BUTTER FACTORY MANAGERS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1685, 15 June 1904, Page 62

BUTTER FACTORY MANAGERS

ANNUAL CONFERENCE.

The annual conference of the Association of Butter Factory Managers in Victoria commenced on May 17. In tlie absence of the president, Mr Isaac Evans (Framlingham), Mr W. L. Watson (Garvoc) was appointed chairman. MR CROWE’S PAPER. Mr Crowe, the Government dairy expert. sent ail apology for his unavoidable absence. He had to leave at once for New Zealand on an official errand. He forwarded a paper on “Some' Lessons from the Past Export Season,” which was read by Mr Archer. The paper stated that no season had been more varied-and prolific in experience than the one just ended. The season for grass was prolonged far into the summer, and the output far exceeded what was hoped for at this time last year. The surplus butter shipped from the estate had already reached 14,000 tons, and by the end of June the butter exported will exceed a value of li millions sterling. About 1,000 tons of the butter shipped was stored butter, carried over from last season. It was bought by speculators, merchants and grocers in anticipation of shortage through the continuance of the drought. Seasonable rains had altered the position. There was abundant fresh butter for local consumption, and the stored butter was withdrawn from the local market and shipped to London. Tins butter cost, in some instances lid per lb, and storage cost Id. In order to clear the shippers, the butter ought to have made 125 s per cwt in London. Most of it sold at 80s to 90s per cwt, and over £35,000 was lost by the shippers. Its presence,too, in London at the opening of the season injured the whole butter .industry.. The factories whose brands were on the stored butter suffered most of all. Circulars were sent out by the Agricultural department to the factories, advising them to brand their output “New Season’s Butter,” and this was .done. It was not likely that the butter speculators would forget their losses and repeat the experiment. However, something ought to be done to prevent a recurrence or this practice. A deterrent might be found in branding all butter which remained over three months in cold storage, “Stored butter.” The opinion of the conference bn this suggestion would be welcomed. A great handicap had been incurred this year by being off the market in London the previous year. It vsas bad enough to be unrepresented in the buying country for seven months in each year, but when for a period of nineteen months there was no Australian butter available for buyers, the injury to the trade was very serious. Purchasers sought New Zealand and Argentine buttei's to keep their customers, and the trade had gradually to be regained. The remedy was the growth of fodder in abundance, and the conservation . and utilisation of water, so that periods of drought could be pro-

