The Dairy.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 982, 24 December 1890, Page 22

The Dairy.

ENGLISH v. CONTINENTAL DAIRYING.

BY ALEXANDER WATT, F.S.I.

(Agricultural Gazette.) Recent correspondence in these columns show that there is considerable difference of opinion as to why our homemade butter does not hold its own against the imported article, and seeing that many of tlae reasons given on both sides are so wide of the mark, we are induced to deal with the matter in a practical form, and give facts elicited during a lengthenned tour through some of the districts from which huge quantities of foreign dairy produce are sent to us. It is beyond dispute that Continential butter has got a firm hokl on our markets, not because it is of better quality than we can produce, or is sold at lower prices, but on account of its never failing uniformity. This may be characterised as a ‘fad of the rich,’ and doubts may be entertained as to its continuance; but the fact has to be faced, that if English dairy farmers will not—as our Continental neighbours have done—study the tastes of consumers in our large towns, and make such provision from time to time as will meet them, they must be contented with the position in which they now find themselves.

English dairy herds will compare favourably with most of those we have seen on the Continent ; rent, rates, and taxes are not higher here than they are in Normandy; English farmers can grow forage crops of better quality, and even at less cost than our French neighbours; the question of cheaper labour is moi’e than counterbalanced by the cost of transit, or by Octroi (town dues), and we are confident that it only needs a combination of productive powers and skilled manipulation to place English butter-making farmers in the front rank of the trade.

Going more closely into the matter it may be well to look at the system and cost of production in the dairy districts of Normandy; and we may here say that the quotations we will now give in each case from instances noted, and averages carefully made by the writer when travelling in the districts referred to. On the second and third class tillage farms, with only small proportions of meadow land, and where dairying is carried on to a considerable extent, the rents paid are from 18s to 30s an acre ; while on the best dairy farms, with about two thirds meadow and pasture, from 35s to 65s an acre is paid. The rates aad-taxes are paid by the tenant run from 3s 6d to 4s 6d an acre on the poor land, and from 7s 6d to 9s on the best farms. This of course does not refer to market garden or accommodation land near towns, on which both rent and taxes run much higher. The wages of ordinary farm labourers, boys and men, are from £l4 to £24 a year, and that of women (who do a great portion of the work on dairy farms) from £lO to £l6 a year, in each case with board and lodging in the farmhouse. Day labourers get from 2s to 2s 3d a day in winter, about 2s 6d in summer, and from 3s to 4s a day for harvest work, out of which they have to pay from £3 4s to £3 12s a year for their cottages. We found that the yield of milk and the proportion of butter made from it is very much the same as in this country, varying, of course, according to the quality of land and the artificial food given. The system of butter-making is

not better, and in many instances barely equal to that adopted in the average English dairy. Churning is only done three or four times a week, which necessitates cream of various degrees of ripeness being made together, and, with few exceptions, the ordinary appliances are in use, so that the butter is usually worked and packed up in one lump by hand. These lumps are sent to the weekly market and sold to agents or owners of butter factories at prices ranging from 10w per pound in summer to Is Id in winter- Without giving details of the treatment which the butter undergoes in these factories, we may state that it is graded, blended, coloured, lightly salted, and worked up in the butter mill till the grain is completely destroyed, and it looks more like finely prepared animal fat than the full-flavoured, firm-grained article one expects to find as the product of a good raw cream dairy. After the above treatment the butter is made up in 21b rolls, twelve of which are packed with prepared paper in neat wooden boxes, and consigned to commission agents in London or ether lai-ge towns; these agents sell it to the butter merchants, who retail it consumers.

It will thus be seen that the Normandy butter, from the time it leaves the producer till it reaches the consumer, passes through at least three middlemen, all of whom must, as a matter of course, get some advantage in the shape of profit on the outlay of capital, or commission for the work they perform, and, after all, is sold in London at from 5d to 7d per pound more than farmers in outlaying districts can make of a better article in their local markets. That such a state of matters should prevail, and that men of ordinary intelligence should stand grumbling while the foreign dairy farmer and the middleman take money out of their pockets, says little for the energy and enterprise of the British farmer. We do not say that if butter factories on the Normandy style were extensively established in this country a high class of bntter would be produced, but it would be equal to, if not better, than the imported article, and if the system of co-operation were adopted, the produce could be put on the market in quantities, and of such uniform quality, as would command attention, the producer and consumer would be brought more closely together, and the cost of transit would be materially reduced, and the cooperating farmer would get the full market value for his produce.

In addition to the butter factories in Normandy, which, as has been shown, are chiefly engaged in the export trade, a number of dairy factories are carried on 'by dairy farmers who keep large numbers of cows on their own holdings, and buy milk from their neighbours in considerable quantities, for which they pay 5d per gallon in summer and 6d per gallon in winter, returning the sepai’ated milk, or allowing an extra penny a gallon for it. In these establishments we found that the sanitary arrangements were perfect, that the most approved systems of separating, churning, working, making up, hardening, and packing were adopted, that all the best dairy machines were in use, and that, as a natural consequence, butter of the very best quality was produced, which made the top price in the Paris market.

This system seems to be more in favour here, and we believe that were it not for the labour necessary in the

delivery of milk to the factory it would be considerably extended. It will be seen at a glance that, the larger the output from any one establishment, the stronger would be its hold on the market, and if some plan of having skimming stations in districts where milk can be got could be arranged, all the cream could be sent to one central butter-making depot, the labour of delivery would be very much reduced and uniformity rendered more certain. We need only turn to Denmark to show what can be done in this way, and it will be seen that while in 1883 the exports of butter amounted to 19,000,0001 b pm- annum, they now stand at close on 60,000,0001 b. being considerably more than any other nation.

