FARMERS' CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13496, 24 May 1907, Page 6

FARMERS' CONFERENCE.

ADDRESS BY THE DAIRY COMMISSIONER. : V . An important agricultural conference was opened in connection with the Winter Show, at - the' Drill Hall yesterday jijoriting, the morning and afternoon > being de-1 voted to the dairy,, section, and the fruit, poultry and flax sections _ being fixed for j to-day." ..sw" ~ ' s'i';- ■ ' The . president, of the ' association (Mr. I John Massev) presided,' and ther4' ; -sfas a large attendance, there being- about'; 150! present. • ; 'V v. ' The President stated that the Hon. R. McNab, Minister for Lands, had intended to open : the conference with < an address, but owing- to the illness of , the / ActingPremier, Mr. ,McNab' was unable , to , remain. . The association was very deeply indebted to him for having ' come - all the way from ...Wellington''to redeem his promise to open the show. (Applause.) • - THE BUTTER COMPETITIONS. Mr. D. Cuddie ' (Chief Dairy Commissioner) congratulated the> Agricultural and Pastoral Association on the excellent exhibition now being held in Auckland, and it' might interest exhibitors- if lie said something-" about the butter. ' (Applause.) The successful exhibitors were to be highly . congratulated upon their success, . and the factory managers in Auckland -and other provinces ; deserved the highest , congratulation upon the very high', quality of the butter as a whole. (Applause.) With a few exceptions the- butter was really good. Seeing that the butter was J opened up under the same conditions- that it was landed on the London market, it was not to be wondered that those who handled the butter in London were well pleased with it. (Applause.) As the butter "was stored for the same time and under the same temperature as if.'sent to London, it was a good" test. If * they could get the manufacturers to apply a little extra care I to everyday work, . it would mean, that I New Zealand butter would come more into favour on the Home market, and . if there was added to that better care of the raw material, it would be. better still. • He did not say the butter was better than that at other shows, but it was equally as good and the judges had a very difficult task in deciding between a number of the highest scoring butters. .He was looking forward to the time when factory, managers would be . able to judge the i butters along with the Dairy Commissioner, so that : . there

would be a sort of jury. This : system had been a, success in other ; countries. " Although a large quantity of the . produce was of very fine flavour, a few of the exhibits were not by any means as good as they should be, and this was probably due to ; impurities in ' the ; raw material or faults in manufacture. - It was almost, impossible at this stage ; to tell the cause of the deterioration, ■ because there were so many influences affecting - flavour.- There was," however, one golden rule and that was strict attention to cleanliness. By j taking more care with "the raw material, a, very great number of the ; faults in our dairy produce were preventable.. He was glad to say there had been improvement in the quality of creamery butter shipped from Auckland province during last season, and it was. going to be a difficult matter to continue this improvement, and, therefore, everyone interested would require to do his best. " " The industry had extended greatly lately, and the hand separator had played a big part. If the utensils - were thoroughly cleansed, and the cream cooled down properly, and sent to the factory daily, there would be less complaint. Unfortunately many people seemed to neglect these points, and it seemed to him that as time went on, it would be more difficult to turn out good butter, owing to the increasing number of. hand separators.. In the meantime, he would strongly urge factory managers, who handled the indifferent cream, to pasteurise. Many objected because of the cost, but the increased quality of. the butter would more than compensate. - * ' Speaking about cheese, Mr. Cuddie said that upon going over the exhibits that morning, he had ; noticed that they nearly all came from the South Island. He did not quite know why the cheese industry had not extended in Auckland province. He thought there was room for it. He did, not say they should extend it at. the expense of the butter, but there was room ' for,, both. - The cheese industry was ./V oh ft ' much better footing than a few years ago. He was sorry to say the quality at this show was rot up to tha " usual standard of show - cheese, but there was good cheese there. He was told the cheese was not specially made, but. was' taken out of export ' lots, .so that would account for it. A-number of the cheeses were not as neatly finished as they, might have been. He had been' asked to say something about the testing of cows. Only a few had carried out < weighing and testing of the milk systematically, • and they; were so pleased with the results that they, were putting- the method to practical use.' Not much progress would be made in . testing if it was left to the individual farmer to carry it out. *If provision were made -for the testing of cows' and keeping of records a great many farmers would be willing, to join. The time had arrived when some combined action was necessary, such as the forming of cow testing associations. Co-operation in the industry had been a great success as far as it had gone, but it had not gone far enough; it had fallen short: by not supplying farmers with data regarding individual cows. He hoped the dairy farmers of Auckland would start a movement to have this done. He referred to the cow testing associations •of ; Denmark, where 172, cows were dealt with, and the work had " resulted in an increase of 9001b •of - milk and 421b of butter per cow. He had; no definite scheme, but would like the farmers to, discuss the subject, and probably some scheme could be evolved. (Applause.) In answer to the president, Mr. Cuddie said he had no hesitation ,in saying that the Babcock tester, if properly used, was thoroughly reliable. ' ' Mr D. MdEltham said shareholders sometimes accused the factory . managers of putting down the tests, but he did not believe this, for what would be the'benefit? He would like to know what addition it would mean, to. the over run.. '