vided for. Commendable efforts bad been made in this direction during the year, but much required to be done. Ensilage is making praiseworthy advances, owing to the efforts of 3>r Cherry. Increased interest in the cultivation of fodder plants on the part of dairy farmers is strikingly noticeable. Factory managers should make a practice of urging suppliers to grow more fodder. The loss through starving dair* cows cannot be estimated. Unsatisfactory temperatures in the carriage ol dairy produce was frequently reported from London. The temperature was often as high as 35dcg. Complaints about fishiness were always associated with these high and irregular temperatures. When lower temperatures luled no fishiness was heard of. The experts in all butter countries assert that the lover the temperature at which butter is carried the better will it keep. Some authorities quote zero as the right temperature. New Zealand is shipping under lOdeg. 'Fancy a shipping contract in 1904 at £7 per ton to secure a temperature under 35deg! It is ridiculous! The irregular temperatures induced the department to make use of tell-tale there n»ometei's. TIIO first set to arrive reacheri London last week. The temperature and condition of the butter was cabled as unsatisfactory, but details are not yet to hand. Since then two dozen tell-tale thermometers have been shipped in fruit and butter consignments, and it is expected that specially-designed and improved instruments, capable of recording the temperature inside a box of butter every hour during the voyage will be ready for use before the opening of the next shipping season. It would* be far better if the shipping companies would agree to tlie use of self-registering th-er-momenters, and have them undei seal. There was too much “mottled butter appearing in the output of the factories. Ir was due to the imperfect working of the salt through the butter. Men were afraid of working butter too much when it is soft. Thoroughly work in the salt. Another fault was that too much moisture was present in butter. Seventy samples analysed showed 13 per cent, of moisture. The average for the Western district was 12.37 per cent.; Gippsland, 13.62 per cent.; North-East, 12.74 per cent.; and the Northern district, 12.23 per cent. A few years ago A ictorian butter only had 12 per cent, of moisture, and he (Mr Crowe) had recommended 10 to 12 per cent. If Victorian butter comes to he regarded as containing 1 per cent, more moisture than butter from other countries, prices will lecede. Many good factories secured an average of 98s per cwt for the past season in. Londoh. It had to he remembered that the prices secured for the three previous seasons were unusually high. The average of 98s compares favourably with the average'for the ten years previously. There was this surprising feature ‘in the butter export trade—the shipments in ten years had increased two and a half times, and yet prices are approximately at the same lsyel. A vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Crowe for liis interesting paper. HOME SEPARATORS. Mr Molan (Kilmore). read a paper on “Home Separators.” It should be made compulsory for encli factory to forward to the Department of Agriculture a weekly report, giving the names and addresses of all persons who delivered inferior cream, so that competent instructors might be sent to the dairies where inferior cream is produced to point out the remedy. If inspection and instruction were carried out on these lines the butter made from home-separated cream would he enhanced in value, and the iniquitous practice of milling butter and “faking” brands would be lessened. Mr .T. Proud (Korumburra) agreed that inspection which would be free from local influence was wanted. He was right in the midst of home-separator country. As good butter could be made from home-separated as factory cream if it was properly looked after.

WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE,

Dr Cherry, in a paper on the water supply and drainage of butter factories, said water might be purified by gravity filtration, by pressure filters, or by heat. The simplest and best plan was tlie oldfashioned method of sand filtration. The filter-bed consisted approximately of Ift of gravel at the bottom, then Ift of coarse sand, and Ift of fine sand on top. There was then 12in to 18in of water on top of the sand, so that the pressure was slight. The average rate of filtration was 150 gallons per square foot in 24 hours. The filtered water of nearly all towns in all parts of the world was obtained by this method. In London the average daily supply of filtered water from the Thames and the Lea ran into 165 million gallons. The area of filterbeds was from 0.4 to 1.3 acres per million gallons, or, roughly, about'loo acres altogether. The rate of filtration was 20 to 70 gallons per square foot per hour. The number of micro-organisms in the Thames water before filtration was over 16,000 per cubic centimetre, and these were reduced to 214 after filtration, while in the Lea water the numbers were 470 and 25 respectively. The Thames water before being filtered was similar to the Yarra at the wharves. There was therefore no question of the efficacy or this method of purifying water. Tlie construction of a filter on this plan was very simple. The superficial area to be provided should be in proportion of one

