THE DAIRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1286, 22 October 1896, Page 5

THE DAIRY.

SKIMMINGS.

Certain French stock-dealers are given to " faking up " cows for sale. The dodges practised by some unscrupulous persons who have cows for sale are thus exposed by Mons. Cornedier, professor at the veterinary school at Lyons. He says :—They do not milk the cow for one or two day a before they wish to sell her, so that the swollen udder may give the idea that she is a good dairy caw ; they file the horns, in order to make them bright, and so that the age of the cow cannot be told ; they clip the hairs off the udder, and make an artificial escutcheon with the scissors or shearing machine and singe off the cut hairs. Purchasers, if they pay close attention, will be able to discover some traces of these frauds, and need not be deceived.

In the course of an address on Australian products in England, the Hon Agar Wynne, speakingat Warrnambool, said (as reported in the Argus) : —The Danish Government are always on the watch to improve the breed of cows and the quality of the butter, and to introduce the latest appliances, and it keeps a staff constantly employed studying the markets and the requirements of purchasers, and endeavours to cheapen production and increase the quantity. Their consuls abroad push the business, .Government veterinary surgeons all over Denmark inspect the stock, and are continually experimenting. Denmark could not live but for the English market. Technical training is given, and is absolutely necessary. There is no waste anywhere in that painstaking country. Our Government should have a laboratory and first class scientific chemists, who could suggest improvements and be rewarded for discoveries. Argentina is now coming into the market ; they have good cows, and are going in for modern plants. Last season's butter from there realised 84s a cwt in London. There is still room for all, and more than we can produce. I think prices will be good this coming season, owing to the exceptionally dry weather in England

Preserving milk on a large sc le bus been overlooked, Mr Agar Wynne proceeds to .say. A large trade is to lie done in this At nearly ev»ry railway station in Englan' 1 , Swiss pn-served milk in ndverlised, and the business i-? most profitable. The Danes say tin y have discovered a new process of preserving, milk I obtained acv jral tins from the Danish Consul. It is most p datable and when three pirtsof w.iter are added is like fresh milk. I hive given a couple of tins to the Minister ot Agriculture to be tested, As far as I can find out, it is twice sterilised, and looks like sterilised cream. The milk fresh from the cow is put in tins and warmed, in much the same way as preserved meats are treated at the factories. Jt is not allowed to boil, but as soon as it is ready, and the water evaporated through two small holes in the top, the tin is soldered up, and the milk will keep for years. From the creamy substance left butter can be made. If put up in gallon or two gallon vessels, I believe all the large steamers would gladly use it, and a profitable trade be established. I think a lesson can be learnt from the action of the Danish Consul, who was proud to push the products of his country.

A good dairy cow, well fed, ought to yield at least £ooolbs of milk a year, or

2325 quarts. Some cows produce more than this. Occasionally some vei'y large milkers produce double this amount, but a cow that produces less cannot be, at present prices of dairy products, a profitable cow, unless the milk is exceptionally rich in butter fat.

A larger percentage of the butter fat is lostj when it comes to churning, if the cream gets too sour.

..With ordinary milk the yield of cheese from milk is about 2-5 pounds of cured cheese for each pound of butter fat in the milk. The per cent, of butter fat in different milks very nearly determines their relative values for cheese-making. Professor Van S!yke, of New York, found by a series of careful experiments that with milk ranging from 3*4 per cent, to 4 4 per cent, the amount to each pound of butter fat was 272 pounds of green cheese or 2-5 pounds cured five weeks. It was found that 5 percent, milk made but 2 - 4 pounds of cured cheese for each pound of butter fat, but the better quality of the cheese from the richer milk was thought to compensate for the slight difference in quantity. It will be seen that 100 pounds of 4 per cent, milk made 101 bof cheese and 1001 b of 5 percent, milk made 121 b of cheese.

The yield of butter from milk is about 1 15 pounds to each pound of butter fat. It varies somewhat, depending on the closeness with which the skimming and churning are done and also upon the amount of water, salt, and other matter, aside from butter fat which the butter contains. But this adding of 15 per cent, will be found in most cases, where good work is done, to be not far from right. Thus 1001 b of 4 per cent, milk should make 4 6 oounds of butter.

The simplest way of determining the amount of milk or cream in any given quantity is by weighing it. This is the way it is usually determined in creameries and cheese factories or in transactions where large amounts are concerned, but the retailer of milk or cream measures ib out by the pint, quart or gallon. A gallon of milk weighs 8 - 60 pounds, or 215 pounds per quart. A gallon of cream containing 20 per cent, butter fat weighs 8*46 pounds, or 2*12 pounds per quart. If cream has less butter fat it weighs a trifle more, and if more butter fat it weighs a trifle less.

The percentage of butter fat in milk varies greatly, depending much upon the breed to which the cows belong and also upon the capability of each individual cow. Average milk tests about 3 # 39 per cent, of butter fat, but the range of different herds will run from 3 to 5 5 per cent. There are individual cows that average for the year less than 3 per cent., and also those that average more than 55. To come up to the Ipgal standard in Wisconsin, milk should contain not less than 3 per cent butter fat. It is not lawful to sell milk containing less.