilised (boiled) milk, by which mean, these terrible germs are destroyed. There are two reasons that make for the of a habit of drinking uncooked (and frequently diseased), milk: (1) th« public are not rully aware of the dangers attending it, or do not believe the of those qualified to give att opihiori; (2)-'the taste of milk, when boiled, is by many thought not to be so pleasant as in its raw state. Mr Walters's patent has for its object the manufacture of sterilised and condensed unsweetened milk. Regarding the process of manufacture, it is sufficient to say that the milk is maintained at a high temperature for a certain time, and, by mephanical power," it kept continually ©rated and moving. Pa«teurised or sterilised milk is the result, and I by a continuation of the same process the condensed milk is obtained. ,The product, when bottled, will keep for an indefinite period, i samples being shown that have been kept tor eighteen months; indeed, time has no apparent effect whatever upon it, nor is th«re any difference in flavour from the newest ol new milk. The great advantages of, the »&• sweetened condensed milk over the jiresent articles on the market are,manifest,,and the patentee believes that in.avery short time tne unsweetened condensed milk will bo known and used all over the civilised world. ; " It ia understood that a company is now •being formed, to take up the matter.