THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 July 1924, Page 10

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

BUSINESS SIDE OF CHEESE MAKING. ADDRESS BY MR, A. LEES. “The Business Side of Cheese Manufacturing” was the subject of a •very interesting address by Mr. A. Lees, of Okaiaw-a, at- the annual rinference of the National Dairy Association held at- Auckland. After briefly -referring to the growth of the industry and expressing the need for a properly equipped laboratory. Mr. Lees went on to say that in treating the matter of • cheese-making, from a commercial standpoint it would a.t once lie admitted that it was so incorporated with the whole process right from the supply of the raw material to the disposal of the finished article that it wa s necessary to review the Avhole position. He proposed to deal with the subject from the point of view of 'the co-operative company, as this system was practically universal in New" Zealand as regards the manufacture of cheese.

Dealing firstly with the question of raw material up to the time it was delivered at the factory, Air. Lees said it was necessary that the milk should be of the highest, standard as regards purity and quality. The prime essential m this connection was cleanliness, and this must be taken as the ground work of the producer. The advent of the milking machine had .solved the labour problem to a great extent in the milking ,shed, but unless systematic cleanliness was observed in the- carrying out of milking by machine the supply of milk would be to .the detriment of the making of a first-class article. If a milking machine was to be used successfully the installation of a proper hot water system was necessary.. In this connection it was doubtful whether the method adopted at present by many 1 companies by returning hot water to suppliers from the factory was in the best interests of efficiency as regards cleanliness. The water by the time it reached the milking shed was often duly luke warm and a milking plane could not be properly 'cleaned ‘ with either cold or warm water. From the teat cup to the vacuum the whole plant should be thoroughly cleansed daily. Not only must strict cleanliness be observed in the milking but the sanitary arrangements also called fob strict supervision. Proper drainage, concreting shed _ floors wherever possible, and the erection of the milk stand in the proper place all called for careful consideration on the part of the milk supplier. Another matter that would be to the commercial advantage- of cheesemaking both from the question of quality and quantity of cheese made, would be the proper cooling of the milk. By this was meant the cooling' of good milk J.iot the cooling of bad Hi ilk . Unde# the releaser system of carrying milk to the cans ‘a certain amount- of cooling was now done, but-unless-the miachine was thoroughly clean and’the milk sound and sweet ;j s it came from the machine a great deal of the value of this process of cooling was lost.

,One could not touch on the question of production of sound milk without referring to the subject of inspection and instruction on the farm. Many companies carried out a great deal of farm inspection to-day and had found it to be of great benefit. ' It was quite true that many farmers to-day were doing their very utmost to supply a good sound milk of first quality and the fact >°f "this being so was one" of the soundest arguments for bringing the indifferent dairyman into line. This indifference on the part of many dairymen may be due to ignorance," carelessness 01 neglect, or perhaps all three combined, but in view, of the fact that New Zealand was going .to be tip against keen competition in the future it was quite evident the time had arrived when in the interests of the industry move attention must be given to the matter of inspection, on the lines of instruction and education. To the clean supplier such inspection would be welcome and the other man would appreciate it more when he understood the value of it. At any rate if cheeseniaking was to be a successful com me rcial proposition too much stress could not be laid on the fact that the first essential was the supply of a good sound milk.

Dealing'with the question oF manufacture MY. Dees said that if commercial success was to be attained the part carried out by the cheese-maker had a direct bearing on the result. A s there was nothing better than the best the ultimate goal to. be attained bv the cheese-maker was to conpentrate his efforts on turning out cheese of the \ery finest quality. In order to be efficient his knowledge of his work must be of the very highest. He must not only understand his work from the point of view of quality, hut he must also possess the knowledge that as cheese was a commercial commodity it was essential that the quantity ‘ of cheese made must not be lost sight of. And in looking after the matter * of quantity, or as it was usnallv termed the yield of cheese, it was imperative that the quality of the article must not be sacrificed. As every cheesemaker knew, the principal ingredients of cheese were casein, fat, and water During the process of cheese-making some of the casein and a certain' amount of fat was always lost in the uhey, and part of the cheese-maker*s duty therefore during the course of manufacture was to see that these mechanical losses were reduced to a minimum. Losses to a certain extent " but under normal conditions could be kept as low as possible. The other principal essential water—was also an essential. but care had to be exercised here also, as the incorporation of too much moisture would be detrimental to the quality of the cheese. A thorough knowledge, therefore, of knowing how to obtain the highest yield consistent with the quality of the article was absolute-' ly necessary. The controlling of the acid content was also of very great importance, but it was not necessary for him to stress what want of care in this lcspect might be responsible for in the wav of weak-bodied -cheese. While a great deal of time and trouble was apparently devoted to manufacture when cheese was required for show purposes tor example, one sometimes was apt to wonder if the normal time was always .given to cheese-making at ordinary tunes. It was probable there was a tendency at times to rush the “mak!ng part, in other words to make the cheese in less than the normal time required. This was not meant as a reflection on managers, who had proved that as a body they were prepared to do their best to uphold ; the high standard of quality. Labour conditions tohowever were totally different to the past. While cheese-makers of the o.der school were content to stay in the factory until the cheese-making was thoroughly done, they found to-day, in manv cases, at any rate, that the casual employee was looking for the time when be could get the cheese hooped np and be out of the factory. ‘Undoubtedly tin’s tendency to rush work was_ often responsible for cheese receiving the second grade stamp.

