NEW ZEALAND DAIRY FARMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1795, 17 April 1886, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND DAIRY FARMING.

During the year ending 31st December last r.he quantity of butter exported from the Colony was 24,923cwt, of the declared value of £102,387, or within a fraction 9d per lb. During 1884 the quantity was 15,776cwt, the declared value being £66,593, or a fraction over 9d per lb. In 1885 15,205cwt of cheese was exported, valued at £35,857, and in ISB4 10,353c\vt, set down at £25,095, averaging in each year fully od per lb. The total value of exports of butter and cheese in 1885 was £138,244, as against £41,498 for the preceding year— an increase amounting to £96,746. These figures indicate a considerable expansion in dairy husbandry, and that the industry has acquired greater importance in the estimation of farmers. The extraordinary depreciation in values of cereals necessarily compelled attention to other sources for remunerative returns, and certain indispensable conditions complied with, dairy farming it is plain might soon develop into a prosperous and permanent industry. In this community it is persistently boasted — and competent authorities sustain the assertion— that "New Zealand is probably not equalled by pny country in the world in regard to natural advantages for dairying." Speaking from a practical standpoint the facts so patent and freely admitted are a veritable reproach to the farmers of the Oolodv. Ignorance of and an apparent determination not to learn improved dairy management in essential details have retarded the pi ogress of the industry by circumscribing the markets for surplus products. We can only hope to supply occasional requirements in Australia, and these to all appearances will only provide a temporary outlet, for lately there has been a very significant change in public taste with regard to butter and cheese the former especially. New Zealand butter of average quality now-a-days would be absolutely unsaleable for table use in the Home markets, where all but superfine grades have been superseded, or materially reduced in value, by butterine. The manufacture of this article has been already initiated in Australia, and, indubitably, the influence will soon be felt in the Colonial as in the Home markets through the reduction in value of inferior butter. The danger impending can only be averted by an entire change in our dairy system— a change which will lead up to the production of superfine articles only. Farmers in the Colonies must abandon the illusion that one of their principal products butter— is beyond the reach of competition from butterine in the local markets. Writing on the subject, lately, Professor Sheldon observes:— "The makers of butterine have so greatly improved the quality of their products that the best bands of them are in some respects, if not in all, decidedly preferable to half the genuine butter of the country. They have, indeed, so far obliterated the disparity in attractiveness, which ought to be patent between butter and buttej !::e, that the latter is actually preferred to the former, price for price, and by the rank and file of the people." The professor explains that in leading establishments only the best beef suet and the best vegetable oil are used in making superior qualities of the imitation article. Skilled labour is employed, and the process is a daily not a weekly or fortnightly one; therefore, the practice that makes perfect is attained and maintained in a manner that can hardly be expected in a farmer's small dairy, save in exceptional cases. Under the circumstances it is not to be wondered at that butterine now commands markets in the United Kingdom formerly open to the sale of inferior butters— nay more, British farmers, following the example set them by their Continental brethren, adulterate by adding •• oleo " prepared from lard, beef suet, &c. when churn* ing. Now it may be assumed that the majority of consumers in the Colonies will object to the use of butterine, and associate with its manufacture uncleanly surroundings. All the while these same people buy butter without reflecting on the common details of the milking operations, unseemly dairies, and to say the least, the negligent handling of the butter. There can be no question that in regard to cleanliness of manufacture butterine compares favourably with the average butter sent to market. There are many, —very many — makers of butter who observe the greatest nicety in all details connected with with the business, and with the result that a superfine article is produced. For this there are steady customers at good prices, but the great bulk of the article in open market is so absolutely inferior that it is really unfit for household purposes or for exportation. Without radical improvement in all the details pertaining to the management of dairy cattle and the'dairy it may^ be taken for granted that instead 6$ expansion we shall have contraction of exports of dairy products. It is anticipated that for some time to come moderate prices must prevail for dairy produce, but superior articles wjU

command tho highest rates, and to excel in tho production of these should be the object, as it is most assuredly to the interest, of the dairy farmer.

Various means have been adopted in the Home country to educate those engaged in dairy pursuits up to the required standard. The establishment of factories finds much favour among those who contend that to mako a system of dairy education popular and practical would require much time. There is so much prejudice to combat that any results from teaching would be remote while the necessity for amendment is pressing. Others again are sanguine in regard to the influeuco which must result from the instructions imparted at dairy schools, aud unquestionably these have already effected wonderful reforms in Ireland, where they were established some time ago The necessary information, theoretical aud practical, is easily acquired, and it is a paramount consideration that the class most nearly concerned in the practical working of the industry — farmers' wives, daughter*, and dairy-maids— should be adepts in the business From our standpoint wo regard this as the most essential consideration in this Colony, and with the simultaneous establishment of factories in suitable localities our exports of dairy produce would assume immense proportions. We should soon acquire a position which would warrant shipments to the United Kingdom, where superior produce invariably finds a good market On the other hand, should our dairy farmers persistently continue in the old groove they will " go down " before the butterme manufacturers. An agitation is afoot to procure legislative enactments to regulate the sale of butterine, and these are no doubt, under the circumstauoes, necessary to the protection of the unwary, who frequently pay for the imitation the price of the superfine article. Genuine but inferior butters are outside the sphere of competition because manifestly inferior to butterine.