PAY-OUT FOR CHEESE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 9

PAY-OUT FOR CHEESE

Sir, —The system of pay-out for cheese, on the butter-fat content of milk, is at present a much-discussed problem ajnong farmers and dairy companies. Tho breeders and champions of the Channel Island breeds cliira that the present system is fair, while the adherents of the heavier yielding and lower testing breeds are united in their condemnation of it. Statistics arid mentific investigation has revealed points for both sides, but to my ' mind the problem will automatically imlvo itself as this country matures. At the present time we have herds of all breeds democratically rubbing noses over tlieir respective boundary fences in nearly every district in the Pominion, a state of things that exists nowhere else in the world. Cheshire is'noted for its cheese, Devonshire for cream and butter, and so on, and in those districts one sees the. type or breed of cattle suited to the product manufactured or marketed. It is onjy the fact of this indiscriminate mixing of breeds that makes cheese manufacture possible in some of our districts. For instance, if a district with only Island cattle were to erect a cheese factory, because of slightly higher pay-out, they would very soon be forced to close down and go in for butter, as the public do not want an oily, crumbly, open cheese such as is only possible to make with high-testing miik. Ido not intend to go into the merits of the respective breeds. All have their good and bad points, but if the powers thai be will adopt this letter as the germ of an idea in the future erection of cheese factories, then it will have served some useful purpose. PIXSATOft.