COLONIAL DAIRY FARMING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 4

COLONIAL DAIRY FARMING.

, In a -previous atticle attention was directed to'the agitation in Victoria for needed reforms in the dairy industries and the proposed reme-' dial measures. The report of the Pa-ishabla Prod^ctß Board 1 as to "the duty condition of the dairies and the health of the stock " were based upon' the swern evidence of the factory managers, ,the directors, the farmers, and the department. 'All' the witnesses yitxQ agreed. The ugly facts brought to light have aroused the determination to root cub the' abuseswhich " prejudicially" ' affect. the' reputation of- that colony's txpoits of' dairy products. It has been realised that excellence and uniformity of quality are not the all-tufficient considerations how-a-days in the ultimate markets; there must' be in addition verifiable guarantees of the healthy source and scrupulously clean handling and manufacture of the ra'tv material; and dairy farmers in Victoria are apparently how contcious of the fact that wh&t may be termed the statutory laws foe long euforoed by the Co-operative Dairy Associations of Denmark have greatly contributed to trie reputation of and .prtference for the butter products ■ These laws proscribe the ECDdiog cf milk from diseased cows. A direct-,r or manager of an association may visit the byres and dairies at any time, and must be supplied' ' with all information is to the health, food, and treatment of tbe cows, and flues may be imposed for concealing or withholding information to the damage-of the company. Any member on. whose farm an outbreak cccuts must declareif, and must cease sanding milk until the farm is ftee from infection. Should a ecmmuuicable disease manifest itself among the dairy attendant? or family, tbe sick person must be removed and a thorough disinfection of the premises at onco. proceeded with. . Coatravention of'these'regulations-may entail a fkeof 100 ctownsi -. - ' v j ' \ '■ • ' In borne tf th 9 other, Continenta l, countries similar regu!aticn< prevail, and (bus tbe sellingagents cf the jj"rddu,qe are' ja a, position to depreciate theprodqetsr-of bthtricauotries'iif compgtibg'.markets.as.rpgjirds' purity andgound-". ntSi wHen^co' 1 guarantees?thereof areaVaiUßle.", The advantage is a formidable on», arid freely osed. Mr David \Wilson, Victoria Government dttiry txpert, in, his report for 1895 says : —." In?peotiou of dairy herds would help to protstt the reputation of our butter iv Eogland. To h&ve our dairy herd(singp6cted by veterinary Burgeot s' needs" uo argument. Much more if, however, 1 being made of the question of tbe in: ppection of dairy herds than there is any occasion for. In no couo.try j n t a3 vtotlA are live stock so generally free frqm contagious and other diseases as in Victoria; yet' because it has not Leen the custom here to maintain a large* Biaff of .yetf-rinary inspectors,'our campetitori in the Ep'glish butter marketendevvourto make capital out of this by hurling all kinds of aeon--cations against tho charscier of our butter,~and notwithstanding what may be said to the contrary, Victoria enjjjs a comparative immunity ftb'u animal diseases; nevertheless, Jb is not Buffioient that we should mt pa!;ißfied"wilh a knowledge of that fficb. WDab is wanted is, tbat evidence be furnished to, the great body of British consumers tbat will guarantee to them that our butter is tbe product'of pare milk obtained frdm cattle cerlifi d to by competent 4 inspectors as free from contagious and other diseases. . . . Iv my opinion the time h&s arrived when something must bo done to protect our produce from the calumnies periodically circu'atcd in England regarding the health of our dairy herdi." Mr Wilson points,out-1 hit the machise'iry necessary, for Buch fnsi eotion already exisi;?,-8s tb,o regulations <pf $he(Health'. Aob in^for'ca ,in . Victor.ia require, shire and -borough ' councils': to^ mate periodical ■ in* speoliojn' iof*'all,' na'iry-herd* land- premises withiu> their bptu-cUries.. These, regalaticns,bowever,' have" urver. bein put. in" fQi^ce^. Notwithstanding Mr Wilson's disclaimer of the existence or preyalfiice of dißeaße'amopg dairy hsrda in Victoria, it nillbs apparent thattbere must be "unknown quantities" in any of the colonies wbero ellisiunt inspection is not enforced. So recently as April last a conference was held in Bsllarat b Ltween representatives of the district muojeipal bodies and the chairman of theP'ublioßowd o? Ilenltb, to inquire into tbe necessary m-B.us fur the eradication of tubercular disease from cattle. In the course of an instructive' address Dr Gresswell produced a photograph o? a cow's udder crammed with tubercle, from which milk had been tupplied, to tbe public. Mr John Cocm-ie, the honorary, inspec or of stock for tha district, ttated tbßt bo bad CRURed to be destroyed many beauts that wete diseased from born to hcof, and a'ddsd that many ca' tie which were rejected by the Jewi-were handed over to the Chriitians. The outcome of the deliberations at the conferences was that the councils in the Ballarat district resolved to unite to defray the exptne of maintaining a paid inspector to supervise all catole within its boundaries. " The cost divided among the councils is small, as the Government subsidises the ta'.ary at the rate of one-flftb." " As regards mi)k for butter and cheese-mskirg, many contend tbat if net exposed to contamination during or after the milking process until delivered at a factory, acd provided theowsare fr«.e Frcni d ee.ise, io barm to human health would ba povsfb'e. Under tbe ordinary condition. l!ow''vi jr,.xtirrcuorling,the production and. iu,>j»!jr of au!'< o ficlori«-p, it« Fasteurisatibn is- . nVivistd us w i ecessary precaution. - Hut advig-\ able us* this process may bo asa psriiil remedy foran evil, it must te cleuly understood that the spores of 6omeof the organisms which gain access to milk are not killed by being heated in that liquid even to the boiling temparature. In fact, to stetiliso milk that hat once been exposed to the "air by the moat ordinary method in use among scientists—namely, heating or boilingis by lo means easy. In order to succeed it is . necessary to heat tho milk not once, as with ' many other liquids, bi^^Teraltimes ; and that

on successive days. Mr A. N.-Pearaoh, G. vornj ment analyst, Victoria, although an ndvocatettf the Pasteurising process for tbe treatment of milk, recently stated a fact well-known to scientists though beyond the knowledge of many factory managers, that sometimes, but especially ia warm weather, milk "may reach a factory so far gone that pimple Pasteurisation will not destroy a lßt®3,,i}uiribar of .the prejudicial germs." pointsrfor consideration are "Cb^usly thft healhh n? f.hq dftiry^grdyth-C-. keepiagiOi the. Jittrxouudiussiofi|fee7-o,o^r,Bi?freei from filth, and the enforcement of absolute cleanliness of attendants, milk pails, and dairy vessels.