CARE OF MILK AND CREAM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 10

CARE OF MILK AND CREAM.

ADVANTAGES) OF GRADING.

The manner in which' milk and cream are handled and cared for on the farm,, and the quality of raw products generally affecting! the dairy industry, came in for special mention in a paper Presented by Mr. G. W. Batt, Dairy Division Officer in charge of the Kaitieke Herd Testing Association, to the. annual meeting of supplier! of the Kaitieke Co-op. Dairy Company,"Lid.> Mr. Batt writes: It . is ;'* incumbent v on each share-holder-supplier of i: a co-operative company to see that the quality of the < produce ; roi|n ' his farm is the best that ; can 'w secured, , otherwise he is unjustly affecting the business and pockets of his fellow-co-operators, who are producing - a"' good 'article. '■'. Each farmer should understand 1 hat it is his own business, and by helpline his neighbours to improve their supply he is indirectly assisting himself. We have seen in older districts the value; of an improvement in quality, and the greater price realised, and on one occasion this season we, have seen the price of Danish butter exceeded by that of New Zealand. This is mainly due to an improvement in our raw products, by better conditions on the farm, and an increased knowledge of the care of milk and cream on the part of the farmers concerned. This has been assisted to a very great 'extent by the system of cream grading introduced some years ago, whereby a farmer supplying superfine produce received extra payment, and the one who supplied poor quality was penalised. The justice of the system is obvious, and in acting as' an incentive to farmers to improve their quality has a far-reaching effect "on the qualify of our butter. I would like to see such a system inaugurated- in this district! in the near future, as it has been shown, and is still being proved, that the farmer who is the furthest away t from the factory is not unduly handicapped. We .'see continually that the man whose cream is all day 'on the road can supply & siperfine grade, while the man within a :!ew minutes' of the factory supplies poor quality, clearly showing that it is the care the article receives which in responsible.