Lecture to Dairymen.

Opunake Times, Volume III, Issue 119, 23 August 1895, Page 3

Lecture to Dairymen.

MR MacEWAN AT ELTHAM

Mr Mac Ewan, Chief Dairy Expert, delivered a lecture to dairymen in the Town Hall, Eltham, on Monday. About 60 or 70 persons were present, Messrs Ritchie and Kirk, of the Agricultural Department, among them. Mr Muir occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker. Mr Mac Ewan pointed out that the dairymen have the control of the essentials of success in batter and cheese making. He was therefore glad to address them and impart any information in his power. The lessons of the last season had been bitter, but he thought profitable to us, as causing us to ask the why and the wherefore, and to seek to establish the industry on a solid basis. There were some 1500 cheese and butter factories in Canada. Some of them were cooperative and some proprietary concerns. This year there were murmurings in New Zealand amongst those who had served proprietary factories, as if something were wrong and they were being badly treated. But in Canada they had found proprietary factories pay just as well as co-opera-tive. BUYING MILK, But buying milk was a speculation. It was something like gambling, indeed, for the price might rise or fall before the article could be placed on the market. The cost of manufacture of cheese was about |d per lb, and in order that matters might rest on a sound financial basis the first cost of manufacture must be allowed for, and then there must be a margin for the risk the proprietor runs in selling the article, interest on the capital invested in buildings and plant. Then the producer was entitled to receive the balance as the price of his milk. And he had a right to expect that he should be guaranteed that a first-class article should bo manufactured so that this balance should be as large as possible. In the manufacture of this article all were alike interested, proprietor, manager, and milk suppliers. BASIS OF PAYMENT. . ■ The lecturer next took up the subject of paying for milk by test in the manufacture of cheese. He first dwelt upon the boon which Dr Babcock had bestowed upon dairymen in giving them his tester free of patent rights. Leading dairymen in America were all agreed that the tests it gave were cheap, accurate and reliable. Formerly tests were not reliable, and for bis part rather than that one honest man should be branded and a stigma attached to his name, he would prefer that 10 rogues should go scot free. At the same time the worst kind of sneak—thieving, namely, taking a little cream off the milk or putting a little water in, did sometimes occur, and the Babcock tester had a wonderful effect in making people honest. Now, whilst it was admitted that testing the milk was right for a butter factory, it was not generally thought that payment by the results of such testing was the right basis in cheesemaking, but it was found that milk with 3 per cent butter fat made about 21bs of cheese; the same quantity of milk testing 4 per cent of butter fkt made 2Hbs of cheese. Or in other words the casein and other solids varied nearly in proportion to the amount of butter fat. Any actual variation or deficiency was more than made up by' the increased quality of the cheese manufactured from rich milk. WINTER DAIRYI NO. When this subject was first introduced in Canada by Professor Robertson, he remembered being present at one of the professor’s lectures, and at the conclusion a farmer got up and said that he was always glad to get the views of a professor on these subjects, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice as he pronounced the word

professor,” but if Professor Robertson instead of sitting in his office in front of a fire in Ottawa would come down in the middle of winter when there were three feet of snow on the ground and sit on the top of a can and drive the sleigh with milk to the factory, he for his part would be glad to let him try it. Yet as a result of the professor’s lectures, winter dairying had been tried and was now universal in Canada. It had been found to pay, and that was the vital point in any question. It w r as found in connection with dairying that an acre of land in root or green crops produced 2} times as much as an acre in grass. The farms in Canada were somewhat smaller than generally prevailed here, from 50 to 100 acres being the common size, and it was found that these small farms were better tilled and more profitable proportionally than the large ones. Aud although he spoke tentatively yet he would recommend an experiment of winter dairying. cows. Mr Mac Ewen reported what he had said at Hurloyville some months ago as to the need of care in selection and treatment of cows, and said that in Canada it had been found that an acre of land could produce from 18 to 20 tons ensilage at a cost of 4s 2d per ton. About 451bs of ensilage along with a little crushed oats and bran, was the ration of a cow per day, and a cow fed on this gave 201bs per day, which, as the milk is rich in winter time, makes 11b butter worth about lOd per lb. They must endeavor to look at everything without, PBEJUDICE. Prejudice meant pre-judgment, and sometimes was associated with ignorance. We had to contend with prejudice at the other end in placing our cheese on the English market. If three cheeses, all equal, aud finest cheddar, were labelled one English and another Canadian, the labels would make about a difference of 4s per cwt in the selling price of each cheese. Remove the labels and the three cheeses, would all bring the same price. This was prejudice. Canada produced about 50 per cent of the cheese consumed in England, Denmark 50 per cent of the butter, New Zealand about 2} per cent. Therefore, the building up of this industry whs an important thing for New Zealand. Complaints of bad flavor of New Zealand cheese did not all lie at the doors of factory managers. He was satisfied from his experiences at the dairy school they that must go behind the scenes sometimes at least to find the true cause. The condition of the cans that brought the milk,. whilst in the majority of cases all that could be desired, yet in a few instances it was simply astounding. Talk of bad aroma—in fact if they had a difficulty in finding rabbit poison he could have recommended them stuff. WEIGHT or A GALLON. At the conclusion of the address Mr Matthews asked what Mr Mac Ewan considered the proper weight of a gallon of milk, as much confusion was caused by some factories having lOlbs, others 10} lbs, others lllbs. Mr Mac Ewan said he thought milk should be paid for at so much per lb of butter fat. A gallon of milk was an unknown quantity, but he was in favor of 101 b, as being easily reckoned, and, therefore a saving of clerical work. SPRING BUTTER-MAKING. Mr Murray asked if Mr Mac Ewen would give his opinion in a matter affecting the local cheese factory. This season the merchants are only offering 2}d per lb for the cheese. This, after deducting fd for cost of manufacture, for railage to port of shipment, and l-sth penny deduction for share money, would only leave about l}d per gallon net for milk. Would he recommend them to put in separators for at least the first half of the season ? Mr Mac Ewan said that certainly he would. It could be done at very little expense. They could utilise the cheese vats for receiving the milk, and all they would require would be separators, butter-worker and churn. The Stratford factory had done very well by making butter the hottest of the season. He thought that then cheesemaking was preferable, as there would be at that time a good deal of loss for want of a refrigerator. Cheese at Home was rising, and he hoped it would continue to do so, but there was no doubt that the prospects at present were in favor of butter-making. The usual compliment to the lecturer and to the chairman brought the meeting to a close.—Star.