CHEESEMAKING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 August 1926, Page 4

CHEESEMAKING.

(To the Editor.)

Sir.—Anent the above, the writer has just dropped across a few facts which, in view of the Hawera Dairy Company s meeting taking place, on the 9th inst., may be interesting to some, of the suppliers and provide food for reflection. At a meeting of the Hawera Accountant Students’ Society (vide Hawera Star, September 7, 1925), Mr Duncan was asked to give his opinions regarding the most suitable milk for cheesemaking, and in the course of a very intelligent address, dealing with the matter of yield and pay-out, the following paragraph occurs: — “In conclusion, and in support of my contention that i£ is misleading to take as the basis of examples lOOlbs of hightesting milk and lOOlbs of low-testing milk, I would like to submit two examples based on the production returns quoted in the Journal of Agriculture dated January 20, 1925, in connection with the Certificate of Record scheme. The examples are of the production and value from a cheese-making point of view of a Jersey and a Friesian cow. These two cows were of about the same age at tlie start of the 365 clays’ test, the Jersey (Jersey Lea Frilby) being 1 year 317 days and the Friesian (Dominion Frisby Beets) 1 year 362 days. Both cows produced for the year within two pounds of the same quantity of butterfat, the figures being 4081bs for the Jersey and 4061bs for the Friesian, and I should say that in their respective classes they are of about equal merit and value/ Now the Jersey produced 79481bs of milk of a 5.13 test, equal to 40Slbs of butter-fat, which, taking a fair average ratio of 2.50 (based on factory experience), would yield 1021 J lbs of cheese, worth £3B 6s 3d at 9d per lb. The Friesian produced 14,2471bs of milk of a 2.84 test, equal to 4061bs of buttcr-fat, which, taking a fair average ratio of 2.80, would yield 11371bs of cheese, worth £42 12s 9d at 9d per lb. Thus the Friesian would return 25.2 pence per lb butter-fat or £4 6s 6cl more for the year thau the Jersey, which returned 22.53 pence per lb butter. ” .

Recently there appeared in the Star some startling. information to some people who were under the delusion that, the main constituent of cheese, in regard to quantity, was butter-fat. The facts came from the laboratory, and the scientist, stated (and he knows) that in 100 lbs of average milk 87-J per cent, is water, and of the remaining 12f per cent, of solids, less than one quarter (I am only quoting from memory) is but-ter-fat. Now, in lOOlbs of manufactured cheese from average milk about 351bs, say, is water. On tho figures above quoted, it would not require a very great scholar to work out approximately how much butter-fat that hundred pounds of cheese contains. It seems to me we are beginning to know a little bit about tho cheese-making industry. The facts are accumulating. Oh, too true!—l am, etc., Fraser Rd. J.G.J.