Dairy Leakages.

Opunake Times, Volume VI, Issue 261, 9 March 1897, Page 2

Dairy Leakages.

At a meeting of the Mangatainoka Milk Suppliers' Association on Saturday evening last, Mr F. W. B. Greville said that the suppliers of the district had been losing at the rate of £2OO per month for the past five years. He himself had. since he took over the factory, lost £7OO before he could find out how the loss occurred and prevent it, and this was how he went to work to find it out. After having the factories a month and making up his balances he discovered tbat he was not making as many pounds of butter as he was paying for butter fat, and at once knew there was something wrong. He went to his mauager and asked for an explanation, but could not get One, so he set to work to find out for himself. He got an expert to see if the separator was in fault, but it was not there. He eventually asked the Government to send up their dairy expert, Mr Sorensen, and that gentleman and himself went thoroughly into the matter, and after days and nights of study and test found that something like £2OO per month had been thrown over the fence to the pigs. The cause of this was that the cream had been churned at too high a temperature, and that 61bs of butter-fat had been given to the pigs in every ten gallons of butter milk. On discovery of this the next thing to prevent it, and this took some time to do, but he was pleased to say that they had succeeded in doing so, and that by the simple process of churning their cream at 45 to 50 degrees instead of 60 to 65 degrees as formerly. ■ Mr Greville said he had heard from time to time continual insinuations and complaints about the tests of the milk. The fault of the tests lay with themselves in not weeding out their inferior cows. There had been some talk about starting a bacon factory down there. He thought he could tell them something better than that. For six months in the year he was prepared to take as many pigs as they liked to briug from 65 to 801 b weight. He would advance them cash per lb. They would then be killed, frozen, shipped home and sold, and after deducting expenses from what they realised he would pay another £d per lb to make it 3d, and any net profit over that he would expect to divide with them. With ducks he was prepared to do the same and advance 4s 6d per couple, and cockerels 3s 6d per pair. It w T as from these bye-products of the farm that the most money wss made,