THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1362, 13 February 1912, Page 8

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

HOME SEPARATION SYSTEM. BUTTERMAKING V. CHEESE. Mr. U. Of. Hill, of Messrs. Hill and Barton, butter merchants, has just returned from a visit to the Waikato and Taranaki dairying districts. Mr. Hill's object in visiting the north was principally to see for himself what has been done and what is being done under the home separation system with a view to pushing it in this province. Opponents of homo separation of the system means a certain falling-oil' in the quality of the butter produce, but after his observations in the north Mr. Hill is convinced that a better butter can be manufactured from home separated cream than that manufactured by a good many factories working on the old system. Neutralisation of Cream. This is attributable, in the opinion of Mr. Jiill, to what is known as the neutralisation of cream. This system is test explained by giving the results of a morning's work at the Whangarei Dairy Factory. Samples of cream were taken at the receiving stage and tested for acidity—anyone accustomed to handling cream must know that when it i.s kept a certain length of time cream develops acid and it was here that the difficulty of making good butter from home separated cream, came in under the old method. If there were ten cans of cream, each one varying in degrees of acidity the quality of the butter could not possibly be uniform. The cream was tested with the alkaline test 'and the acidity ranged from .27 to .52 per cent. It was then put into a vat and a certain percentageof bi-Ciirbonate of soda added, the efi'ect being the setting up of an action on the acid in the cream and ndutralisin;; it, as well as equalising the acidity to about .24 per cent. The cream was then run through the pasteuriser, heated to about 175 degrees and then suddenly cooled. It was again tested and found to contain about .IS per cent of acid. A starter was then added arid tho butter churned, when the acidity reached was about .34 petcent. It 'would thus be seen that the manufacture of butter from home separated cream was anything but a haphazard business, and in Mr. Hill's opinion, was an entirely different thing from i the work of-.the ordinary buttcrmaker. Three years ago no instructor would have dreamed of the possibilities of this process, which was, as (hen, practically unknown ; but as its effectiveness and utility had now been established ho had no hesitation in predicting that in a few years' time skimming stations, or creameries, would be tilings of Ihc past and the result of this from an economic view could bo easily imagined* Butter v. Cheese. From observations in the Tnranaki and Auckland provinces Mr. Hill is firmly convinced that where there is a sufficient quantity of milk—say, from 1000 cows— within a radius of live milos, cheese must eventually displace butter on account of the higher price paid for butter-fat for clieesernaking. In Taranaki' he found ! that tho various boards of directors were deeply concerned in the question whether they should change from butter to cheese, but to some of them it meant, a very big thing. Take Eitham, for instance. This company had just spent ifICOO on a splendid up-to-date butter factory and plant, which could not be utilised for cheesemakinq;. Two or three companies in that district which were consigning their cheese to England anticipated paying Is. 3d. or Is. -Id. per lb. for butterfat, while the outside price that any butter factory could pay would be Is. Id. Fanners were beginning to place less value on skim milk for pig feeding and calf raising purposes, especially as there was 2d. or 3d. per lb. of butter-fat between milk supplied to butter and to cheese factories. With home separation it was different, because the young stock got the skim milk warm and at regular intervals. Homo separation meant a tremendous lot to the Waikato, as there were many districts which could not raise a sullicipnt number of cows to warrant the erection of a creamery, and in many instances the farmers did not, a few years ago, go in for dairying. Now, however, the cream was collected in such a systematic manner und?r homo separation Hiat he. had been credibly informed that in back districts tho value of land had increased as much as £2 or .£3 an acre. Quality of Home Separated Butter. Opponents of the home separation had predicted that butter made under this system would ruin the good name of New Zealand butter, but ho did not think he was stretching a point when he said that during the past five or six years he had handled many brands of butter and ho was certain that there were brands of butter manufactured in the Auckland province, made in factories which had no separator, ior which he would give a farthing per pound more than for that turned out by some factories working on the whole-milk principle. Herd Testing. Mr. Hill said he was glad to soe that dairymen were beginning to pay more attention to herd-testing, and when this important matter was taken up seriously they would be surprised lo see the number' of practically usele-s cows that were in use—some of them did not even pay for their keep. It was necessary, in his opinion, that provision should be made to prevent one man handing his "duffers" ou to. another man, and this could be done by insisting that each cow's milk tests must bn produced at the time of syle. I*nless this were done the benefits of herd-testing would be greatly diminished and the good work of the herd-test-ing associations considerably nullified.