NEW ZEALAND'S DAIRY PRODUCE EXPORT TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8500, 26 February 1891, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND'S DAIRY PRODUCE EXPORT TRADE.

: : : _ . No. ii. ;.-\ J [BY OCR ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL CORRESj • , ' V •('')" FONDEST.]. • • r • London, January 9. In my first letter upon this subject I pro- , raised to refer more in detail to the Danish 3 system of dairying, the causes of ite sucj cess, and its bearing upon the dairy I, farmer's interests. There is nothing special b in the Danish system of dairying, as already 3 observed, beyond the great care exercised ' in getting good milk to work with, and in ) exporting only such butter as will keep up » the reputation of the exporters. I mean ; that " in the manipulation of the milk, 1 cream, and butter there is nothing in the i Danish practice superior to the best Engi lish or New Zealand practice. On the con- ■ trary, the Danes use the hand a great deal k too much in the manipulation of the butter, and to this bad practice, or else to occa- '■> sional carelessness in the selection of the ' salt used,' I am disposed to attribute what i I call a "smeaky" flavour " that, to my taste, ie very objectionable. Danish butter > sold here is scarcely ever rank in flavour, . because the exporters take care not to send i us any that is rancid; but it is often un- > pleasant to a delicate palate, and I should > not set it up as a model quality for uni- > versal imitation. On the other hand, there ■ is a great deal in the Danish factory system which is deserving of general imitation. From my point of view, the best system is the one which pays the dairy farmers best, and such a system has come into general operation in Denmark, as it has not in England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Australia, or any other country besides Denmark, so far as I know. In some it Is practised to a small extent, but not commonly. No one is more convinced than I am that the factory system is essential to a successful export trade in butter, - because regularity of quality for a given brand is ono of the most important of requirements for establishing and keeping up the reputation of 'the commodity. But * it would hot satisfy me to learn that New Zealand shippers had succeeded in establishing a high reputation for their butter in English markets unless I was also assured that the dairy farmers of New , Zealand were sharing fairly in the resultant advantages. From the first it has been my contention that dairy factories should be established by means of co operation among dairy farmers, and carried on for the farmer's benefit; otherwise their introduction would mean only the extension of the . middleman element, which enters already a great deal too much into the business of agriculture. Now, the Danes have pretty generally come to tho same conclusion, and it is : in this respect that their example deserves to-be held up for universal imitation. ' " *' When Denmark began to export butter extensively the system in vogue was the one ' still followed- in Normandy, briefly known as the repacking system. In reality, however, it is a re-working as well as a re packing system. The great dealers who : established factories bought butter made in private dairies, sorted the different lots into , grades, of quality, and worked those of each set up together, thus producing ' large quantities "of the several grades for export. This system- paid very well for a time, for, though it was not one under which the best butter could be produced, really good butter was so scarce at that period that the Danish brands stood fairly high in comparison with other brands. But a great improvement took place after the centrifugal cream separator was introduced. It soon came into extensive use on the large dairy farms in Denmurk, and the owners of factories quickly began to buy milk from the farmers instead of butter, while a number of new factories were built. But the competition for milk became too active, and the owners of factories who bought from small farmers found that many of them sent in milk of very poor quality— inferior to that produced on the large farms where the occupiers had cream separators of their own. In many cases, too, the milk sent to the factories was adulterated, and endless disputes and dissatisfaction resulted. There was a great*difficulty* again, in utilising tho skim-milk. For a time it was made into cheoss ; but this soon became 4 a drug in the market, and then tho separated milk was given to the pigs, which did not pay much for it. Although the dairy farmers had the best of it during the tran-' sition period, the turn of misfortune must speedily have come, as the competition for milk would soon have fallen off under such circumstances as the one above briefly described. Happily a way out of the muddle was found in the establishment of cooperative dairy factories. The owners of most of the private factories entered into partnership with the neighbouring farmers, while groups of farmers elsewhere established factories of their own. The two great difficulties of the transition period then became removable. The farmers were mutually interested in the supply of genuine milk of good quality to the factories, and it became easy to enforce rules as to the quality of the milk, and even as to the feeding and treatment of the cattle. Again, the difficulty . of disposing of the separated milk was got rid of, as it was taken home by the farmers when quite fresh for use in the rearing of calves—a business in which most of them were engaged. There are still several private butter factories in Denmark, but most of them are co-operative, the farmers sharing in tho profits in proportion to the quantity of milk supplied by each. Of course, the chief hindrance to the general establishment of co-operative factories by dairy farmers is lack of capital; but the amount of money required is not large, provided that those engaged in the business are content to take payment for their milk after the butter has been sold. -Another point not yet alluded to is the ?