This is mainly due to the centrifugal separation and co-operation, and it is a notable fact that where rapid strides have been made in the manipulation of pure butter the adulterated article is driven out of the field.

A large number of ‘ Andelsmejerier ’ (co-operative dairies) are entirely made up of small farmers who bring their milk once or twice a day, and are paid according to quality, taking back the skimmed milk for household use and stock rearing. These establishments continue to increase year by year, and from undoubted authority we find that the increase has been attended with satisfactory -.results all over the couutry.

The butter produced, besides being of good quality, is always of uniform colour, make, and salting, and is mostly sold to the well-to-do working classes in this country, who, having many other kinds to choose from, are not as a rule easily pleased. It seems, however, that we have not only to reckon with our continential neighbours in the supply of dairy products, but must look further afield. Only last week we had a visit from Mr Reynolds, of the firm of Reynolds and Co., Limited, butter and cheese factory owners, of Auckland, New Zealand, who is here for six months for the purpose of establishing a market for their butter in every large town in the kingdom. This gentleman has been in the Colony for twenty years, and for some time has—in conjunction with other agricultural pursuits—been engaged in organising and developing a gigantic system of skimming stations, with a central factory for making, packing, and exporting the butter.

From what we learned from Mr Reynolds, from further details of the undertaking now before us, and from the condition of the samples (packed in. various ways) after a voyage of thirtynine days, we are inclined to think that the imports from New Zealand are likely to have some effect on our home markets, especially as the largest quantities will bs sent during the winter season, when prices are all in favour of the foreign producer. With the surplus dairy produce of so many foreign countries thrown orf our markets it is certainly time to throw prejudice to the winds, and make a firm stand in adopting such systems, be they milk factories, creameries, or butter factories, as will enable home-made butter to be placed on the market in such a condition as will meet the public taste, successfully compete with the imported article, and bring producers and consumers as closely together as possible.

Agricultural opinion ou the Continent is becoming agreed tba it is more profitable to milk cows three times daily in place of twice, and that centrifugal creaming of the milk is the most profitable of plans. It has not been demonstrated that the mechanical process so deprives the residue milk of its fatty matters as to render it unfit for feeding calves while developing in them diarrhoea. Should the nnlk be poor in fat a little oil cake will remedy the defect. Centrifugal creaming has not been found to lessen the production of butter or to affeot its flavour or aroma. A German dairy farmer in the neighbourhood of Ronigsberg relates his experience by his account books with 73 cows during 26 years. The annual daily average of milk per cow was 11 quarts, which realised for the year, plus the sale of the calf, 528 francs. The feed per head per day consisted of 341 b distillery grains. 2glb of oil cake, 31b malt dust, 171 b mangolds, 171 b hay, and 101 b of straw and siftings. During the three summer months the cattle receive green forage. The cattle kept belong to the Dutch breed crossed with local races ; they are always maintained in tho best condition, so as to be fit for the butcher the moment the yield of milk per day decends to 6 and 7 quarte. Some of the cows even are sold when yielding a higher quantity of milk even daily, because they fall off in appearance. One half of the herd is renewed yearly. No stock is ever reared, that practice having been found unsuitable for shed kept animals. With reference to the comparison of the Joseph Harding and Canadian systems of cheddar Gheese making, we are enabled, through tho courtesy of Mr Wallace, of Aucbenbrain, to give from his Dairy Book the following particulars as to the making of the cbeddar cheeso with which he carried the champion prize at the Kilmarnock cheese show last autumn ;—Date of making. 16th May ; quantity of milk, 110 gallons ; temperature of evening’s milk in the morning, 65 deg j seconds tested at 24 deg; time of ripening, 90 minutes ; quantity of colouring, 13oz full ; temperature at which rennet was added, 84 deg, quantity of rennet, oz; temperature beaten to 101 deg; timeofheating,ss minntes ; quantity of curd, 1101 b (lib to the gallon); time in the whey, 175 minutes ; amount of salt, 21b 3oz. These particulars may enable our dairying fiiends to ‘go and do likewise.’

On th 9 subject of using milk from tho separators for feeding calves, a writer in the Melbourne Leader says:—‘There are still some farmers, strange to say, in a large way of dairying, who object to the cream separator, from the mistaken belief that they oould not rear their calves on separated milk. We may explain that the difference betweon ordinary milk and that which has passed through the separator consists in this, that the whole, or all but a traoe, of the 3J or 4 per cent of the butter fat has been removed, and that the residue is more or less pure skimmed milk. The difference between separated and ordinary skimmed milk is twofold ; the latter may contain as much as 1 per cent of the butter fat left in ; that is, about a forth of the whole, and Is, of course, so much the more valuable on this account; but, on the other hand, it is not fresh—iu fact may actually be ‘on the turn ’ before it can be used. The gain in the quantity of the butter may be as much as 25 per cent by tho use of the separator, while the perfect freshness of the by-product is of the utmost importance. The separated, milk is rich in the cheesy matter which goes to form flesh, but it would not fatten very rapidly, while the small quantity of fat in the hand-skimmed milk would help in this direction. But even with this latter good managers will introduce some meal to help on the process a little more rapidly, and it is only a case of adding still more to the separated product. The substance which suggests itself most naturally for this purpose is, of course, linseed made into gruel with the milk. But, apart altogether from these theoretical considerations, there is the great practical fact that all over the country in hunlreds of instances separators ate used and the by-product fed to calves with the beat results. If the dairymen who do this had found that it did not pay they would have stopped it long ago. For practical work, again, there can be no question of the superiority of the separator. It is so handy and efficient,- white the setting in panß takes up so muoh room, takes up so mnoh time, and involves so mnch labour the wonder is that any one now-a-days who has any quantity of milk to manipulate is to be found who does not invest in this utensil.