Mr. Cuddie said a reduction of one point would mean between two and three .per cent: in the over : run. If three points were cheated out it would give an additional eight per cent, over" run,, and . there would be an over run of 181b on every 1001b, and he did not think many factories got that... About 111b was the usual. " Mr. McEltham said he was very, glad to hear the Commissioner's reply for it disposed of the suspicions some "shareholder's of factories' seemed; to ' : entertain. "{ Applause.), ••• . PASTEURISATION V. INSPECT

Mr. J. Tait, manager of the Wharigarei Butter Factory, stated in the course of a paper recommending" pasteurisation of milk and cream that, if producers arid dairy farmers made -a caretul study of the subject they would See that the universal adoption of the process throughout - the colony would result indirect,financial profit to the- producers of .butter-fat.. It was the quality equally with the quantity of butter. that "was going to put money in the pockets of the dairy farmer. From experts both past, and present it was learnt that to obtain a uniform make, and a quality that would not rapidly deteriorate in export butter, the pasteurisation of the mil*: or cream' should be adopted by the makers. The tastes and prejudices of consumers had to (be studied. . Makers should study the trade requirements and aim for a uniform standard of excellence such as had handsomely recouped the producers of Denmark. The British consumer always the preference to the goods that pleased him, the price, being a secondary consideration. Danish butter brought a high price mainly because its Government had legislated in the direction of making pasteurisation of' the milk and cream compulsory. Pasteurisation was simply the process of heating'the milk and cream to a comparatively high temperature to destroy : the undesirable bacteria lodging in the fluid .during ..the work, of milking and separating. Manufacturers of dairy appliances had gone near to perfecting pasteurisers,: ana the-process could now be carried out effectively, and at a minimum of cost. It could be carried out with the whole milk, or, the skim milk and cream separately to suit the needs of those adopting the. system, r but only a series of experiments would determine which method would give the best results. The system most in favour in Denmark was pasteurisation 6f milk and cream after separation. The increased cost in manufacture to the producers by adopting pasteurisation- riot so far been arrived at, owing to the want of an experimental station, but the speaker hoped to see an early solution of this problem, especially as it was likely an agricultural college would' be an accomplished fact within the next year. The difficulty in the cooling of skim milk should not exist, although ,it was one,,of the points regarded by companies as insurmountable owing ..to . the cost;-, This could be overcome by the pasteurisation of the cream. From a factory which adopted the process he had learnt'that the . increased cost of manufacture from home-separated cream supply amounted 10 l-42d per,; pound of butter. Witri creamery separation it would 'cost a trifle more. , Mr. Tait advised those who handled home-separated cream to have their plant biought sufficiently up to date to carry out pasteurisation thoroughly arid efficiently. ' ....

In reply to a question Mr. Tait stated that pasteurisation appliances should not cost much more than £50, while he did not think the process would entail additional assistance in the factory ; adopting it.