[uestion whether butter cannot be sent rom New Zealand in cool chambers, without being actually frozen. A trial of this plan is ; being made in Victoria ; but a stupid muddle has been made of the first attempt, the butter having been left for an | hour or two in transit to the ship in a van I upon which the hot sunshine was blazing. That mistake having been detected, it was folly to allow the experiment to be made I with the lot of butter so injured, as the ! result cannot well be otherwise than a failure, and thus discredit may be undeservedly cast upon the place tried. It is stated that some butter has previously been sent in this way—-without freezing—from New South Wales, but I have not been able to trace it. If any has come so, it has apparently arrived in good condition, as Messrs. Page and Son inform me that all the lots of Australian that they have seen recently have been in good order; but they do not know of any lot having come in the new way. A great point will be gained if butter can be kept through the voyage without freezing it, as frozen butterwill never keep long after it has been thawed; it quickly - becomes: soft, and begins to turn rancid. My friend Professor,. Long recommends a temperature of 37. degrees, but I see that the trial was to be. made from Australia at 40 degrees. The most profitable branch of dairying in this country at the present time is the sale of cream, which is put up in ueab little earthenware jars, and sold by provision merchants retail at 3d for thin and 6d for thick cream per quarter pint, and 8d to lOd per half pint. This pays a great deal better than making butter, although the jugs, corks, and labels make a considerable item in the expenses. The net return in one factory, . after paying for jugs, &c., cost of carriage, and agent's commission, is Is a pint for thick cream, and dairy farmers will know how well such a price pays. New Zealand factory owners might have a try for a share in this profitable business. I am afraid that all the cream so sold has, some preservative added to it—boracic or : salicylic acid. For expert ' I should say i that the cream should be scalded and her- 1 metically sealed, just as condensed milk is. 1 This brings ms to the last -part 6 f my ' subject. It seemo to me that New Zealand 1 has a splendid opening in connection with ' the manufacture of condensed milk, Even | in this country, where the lowest summer ] price of milk delivered at the factory is 5Ad ( an imperial gallon, the Anglo-Swiss Com- j pany appear to make the business pay, as 1 they; have a large factory at* Aylesbury.' i As only '2sd a 'gallon is , paid in New i Zealand there ; is a wide margin for profit. ' Condensed milk ■ of great value may be ' 1 packed in a very small space, so the freight J would be but a minute percentage on the returns. It is difficult to learn anything , about this business. The Anglo-Swiss ] Company will not allow anyone to see over i their factory. I think Air. Henry Reynolds i

told me that he had tried to get into.it, anc had failed. But I have put him in th« way of seeing over a factory in which milkcondensing, "as well a3 buttermaking- was recently carried on, and where all the planl - is still left.* - The former industry has beer stopped,' partly because the owners of the factory.made a bad start by sending out a lot of stuff that would not keep, and sc " permanently injuring the reputation oi i their brand. Besides, they started by . paying farmers 7d a gallon for milk, and it r will not do to give so much if condensed . milk is to be made honestly. At the factory referred to two qualities were made— f one (ostensibly at least) from the whole I milk, and the other from the separated l milk. This was how buttermaking was to ) be combined with the manufacture of coni densed milk, and a very promising scheme , it seemed. It is doubtful whether some oi j the cream is not abstracted from even the - best of condensed milk. The sugar which - is added covers a multitude of sins—or at I least prevents their easy detection. But , there is no opening for any but a genuine - article, as there are some very good brands s in which the public have confidence, and it ; may be that these are honestly made. In r this factory the tins were made by boys ■ and girls on the premises, and a great , saving was thereby effected. When the [ factory was at work I was allowed to see • everything but the condensing. It would be a good thing if dairy farmers in New Zealand could co-operate to manufacture i condensed milk after obtaining the services of a thoroughly capable and trustworthy • expert to superintend the work for them, i I fancy they would then get a good deal more than a gallon as the-gross return I for their milk. Such , a price is not satis- . factory. . Even if the average yield of a cow be taken at 500 gallons per annum— and a country must have good cows to show such an average for the whole of all i agesthe gross return, besides the value of the calf, is only £5 4s a year, which is not much to cover all expenses and risks, and to pay for a year's keep. . Any further information that I can obtain from time to time in connection with the export dairy industry shall be given in my ordinary letters to this journal.