BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1388, 14 March 1912, Page 8

BUTTER AND CHEESE.

HiOSPECTS FOR THE WINTER. lieferring to tlio butter inarkoT, llr. J. 1!. Scott, secretary ut tlie South island Dairy Association, cunsiders that ultugcther we are in :i Lutter position as regards supplies than we were at mis time lust year. During the past few months thi'i'j huil bowi a iainy heavy export, which had met with good prices at iioinc, iiuil tliei'e was timy imliuitiuu that tho output tor local coiibumphoii \\o\\a\ |je larger thim at tho close of the previous export season. Ahout this time of tho year, said Jtr. Scott, to a representative of tlie Dunedin ".Star," some buyers were inclined to become "panicky" aijout winter supplies of butter, but he personally saw no reason for anxiety, as lie believed butter would be fairly plentiful during this winter. "Butter can never be anything but comparatively dear in the winter, , ' ho continued, "but Ido not think it will be much dearer this winter than it is now." As most people arc doubtless aware, the dairy farmer does not produce any butter to speak of in the winter. Usually he has quite enough to do to meet the uemand tor milk for town consumption. I'rom tho end of tho seasou tho winter supply comes from cold storage. Mr. Scott states that lie has put butter thnt has boon twelve months in the refrigerator to compete in tho show with the best fresh butter, and in the judging the former came out only hult , a point in 100 points below the- lutler. Only the expert could U-ll the difference. Heavy Demand for Cheese. Air. Scott went on to state that with the recent rise in tho Home market tor choose, there is and will be a heavy demand for cheese for London. "They realiso at iionie that cheese at 10(1. per lb. is good and cheap food for the working man—they don't seem to linvu realised it here yet," he added. "Tlie London prices mean tin equivalent here of over 'fil. per lb., i'.o.b." This led to an inquiry as to which pays the dairy producer best—butter or cheese. Mr. Scott stated that it takes 2\ gallons of milk to make lib. of butter, and under one gallon of milk to make lib. of cheese. Mupposiug the farmer gets' Gd. a lb. for eliease, he would u-:e 2A gi'.l!mis of milk in securing a return of Is. 3d. lor cheese. The aline amount of milk would produco lib. of butter, and Is. 3d. per lb. is an unusually high return for him to get for butter. The by-products from butler, principally skim milk, did not make up the balance in favour of cheese. In Mr. Scott's opinion, it pays the farmer better to make cheese than but!.er, even at the present high prices obtainable for butter. He believes that as the years go on, New Zealand will be a greater ehees>produehig than butter-producing country. It appears that other dairying countries find their population increasing so rapidly that their output is gradually being more nntl more absorbed by home consumption. The United States makes more cheese than any other country in tho world, but it has not had a surplus for export for perhaps twenty years. Canada's population is increasing so rapidly that her dairy output cannot ,kcep pace with it sufficiently to prevent tho surplus i'or export dwindling. Canada never was a factor in the butter market; in fact, Xew Zealand is already exporting butter to Vancouver. About M), 000 boxes went there this season, and moro would hiwe been taken had wo lieen able to supply them before the Canadian spring caine in. . The supplies of Canadian cheese available for London are gradually but surely shortening. Now Zealand's opportunity will bo to supply that deficiency on tlie London market. As our population is only increasing by hundreds, where Canada's is increasing by thousands, tho timo is probably a long way off wlien New Zealand's dairy export trade is at all curtailed by local requirements. N.Z. v. Australian Butter. There was an interesting cable on Thursday last, said Mr. Scott, wherein tho Ageiit-Cicneral for New South AVnles complained of the status of Australian butter on the London market, and admitted that in uniformity of quality Now Zealand butter had an advantage over Australian. This admission from' Mich a tiunrtor (after the contentions of Australian merchants) was noted by Mr. Scott with some pleasure. He pointed to London quotations, sliowin? the New Zealand article to be invariably the higher value, averaging somewhere under ' 4s. per cwt. moro than Australian. "They should lie ablo to make us good butter in Australia as anywhere in the world," he said. "Climate makes no difference now that refrigerating lvachinery is used. A great deal had been said in Australia nlxmt our grading, and Rome merchants there had criticised it adversely, I>nt the New Zealand grading system and the work of the Agricultural Department had kept New Zealand butter at consistently higher prices in London than tho Australian article.