The Dairy.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 994, 20 March 1891, Page 21

The Dairy.

CO-OPERATIVE DAIRYING IN IRELAND. During tlie last few months a movement has been set on foot in connection with one of the chief industries of Ireland—for the establishment of cooperative creameries in the butterproducing districts, particularly those of Munster. O wing to the introduction of machinery, a complete revolution has taken place in butter-making of late years; following the lead of Denmark, most of the butter-making countries of Europe have abandoned the old system of each farmer making his own butter, and factories, owned, either by individuals, by companies, or worked on co-operative principles, have been instituted. Ireland alone is still behindhand in this matter; the Irish farmer clings to the old system, which, cannot now be carried on profitably, as creamery butter at present commands at least ten per cent more in. the English market than the best butter made on the old-fashioned plan. The main advantages of the creamery 1 system are—first, that the separator yields about twenty per cent more butter on any given amount of milk ; aud secondly, that its use secures to the butter uniformity in colour and taste,

I was, much interested lately in visiting a butter factory in the county Limerick, situated in one of the great dairying districts. Three separators and a steam churn were at •work, and the rapidity, skill, and cleanliness with which all the various operations were carried on, up to the packing in 501 b firkins for the English market, made it easy to understand how impossible it is for home-made butter to compete with that produced in a factoi'y. Most of the butter factories at present existing in Ireland belong to individual capitalists or joint stock companies, in which the proS s go to the shareholders, who are not necessarily farmers themselves.

The aim of the originators of the new movement has been to urge upon farmers the immense advantage of organising themselves into co-operative dairying societies, instead of either selling their milk and cream to manufacturers, or else of resting content with the lower price the inferior homemade butter can obtain. The large society, called the Co-operative Union, which has its head-quarters in Manchester, is prepared to extend its organisation to Ireland, and to do what it can to help the Irish co-operators in the sale- of their butter, and in other ways. It appears that to make a cooperative creamery successful the milk of 600 or SOO cows is necessary, and the requisite capital is something over dSI per cow. The plan upon which the scheme is worked is thus explained— ‘ to establish one of these societies, the farmers of a district meet, and if, after discussing, the question, they find enough cows and enough money are available, they subscribe the necessary shares, form a committee, appoint a secretary and treasurer, and authorise them to pro ceed to secure the required premises and machinery. At the same time, those farmers who join the dairy society can become members of the Cooperative Union by a small subscription per annum per man.’ All profits realised when the working expenses are paid, and the payment of five per cent made on the share and loan capital, become the property of the farmers, in proportion to the amount of milk he has supplied.

“Various other questions arise in connection with the new system. Socially it will effect a considerable change, for at present butter-making is the chief employment of a very large proportion of women among farmers 5 wive 3 and daughters, whereas men are almost exclusively employed in the factories. It is curious that, in spite of the fact that the interests of so large a number of women are at stake, they were wholly unrepresented at the meetings held lately, except on one occasion when one widow was present. Those women who, as owners of cows and intending shareholders, were directly concerned sent some male friend or relation to represent them j public opinion seemed to be against their appearing in person. The problem of carrying on winter dairying is also opened up, for this hardly exists in Ireland now. The establishment of these co-operative creameries will no doubt stimulate farmers to till more land in order to produce crops for feeding the cows during the winter months, so as not to allow the valuable machinery to be idle during that part of the year the demand for butter is at its best. During the last fortnight of September alone no less than ten co-operative dairy societies were formed in the counties of Tipperary, Cork, and Limerick. In a short time such a marked success has attended the efforts of those interested in this matter that it may be hoped that a new era is beginning in the history of the butter trade, one of the mMn industries of a large proportion of the Irish people.—The Queen.

THE BULL AND THE DAIRY. Many dairymen wisely reserve the heifer calves from their best cows and "raise them for dairy purposes. If as is frequently the case, they turn out to be inferior butter producers, the failure is rarely ever assigned to the true cause—the inferiority of the sire. It seems strange that many who seem reasonably well-informed . upon most subjects should be so blind as to patronise bulls that have none of the desired dairy qualities in their blood, with perhaps a body that is inferior in size and wanting in vigor. The only reasonable explanation would seem to be that they consider the dim as almost entirely controlling the character of the oilspring—a conclurion that is certainly pot warranted uy the experience of

observing men. The bull exerts a greater influence upon the heifers that are sired by him than do their dams, while these same dams may have more influence upon the bull calves which they produce than has their sire. In thousands of farming communities stunted little scrub bulls are kept for service, and from them are raised the dairy cows of the community around them—cows that rarely exceed a hundred or a hundred and twenty-five pounds of butter a Occasionally a fairly-good cow will be produced—an indication that nature endeavours to rise superior to the carelessness or ignorance of man, but such exceptions are rare. If one wishes to produce a thousand pounds of butter in a given time, lie would surely prefer to do it by the aid of three cows rather than by eight or ten, and this can be done if a little good sense is exercised in breeding.