One very objectionable feature in the pnst anj one which had been responsible for a loss commercially was the uj. tiaaq puq icqq Suidooq jo operation for many years. The result '' that a lip or ledge of varying depth was formed on the cheese,' "and this had not only been responsible for a loss commercially -ow.ing t-o theledge breaking away.Awhen.. ..the ’.cheese .jvas handled, but was also very unsightly so far as the appearance of the .finished cheese was concerned. Fortunately this trouble had now- been overcome.

Before leaving the manufacturing side of the question it was necessary to mention the yield of cheese and--the fat recovery from the whey, both of’which matters had an important bearing on the side of the question. The yielff of cheese represented the ratio of cheese to butter-fat. or in other words the . amount of cheese amde,’ and many of butter-fat. It- naturally followed thai the greater-the quantity of cheese that could be produced from each pound of butter-fat, the greater f;he .receipts would be, and the more iiioiiey' there would be for distribution among suppliers. -- In. .calculating the., yield' of cheese, a difference of opinion existed among dairy companies as to the best method. of assessing the amount of cheese, made in. order to arrive- at the rates, - Some companies adopted the system of taking the marked on the crates -when’ the cheese was' approximately fourteen days old,' It was we 11 known that there was aili approximate shrinkage of 2-j "per cent, 'between the marked weights on the crates and the actual sale weights returned ■ fromthe London end. This shrinkage lent itself to another system of aikiving at the amount of cheese made--find .many companies. therefore tpokk;the ? - .marked weights at the time of paclving,Tess-2-i----per cent., to cover the shrinkage. Othei companies took-, the actual sale weight returned, by account sales- and allowed 21 per ,cent, on the balance in stock at the end of the-year. So long ds a similar course was'' adopted year after year it did ,not matter very much to‘:companies which method was adopted, but unless the same course w T a s followed it would be impossible for the particular company concerned to compare~ the work of one year with another. It was also - necessary when- companies were comparing the yield of cheese with other companies to first of all know' what method had been adopted by these companies when commuting the amount of cheese made. It was .perhaps unfortunate that some universal method in this respect was not in vogue, although he thought to-day there was a tendency among companies to adopt the commercial or sale weights as the standard when calculating the yield. Whey fat recovery represented the, amount of butter-fat recovered from the whey by separation after the whey had been run off from the cheese vat. It was impossible to prevent some- loss of fat in the whey in cheese-making but so many conditions arose during the

whole process that contributed to the loss of fat that it Was impossible to detail them all with the time at liis disposal. Briefly, however, losses of fat may be .attributed to two reasons; first, either to the defective condition of the milk; or secondly, mechanical: losses due to-the wrong methods employed by the maker in making the cheese. As there were varying conditions affecting the loss of fat’in the whey it naturally followed that the pfercentage of fat recovery must also vary. It wa s therefore iniposjsible to set an exact standard ,as to' what the whey .recovery should be.. As whey separation had-now' been in operation for some years, cheese companies had had the opportunity of making some calculations in this respect. It • w ould be found in general that; the average season’s wdiey.,recovery under normal contritions was somewhere about 5 per cent, of the butterfat in the whole , milk taken . ..in over the stage. A o per' cent, .recovery of w'hey buttei*-faf. made into butter , and realising on ah f.o.b. basis Is per ,Ib. would approximately be equal to ijd per lb. of the stage butter-fat to the company. Th© cost of separating the whey and making the butter must riot, lioiveyer, be overlooked. It was somew’hat difficult to' ‘get at the exact. cost 'of manufacture in this respect owing to the work in collection with whey separation;. being interlocked with, cheese-' making. Companies which had gone into'this matter contended that .a f air estiriiatewould be equal to from id to dd per lb. of butter-fat- used in the making of the cheese. On this basis the het return to" the. supplier would not be less than ,}d per lb.'butter-fat,' arid his ''return from cheese-making would be accordingly supplemented to this extent'. It was sometimes taken for granted that on account., of skimming the rwhey the loss of : butter-fat iii the ' vl miU ' vas not of so much consequence. This, however, w-as a grave error, for thq .greater the Toss o'f the fat iii' the whey, the greater would be the loss of other cheese solids also, and consequently the cheese yield would be lowered, ancl this in turn would mean a lower return financially. A product tlia ; t ; .at present went to waste in the whey was the sugar of milk. No doubt in time science would come to the rescue by finding ' some economical method of "extracting this sugar of milk and thus adding to the commercial return.