square foot to every 50 gallons of water per day. The walls should be 4ft to sft high, of brick, concrete, wood, or cement; and the floor of brick or cement. Good sharp, clean sand and gravel were all that was required. A number of large pebbles should be arranged round the outlet to jmevent choking and the inlet pipe should not supply more than was being drawn off by filtration. A pipe should convey the filtered water to the tank. The only attention required was to renew the top twelve inches of sand whenever the rate of filtration became too slow. A green scum gradually formed on the top of the sand, but this was an advantage so far as filtration was concerned, though it had to be scraped off once in six months, so as not to choke up the filter. On© of these filters had been in use for four years at the Gormandale factory. The gravel and sand were placed in a 400-gallon tank. Trie water filtered was from a creek running through a swamp, and it was a difficult sample to deal with. Tests showed that the number of micro-organisms before filtration was sometimes 2,000 to 3,000 per cubic centimentre, and these were reduced to from 25 to 30. Three hundred gallons per day were filtered, and there were no complaints about the butter. The top layer of sand had only been renewed once in four years. These filters could be constructed so cheaply, and required so little supervision, that they should be well considered before pressure filters or sterilisation were adopted. The best system of drainage was that adopted by the factqries at Cowwarr and Boisdale. The water was pumped on a small area of ploughed land, and the spot where the water was applied changed from day to day. All the drains from the factory led into a sink 2ft Gin square and 211 deep. From this Kill piping convoyed the water to the irrigation patch, which was close to the factory. One half-acre of land would suffice for 1200 gallons of drainage per day, and the quantity might be doubled in summer. A shovelful of earth was thrown on the spot where the discharge from the pipe took place at tli& close of the day, and the. pipe moved to a fresh spot next morning, and so on backwards and forwards over the field. The pipes were screwed on loosely in 15ft lengths, and by beginning at the far side a length pulled off each day brought iu fresh ground. The sink* should be provided with a strainer, to prevent the pump choking, and it could be readily cleansed with a steam pipe and a handful of soda. The irrigation patcli required to be ploughed up two or three times a year, and if the lands were suitable fodder crops might bo grown on it. A butter factory could dispose of its own drainage on this plan, on half an acre of ground, even in the middle of a large town. THE HOME-SEPARATOR, Air P. J. Carroll, Government dairy supervisor, gave some interesting facts about home separators.. About 70 per cent, of the dairymen, lie said, now had their-own separators. The' collection of cream was carried out in some districts by factories, and. if it were generally adopted, immense benefit would accrue to all concerned. Daily delivery of cream was practicable in most places. Grading of all cream, and payment of differential rates, should be the rule in every factory. Suppliers of bad cream would then soon find out the cause and remedy, and would welcome instruction and assistance. If something were not done in this direction, and done quickly, it. would be difficult to maintain even our present hold on the export market. Skimming should be practised by the users of home separators. Samples taken in different parts of the state showed striking losses from careless skimming. Allowing 1 per cent, as normal butter fat loss, and all over that as waste, the following samples of losses .had been obtained-No. I—Daily supply of milk, 70 gallons; loss of butter fat, 0.4 per cent; loss of butter fat in a year, 1,2521 b No. 2 —Daily supply of milk, 100 gallons; loss of butter fat, 0.35 per cent.; loss of blitter fat in a year, 1,1901 b. No. 3 —Dailyy Supply of milk 140 gallons; loss of butter fat 0.30 per cent.: lost in skim milk was 0.1 per cent., and loss of butter fat in a year, 1,4281 b. Assuming that the average excess of fat lost in skim milk was 1 per cent., and the milk put through the home separators 7,728,000 gallons a year, the actual loss of butter fat would be 73,3291 b, which, at an average price of 8d per lb, would run into a money value of over £24,000 per annum. Factory managers might do much to obviate this loss by encouraging suppliers to send in samples of skim milk to be tested. Variations in butter fat contents of cream would often be traceable to this source.

TESTING BUTTER FOR MOISTURE I .

Air Afillard Johnson,- honorary consulting .chemist to the association, gave senna valuable instruction on simple methods of testing butter for its moisture contents. All that was required was o small glass tube, with a graduated stem, like an inverted Babcock testing bottle, a small steel collar, a glass or marble slab and a painter’s palette knife. These appliances, cheap and within the reach of all, did away with costly balances and laboratory instruments. A lump of butter somewhere about 4oz wus thoroughly worked up on the slab with the palette knife, in order to break up the water into minute drops. Sufficient was then packed into the steel collar.- to properly fill it, and the top