Many farmers declare that it does not pay to raise calves. ‘They can be bought in the autumn for less than I can get for mine for veal in the spring. 5 Yes, but that is a lottery with all the chances against you. These heifers that can be bought for a song are surely of inferior breeding, or they would not be sold at a low price, but their worthlessness will perhaps not be discovered until they come into milk, when they will either have to be kept at a loss, or sold for less than the cost of raising them. It is bad farming. The business-like way is to take the best cows you have or can buy with the means at your command, and then procure a young bull, or bull calf, if expense is an obstacle, from a distinct dairy breed, be it Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire or Holstein, bred from a cow that has proved to possess high qualities for the dam and has been a persistent milker during the year, and from a sire that has had a dam equally good. Such a bull cannot be bought as low as can the scrub, end yet a fancy price need not be paid. Let the heifer calves that come from mating this bull with the best cows be reared, and when old enough let them be bred back to their sire. So much inbreeding will be beneficial in intensifying the good qualities on the sire’s side, In the - 'm-i . ■ ' ' :

meantime a bull calf of fresh blood and with fine dairy qualities can be procured and raised to take the place of the older sire. In such a way and at small expense, a very good dairy can be built up, and if the same idea of always procuring the very best dairy blood in the sire is adhered to, the herd will be constantly growing better. This is good farming—the raising of better animals each succeeding year. Such dairy bulls as are above mentioned are to be had of intelligent breeders all over the country, and at prices that are very reasonable, especially if one is not particular in regard to colour—a matter that in nowise affects dairy qualities. IRISH BUTTER IN 1890. As the driest year on recent record was 1887, so the wettest year was 1890. The rainfall in Ireland was abnormally heavy, and continued without any long break all through the summer. In 1887, as the pastures were burnt up and the cows in want both of food and water, there was an unusually small make of butter with high prices, while in 1890 the make was large in consequence of the mildness and moistness of the season and of the abundance of grass, and low prices prevailed all through the summer. The make was made even larger by the increase in the number of milch cows. In 1889 there were in Ireland 1,363,781 milch cows, while in 1890 there were 1,400,426, being an increase of 36,645. Of this increase the most part was in the province of Munster, the great buttermaking province of Ireland, and in which the increase in milch cows was 24,123, about two-thirds of the whole. The facilities that are now available for the rapid transmission of butter from Ireland to Great Britain have made it possible to have butter delivered in most parts of England _ actually fresh from the churns, and this has caused a great change in the methods of making and packing the butter at this side. The tendency of Irish buttermakers to adopt small, neat, and convenient packages, and to prepare the butter with greater care, has been in operation for some few years, and has further

developed during the year just past. The result of this is that Irish butter has rapidly gained favour in Great Britain, and is now largely in demand in districts that had ceased to order it in the old forms and packages which had been so long in use. The trade in Irish butter, in tins for hot climates and for ships 5 stores, has shown a remarkable increase in 1890, large orders having been placed in Ireland from many of the tropical countries, where it has been found that the Irish butter possesses greater keeping properties, having more body and firmness than some of the foreign makes. This outlet for Irish butter is comparatively of recent origin, and as it is capable of large expansion, it is one that should be encouraged, particularly as it brings trade and money both to Great Britain and Ireland, that for many years went entirely to foreign butter merchants and butter producers.—Erom the annual report of T. J. Clancliy and Co., Cork. An exhibition of dairy stock has just been held in Paris, for the purpose of demonstrating to the public that the cows which provide a considerable part of the milk consumed in Paris are so well fed as to make excellent butcher meat when their milking career is at an end. Every dairy farmer in this country who knows his business, contrives to have his cows always in such condition that when their milk yield comes under a certain remunerative point, the animals will fetch the price paid for them, or something near to it, for slaughtering purposes. There are some 3000 cowkeepers in and around Paris managing about 60,000 cows, which, it is calculated, gives a daily average yield of three gallons for one year or fifteen months. The milk supply of Paris is under the triple control of the Board of Health, of the veterinary service of the Prefecture of Police, and of the Municipal Laboratory. It is estimated that the keep of each cow costs 3f. a day, bringing the cost price of milk to about 3d per litre (41 litres to the gallon), and as it is sold at 5d per litre, the difference of 2d represents the profit after dedusting the working expenses.