A matter that came into the question of cheese-making was to what extent the pasteurisation of the whole milk was a success commercially. Experience in New Zealand was to the effect that if -a. manager wished to make slimy cheese lie went in for pasteurising if he wanted to come out with a good season’s average .grade he also adopted pasteurising. There was no question about it that to make a uniform article pasteurisation had its advantages, ' particularly where there was a diffeiulty in obtaining a reasonable standard as regarded 'tile quality of milk. There was, however, the other side; and ho was afraid to-day that frequently the indifferent farmer was apt to trade on the fact that his manager pasteurised. The knowledge that pasteurisation was being carried out was looked upon, .by, thi s : type of dairv farmer as a “cure all” for bad milk, and;accordingly lie did not bestow that particular care on his milk taken in under this method as against a nonpasteurising factory. The question that arose here was which was the sounder proposition, to take in nothing but a good, sound quality of milk for cheese-making or to adopt pasteurisation to overcome bad flavours which would otherwise be responsible for such milk being rejected. Experience in regard to market results at home had so far not shown that pasteurised cheese is worth any more than good unpasteiuised cheese, nor were there anv reliable figures available-so iar to prove that pasteurisation improved the yield of cheese. One thing, however, was certain, and that ivas that it was .fust as important for-, the pasteurising factory to accent only good milk '"as it was Tor the non-pasteurising factory todo so.

Coming to the question of the meeting of the company and the marketing of the ..cheese, Mr.. Lees, said they must now look at the part the directors of the cheese company were responsible f6r .in order to inake a commercial success of the company. A very important matter in this respect. was that at all times proper attention must be paid

to the finances of the company. The directors had to assume the. responsibility in this matter, and oil their judgment depended a great deal of the ultimate success of the company. A serious handicap to many companies to-dav was .the fact that they were un-der-capitalised. with the result that there was too - much leaning on the banks for finance, and 1 very often the directors for this reason were called upon to sign guarantees, and shareholders often nad to assist in the same direction with p.n.’s, and the oldtime honpurecl joint and several. Owing to this systein of finance many coin pames had incurred heavy financial obligations without making the necessary provision to liquidate them. This had been accentuated to a very great extent where companies had niade invest. ■ by taking shares in various sub- ■ siqiai-y companies. This class of -business might be;quite sound but the capital account must be built- up ,aecoichngly of reserves set aside to .provide security for the investments made. A properly built up reserve account '. was a greaA asset to a. company with the class of. business mentioned, and was a splendid provision against los s of capital or loss likely to be incurred by bad or doubtful debts. Unfortunately ' the incidence of taxation* that was in opeiation to-day destroyed the inducement to set aside money for reserves, .is was" to* be deplored, as no better insurance against baq times could be . had than, a well built up reserve account. Dealing with the compilation of the balance-sheet, Air. Lees said there were two accounts in particular that called for close attention on the part of the directors—repairs and renewals account and* depreciation ac- ' count—but to a certain extent the two should be considered together. It was the duty of .the directors to see that proper provision was made each year in respect to the amounts and items to be " chargee] to these respective accounts', consistent always with what constituted - a. fafr ancl equitable yearly charge. A 111 directors were responsible to the shareholder ß for the efficient marketing - of their produce. The commercial siu> cess of a cheese company depended a : very -great deal on proper marketing methods being employed, but kiiov? ledge at this end regarding Home methods was very limited and he could not deal with it. There was tmdoubtediy great scope for investigation in legard to transport conditions and the

judicious disposal of the cheese. Commercially there were many debatable points that would arise in this connection such as whether national control of marketing was possible, whether it would be advisable to ship all these under one brand only (N.Z.), whether it would be iii the interests of the industry to brand the first grade only whether shipments could be 'so segulat ed as to prevent the glut on the Home market which frequently occurred 9 But whatever the result of the Control -Board s investigations, or whatever systern of marketing was in operation, there was always one matter »of vital importance, and that was that everv endeavour should be made at this' end ,t° see that quality wa s kent up. Every commercial firm to be successful knew the value of advertising, but he did _ not think sufficient attention was being paid in this connection to i\ew Zealand cheese on the Home market. They were told it was largely owing to advertising the Danes, had worked up a connection for their butter in the North of England and Alidlanas that was almost impregnable. Would it not be wise for New Zealand to copy some of these methods and embark oil a scheme of advertising and propaganda- work that would make New Zealaond. cheese a household word m England? Nor should propaganda be confined to cheese • it should apply to all other dairy Products. In face of the keen competition in the' future it was evident the time had arrived, when favourable consideration should lie given to work of this nature. How ' many to-day knew the nutritive value. ‘ of cheese, butter, and milk* in. coiupanson with other foodstuff’s • For instance one cup of milk contained six' times much lime as an egg and twelve times the amount contained in one slice of bread. Milk was the natural food of the human infant, «nd science told them that the white race could not survive without milk and: its allied products. Milk contained the energy fuel, for bodily functions, the proteins lor tissue building, the minerals for bone formation, and the vitamines for body-building, pne pound of cheese contained all the fats and proteins in one gallon of milk in concentrated form. - They were always advocating an increase in production and surely it was all the more-.necessary- therefore’that : - they should also advertise and use 'pro- * gamla liberally to advocate a greater consumption of the-manufactured products. Air. Lees was accorded a verv hearty vote of thanks for his address, which it was said was one of the most interesting that had ever been delivered before the conference.