THE FARM INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 514, 22 May 1909, Page 8

THE FARM INDUSTRY.

' AN UNTOUCHED FIELD. „ IN DAIRYING. THE BY-PKODL'CTS OF FACTORIES. ' Cas9m will, no doubt, in duo time become ono of the important secondary products of New Zealand butter factories., There is a market for casein in Sydney ,at £30 a ton, and in. Hamburg (Germany} it about £35. Casein, of course, is derived from . .the skimmod milk of butter facterica, and it ia ono of the chief ingredients of cheese. 'When the cream and-the casein have been removed" from the milk there remains tho whey, which contains nothing of any account except water and absut s'per cent.,of milt■'.sugar. .'-The. milk sugar may bo separated ana sold for meeting tho growing modern demand of children and invalids, and its price is high. Thus from Skimmed milk two valuable by-products may bo :extracted. ."Whether their extraction will; become a branch of the Now .Zealand dairying : industry depends chiefly .on 'the cost of the process, tliq valuo of the; raw material, and the selling price of tho finished product. Tho quantities contained .in the (raw material and the market_ values of tho extracted products are approximately as follow:— 1 .cwt.' of milk sugar is derived from 1 ton of skimmed milk (or whoy), and is safe-' ablo in Europe wholesale at £2155; per cwt. 1 cwt. of pnre casein is derived from 1} tons of skimmed milk, and the commercial article is saleable in Sydney at £1 10s. per cwt.; Commercial casein, however, contains a proportion 1 of"water, so that 1 cwt. of pure": caso.iri would make mord than 1 cwt. of commercial casein. 1 ~. But,; assuming that the chemically pure; milk, sugar and casein- were saleable.at the. prices named, then' tho two products' from 33601b, of skimmed milk-rthat is'lJ tons, or about .336 gallons—would' produce the follow-, ing returns:— . : -.- : . . £s. d. . By milk sugar, 1} cwt- , ' ... 4 2 6 By casein, 1 cwt. ... . ... 110 0. 5 12 6 ■ .Thisjwould be;a return, of.4d. "pip gallon on the skimmed milk,, even if nothing, .were allowed for the "over-run" in': tho casein Sold. • ' ' -' A lack of interest in the question of byproducts from' dairy factories, whibh has been observed in, Now Zealand,; is "due chiefly to the farmer's belief, that skimmed, milk and whey can bo put' to more profitable use in.,the feeding of pigs. Exactly to what .extent this 'belief is a ' sound ono is a .matter for experience and figures to decide. -In France, where the-. production. of. pork is' a: busy : industry, ■ large quantities,of. skimmed : milk ojo obtained for tie.manufacture of casein.- And it would appear that if that procedure pays in France' itwtrald pty equally, well .in New Zealand. . The New Zeil&nd farmer values his skinimed 'milk—if , he, is'-ever. asked to put a cash l value upoq it at all—at a penny -per .gallon, and his v[hoy_ at a halfpenny per gallon. But commercial' men, who- have any occasion to: purchase, these products usually place the values very much lower. It would bo a very fitting.subject for-Woreroa or one of the other experiment farms to carry out tests to decide the difference in the cost .of .raising pork with and without t. milk, and thus to set up a standard lvalue for ,skimmed milk and whey for pig feeding.