DAIRY INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23225, 24 June 1937, Page 16

DAIRY INDUSTRY

EFFECT OF WET SEASON DIFFICULTY OF MAINTAINING QUALITY INCREASED BUTTER AND CHEESE YIELD (Per United Press Association) HAMILTON, June 23. The difficulties experienced by manufacturers in maintaining the quality of butter and cheese owing to the moist nature of the pastures during the season were touched on to-day by the Minister of Agriculture and Acting Minister of Marketing (Mr W. Lee Martin) during a speech at the opening of the National Dairy Association Conference. The Minister also referred to the increase of the butter and cheese yield and the satisfactory reports from the United Kingdom regarding the quality of Dominion produce on the Home markets.

“Although the dairy year does not officially conclude until July 31,” the Minister said,, “it is possible at this stage to indicate its outstanding features. The season has been one of the wettest on record, and, although the volume of production has been more than maintained, the moist nature! of the pastures has made the maintenance of quality a difficult problem for the manufacturers. At the beginning of the autumn there was a turn for the better, and the comparatively mild weather gave an impetus to production. The result has been that, while the statistics relating to the dairy industry at the end of March last were not, perhaps, as favourable as anticipated, it is expected that autumn figures will be unusually high. “During the year ended March 31 last 151.436 tons of creamery butter and 89,966 tons of cheese had come forward for grading, compared with 145,990 tons of butter and 86,250 tons of cheese for the previous year, an increase of 5446 tons of butter (or 3.73 per cent.) and 3716 tons of cheese (or 4.31 per cent.). On a butter-fat basis the increase was 5968*tons, or 3.85 per cent. I think you will agree with me that in the circumstances the figures are most satisfactory. “Owing to the phenomenally high rainfall,” Mr Lee Martin continued, “ districts such as North Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Nelson, Marlborough, and Canterbury, which usually suffer from a lack of rain in the summer months, have been ideal for dairying, but in Westland an£ Otago and Southland conditions have been unfavourable and extremely trying-for the farmer. It is perhaps worthy of note that the Auckland province has, in the year ended March 31 last, on a butter-fat basis, contributed 58 per cent, of the total exports. Ten years ago Auckland’s percentage of the total' exports was 47.5 per cent. May I congratulate the farmers of the Auckland province on their achievemnt? ”

The reports of the department’s officers in the United Kingdom, the Minister added, Indicated that New Zealand butter and cheese had .been well received on that market, and had maintained their high reputation for quality. Their butter had made inroads on to some ,of the markets in the north, of England where the Danish product had its strongest appeal. There .had been no major faults in the quality of the butter, but openness and, mould had marred some of the cheese. The. question of openness, was still an unsolved problem, but he was glad to say that in this respect there had been an improvement, hnd there was no indication that the mould position was more serious.