and bottom trimmed off with* a sharp knife.. The collar, filled and trimmed ir. this way, held exactly 100 grains of butter.’ The collar, with its contents, was slipped into the bulb end of the .graduated glass, and the latter placed in a Babcock tester, driven at 1200 revolutions per minute. The.water flew to the lower end of the graduated stem, and the percentage could be read off at once. MILK FOB CHEESEMAKING'. Mr B. T. Archer, the Government instructor in cheesemaking, in dealing with this subject pointed out that many experienced cheesemakers appeared to be unaware that the percentage of buttei fat found in milk by the Babcock tester was quite as reliable a guide as to the value of milk for cheese as for butter. The only equitable basis on which to pay for milk, whether for but- - ter or cheese making, was according to its fat contents. Another erroneous impression was that in the case of rich milk all tire fob over a certain percentage was lost in the whey. This was clearly ■refuted by the results of experiments by Dr Van Slyke and other investigators. The relative values of cheese and butter could he illustrated thus: —Tako 251 b of milk at 3.6 test. This will give lib of butter. sa.y at 10c! and 2gal of skimmed milk. Id, or a total of This quantity of milk should give about 2 1-511) of cheese, which, at. 5d per lh. is lid, and 2gal of whey, gives a total of Hid for- cheese, against lid for butter. The. deductions t-o he made for cheese in excess of buttei for the time required for maturing and freight would amount to about Id per lb. Worked out on this basis, cheese at 5d perlb on the local market was equal to lOd per Lb for butter, assuming that the cost of making and marketing butter and cheese were the same.

SUCCESS OF HOME SEPARATORS. Mr Isaac Evans, the president of the association, who recently removed to New South Wales to take charge of a large factory in the New England district, forwarded a paper, in the course of which he frankly admitted his conversion in favour of the home separator, which, at the last conference, he roundly condemned. “For some years,” Mr Evans wrote, “I have held strong opinions about the home separator, and gravely feared it would have a serious effect on the general quality cf thejv.itter Since coming to New South Wales I have managed a large factory on the ManningHiver, which turn echo at an average of 60 tons per month for the past nine months, all of which was manufactured from home separated cream. This was carefully graded into two chaoses, the second class only amounting to 4 per cent, of whole output. Our butters have secured as high prices in London as some of the prominent Western district factories in Victoria, where no hand separated cieam is bandied. 1 UO not hesitate to say now tnat the home separator has come to stay and, with proper and intelligent care m handling tlio cream, and due regard to cleanliness and temperatures, quite as (< ocd butter can he made from it as from lhilk.”

THE ANNUAL DINNED

he annual dinner of the association Was held on May 19 at the Bourke street Coffee. Palace, There xvas a large attendance of factory managers and guests. r Knox (Somalia), in proposing the toast of the Department of Agriculture, said that the department had done good work for the dairying industry. New legislation was required to provide for • ae better supervision of cream delivery from home separators. It was no use educating factory managers unless provision Wjis made for the delivery of wholesome cream. At present, if managers did their duty and rejected an inferior article there were always some of his employers to take the part of tb • offended supplier. •i [r Williamson Wallace, the director, in replying, said that 'if the department was to retain’ its reputation more would have, to be done to assist the dairying industry. The officers of the department had been trying to frame a dairy bill, and he hoped the committee of practical men who had the matter in hand would uresent something which would be accepted by the producers Power would have to be provided for more thorough inspection and supervision. He was aware that factory managers were frequently compelled to accept cream which ought to be rejected. Hia did not quite see how a remedy was to be provided, and he would be glad of suggestions. The Minister had sent Mr Crow© to New Zealand to study the methods of super vision and inspection there, and pick up some useful hints. The cool stores in Melbourne were of interest to all producers of perishable products. This year they had suffered severely from the competition of private concerns. They had lost a quarter of the butter trade, all the lamb trade, and a portion bi the other products. The stores cost the department £15,000 a year. They would have to come down to the prices charged outside,- or the public might get tired of making up. the loss. Mr Crowe had been instructed tp look into the working of, cool storage in New Zealand. The department was anxious to help on cheese-making, so that the article might obtain a good name on the London market; and with that object a second cheese instructor, Mr M'Millan, a practical man, who had made a good rer

fWr putation, had been engaged to go round and help the cheesemakers, and he would be glad to hear from those who required his services.