Mr. J. R. Scott said ' the Government should be urged to inaugurate a system of rigorous milk inspection and instruction. While he did .not express any opinion as to whether pasteurisation improved- the butter made, he would say that it did r not improve the condition of the milk. . , ■£- Mr. A. A. Thornton contended that pasteurisation was the, only 1 process which would bring about an improvement in the butter made in the Auckland province. GOVERNMENT INSPECTION. " Mr. J. D.'. Ritchie (Secretary for. Agriculture) was asked by Mr. Massey if it was the intention of the: Government to go in for the inspection of milk and , herds, and he replied that while he could not say if the work would be taken up immediately, the matter was under consideration. At present the dairies supplying milk for consumption were inspected, and he, personally, considered ' that the time had arrived for all dairies to b# thoroughly inspected. (Applause.) -He thought ' that if the conference gave an expression of opinion as to the desirableness of instituting such an inspection it would help to forward the movement, and he - would be

pleased to accompany; the-resolution with a recommendation that it be given effectto. In reply to a- further question, Mr Ritchie said that if a fee was imposed for inspection, it would be so small that it would!, not- hurt anybody.' While it was not the desire of the Government to make money out of the fanners, the work could hardly be done for nothing. - " Mr. Scott further stated that improvement in the milk supply came before anything elge, as the defective milk was the; weak, link in the dairy industry. ; He' moved: — - • • This Conference is of .opinion that the in-, spection of the dairies and herds of the farmers supplying milk to .dairy factories would be calculated to improve the milk supply of the colony, and it would be a' desirable course to adopt. ; • . .. • - • Mr. Tait seconded . the motion, which met with general favour, and was adopted. . DISEASES OF DAIRY STOCK.

A lecture on " Contagious' Diseases Affecting Dairy Stock '' was delivered in the afternoon by Mr. C. J. Reakes, M.R.C. V.S., of the veterinary branch of the Department of ' Agriculture. Mr. Reakes said that fortunately the contagious diseases with which dairy farmers in New Zealand were concerned were comparatively limited in "number, but. nevertheless, there was a very considerable annual loss involved .by the few diseases that were prevalenta loss which could be avoided were the farmers to take united action in the matter of combating the. diseases. Tuberculosis • was the'most - serious disease, and so far as it. was known at present, it was impossible to cure it by medicinal treatment. Probably' nine-tenths of the existing cases in the colony were due to the. feeding of calves on separator milk from cows suffering from tuberculosis of the udder. This custom must- be stopped if they were going to get rid of the disease. This ■ could be done by sterilising the milk thoroughly before it was given to the calves. If this were done it would be possible to soon get -tuberculosis under control. ' The importance of the cleanliness of feeding troughs and . milk barrels . was another 6trong ■ point that should be borne in mind. Contagious abortion and sterility, he said, was another common disease, but one which he believed could be almost completely eradicated in the colony within three years, if proper and systematic action were taken by dairy farmers, whose total loss through this disease at present, probably " totalled £200,000 or £300,000 a year. The treatment was simple and effective, .full particulars ; being given in the Department's ileaflets. He also dealt with contagious mammitis (inflammation of the udder) , which, he said, was a troublesome disease, usually communicated from cow. to cow through" the medium of .the milker's hands. The thorough disinfecting of the hands after milking a cow affected with this disease was recommended. The cooperation of the farmers was a necessary adjunct to the efforts of the Department if the various diseases referred to were to be successfully fought. t At the conclusion of his lecture, Mr. Reakes answered a number of questions, and on the motion of the chairman a vote of thanks was accorded him. •

'J. / MILKING MACHINES. A lecture.on "Milking -and Milking Machines" was delivered by Mr. W. Cole. He contrasted the old fashion of hand milking with the advantages of the milking machine, and after reviewing the features of each method, said there appeared to be a consensus of; opinion in favour of the machine. It was, he Said, more rapid and more cleanly than the method of milking by hand, as where the milk found it?, way direct into air-tight cans it was impossible for it to be contaminated by any dirt. Machines . did not. vary in temper, as* was the. .case with, men, and the result of the use of the machines- was. usually, not. only a • greater ( yield of milk, but also an improvement in quality. He referred in this i connection to :the important j part played by the refrigerator in the modern dairying [development. rv. • k.A vote of' thanks 'was accorded ! Mr. Cole for' his, address.... • . . •