THE COW’S MILK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21538, 9 January 1932, Page 11

THE COW’S MILK

PUZZLE TO SCIENCE ‘i UNSOLVED PROBLEMS. , How is milk made? This is one of the unsolved mysteries of science, according to Sir William Dampier, F.R.S., who: reviews, in the Empire Marketing Board’s latest report, the extent and objects of dairy research. Scientists have still to" discover how cows turn the raw material —grass —into the finished product of. which we make such good use. This report will be of special interest to New Zealand, for it answers the question, “What is dairy research?” and gives a complete picture of the many types of scientific inquiry which are neces-' sary to procure a better packet of butter —or to produce it cheaper. Dairy research covers a multitude of sciences, from the breeding of better pastures to provide food for the cow to the study , of the changes which occur in milk when, it comes into contact with certain metals.: All fields of research are reviewed in the, report, and suggestions are made as to the most important problems of the future. Sir William Dampier, a well-known scientist who is secretary of the Agricultural Research Council in Britain, states, that future research is most urgently needed in the following fields:— Improvement of pastures by plant breeding, and by better management, e.g., frequent cutting and intensive grazing.

The effect of differences in rationing on the composition of milk; The inheritance of high milk-yielding qualities in cattle. The physiology of milk secretion. : The innoculation of cattle against tuber-, culosis. v The survival of disease germs in dried and condensed milk. -t. The ripening of cheese and the effect of storage conditions on butter and cheese. Economics of the industry. ] One of the suggestions made in tha report is that the New Zealand system of payment for milk on the basis of butter-fat content instead of purely by volume should be adopted in the United Kingdom. It is also suggested that the New Zealand test for adulteration — which is based on the freezing point off milk —may be fairer than the British test' (which is based on fat and total solids percentages) and that an inquiry into; the pros and cons of adopting the New Zealand method should be made by British experts. - s CHEESE PROBLEMS. • Another recommendation is that a cold storage plant should be installed at tha National Institute for Research in Dairying at Reading so that conditions of transport and storage of New Zealand and other Empire butter and cheese could be exactly studied. The Dairy Institute has recently co-operated with the Research Institute at Palmerston North, New land, in a study of the ripening of cheese, and in particular of the changes which occur in cheeses during the voyage to London. i

Science has already achieved resultff which are of direct interest to New Zealand. In the field of nutrition, for instance, the most recent advance is the discovery that young fresh grass has a high protein content which makes it comr parable with expensive concentrates such as linseed cake. “ Young grass is specially efficacious in increasing the yield of milk,” Sir William Dampier says. “It is now, or soon will be, available in the, form of ensilage or dried cake, and more experiments on its influence on the quantity and quality of milk should be madeas quickly as possible. It is of great importance to the overseas dominions as well as to Great Britain.”

The discovery that natural pastures' often fail to supply sufficient minerals to keep grazing animals in sound health is already well known in New Zealand.. The work now going on at the CawthronInstitute (assisted by an Empire Marketing Board grant) is part of an Empire-' wide investigation of the problem which has its counterpart in Australia, South Africa, Konya, the Falkland Islands, and Scotland. DISEASES DEFEATED. ;■ Science is gradually triumphing overdisease, the most deadly enemy of the; stock farmer. The report records two big] advances. One is the working out at Cambridge of “ B.C.C. ” vaccine which, protects cattle from the scourge of tuberculosis. Very promising results are beingobtained, although the vaccine is not yet. a commercial possibility. The other is, the discovery of a method of diagnosing] Johnne’s disease, one of the most costly complaints of dairy cattle. By using this. test, the disease can be detected in its early stages and the infected animal can be separated from the herd and fattened,

Many problems, of course, remain tc* be solved. For instance, Sir William Dampier directs attention to the whether pasteurising milk destroys any of the vitamins. Preliminary work aC] Reading indicates that this may be so.Another problem needing research is th* all-important question of the breeding of high yielding cows—the very basis ot. successful dairying. In order to get results in a few years instead of having to wait for generations, Mr John Ham-] mond, at Cambridge, is studying the inheritance of milk yield in rabbits. He has found that a strain of high-yielding animals can be obtained by crossing a - high-yielding female with her son, and continuing this for several generations, -