THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1257, 12 October 1911, Page 8

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

srrxrsTEK rorc agriculture's VJEAYS. In the annual report of the Department ol' Agriculture, the Mini.-tor in charge of tlio Department (the Hon. T. ■Mackenzie) says tlio general expansion of Ihe industry continues, and not only is the output from the settled milk-produc-ing areas on the increase, but us fast as no\V country can bo prepared for grazing tlio production of milk is taken up. Had the past season been of a more favourablo character, from a climatic standpoint, the output would have .shown a much larger increase in butter, as well as a big incrcaso in chceso. Tho lesson of the past season has led to increased attention being paid to the provision of special green fodder for the drier months of tho year. This awakening, together with tho increased attention being paid to the culling of herds and the use of a purebred bull, must havo a marked effect on tho future prospects of the industry. Quality Improving. It is gratifying to bo able to report that a steady advance is being mode iby the'majority of factories in the quality of the butter and chccse manufactured. Unsatisfactory work has been noticeable in a number of cases, but, as the sources of this weakness are known, Minister says there is every reason to bclievo that, with tho assistance of officers of the department, these troubles will be rectified. . Again this year certain adverse criticism of our butter and cheese _on the Homo market has been made, principally by agents Handling rival, butters. As it has been ..practically impossible to reconcile these reports with the expert opinion of the graders of the Department at this end, the need of a qualified New Zealand expert on butter and cheese quality to safeguard reputation of our dairy-produce and the interests of pro-, ducers lias been more urgently emphasised than ever before. Such an officer has' been appointed. His duty will be to examino our butter and cheese as it reaches tho Homo market, to note oxactly how it opens out in London, and to provide an authoritative comparison with tho grading at this end and the quality of the produce as it readies the market. Great benefit should accruc to the butter and cheese makers of the Dominion, and through them to the dairy farmers, us a result of this appointment. Cow Testing.

One of the most important movements for the advancement of milk-pvoducing interests yet undertaken by the Department was the formation of cow-testing as-

-•-".-iations. Although'the associations are ,'s yet limited, so enthusiastic has been tho support c-t' the farmer that the movement bids fair to rapidly extend throughout the dairying districts of the Dominion, and to exert a,far-reaching; influence on the welfare of the industry. Realising all that this movement moans to tho settlers and to New Zealand, the Minister says ho intends to do all in his power to encourage its development. Another movement essential to dairying progress, which he is anxious to see extended is. the pasteurisation of the byproducts of dairy factories, in connection with which he "has had carried out a thoroughly exhaustive demonstration, the Tesults of which must largely influence farmers in adopting this vital means of ■stamping out that dread scoirrge tuberculosis from their herds of cattlo and swine.

The total number of factories, etc, registered under the Dairy Industry Act is now 821, as against 752 in 1910. The. increase is made up as under:—Creameries 8, cheese factories 27, private butler dairias 25, private cheese dairies 7, and packing.houses 5.