THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 7

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

! THE ' EFFECT OF THE 'MILKING ! MACHINE ON BUTTER PRODUC- \ 'HON. [CoitM DXICATED.] "What tho croam eeparator has done for the dairy and factory the mechanical milker vill accomplish for the cow yard." So wrote an enthusiastic user of the_ milking machine a few years ago, and it would seem that this prediction is about to be fulfilled, a-, milking by machinery is rapidly , coming into favour. The general adoption | of a practical milking machine, which "an | now '^c jegarded .as an established fact, is calculated to give dairying operations as groat, ,if not a greater impetus than did j the croam» separator, and nowhere will rVn» expansion be more striking than in Australasia, where production has been to a very considerable extent checked by the labour difficulty. That- this problem has been satisfactorily solved, those who have j haJ the milking machine in everyday u»e ' for p.vo, thrcfc?, and four seasons freely 1 atto«t. The effect tho milking machine has i already had in dairies where it ha<> been installorl is very noticeable, as in almost every instance the herd-, have been largely increased, owing it i* said, to the milking operat'on no longer causing tho least trouble or anxiety, and to the drudgery of milking having been overcome. — The Xcccs^iry for Economy. — It is very evident to thsse who have gi\en the matter any consideration that the milking machine is gohifj to increase the., production of butter to. an enormous extent in the near future, and this must inevitably cause a reduction m prices. In view, therefee, of the probability of dairy farmers having to .crept lower ~ values for. their milk, tlwiy ,wilT be forced, sooner or later, to the consideration of adopting tb'o most ecopomicai methods of production and handling of the milk. With the excessive price of land and the heavy rent that the dairy farmer fs culled upon to pay", he finds that* he has hard work to make ends meet, even when he gets high prices for his products, but, what chance will he have of paying his way when prices fall? —A Plea for Home Separator*?.— It is just here where the advocates for the home separator maintain that the system of beparating on tho farm, and .sending the factory waggon round to gather tho cream supplies, is going to effect an enormous reduction in the cost of production. There can be no doubt that the present «yr,tom of each supplier driving his load of milk to tho factory and the skim milk back/ again w a very wasteful and costly one, and when one comes to reflect on tho va-t Mini that is annually spent in the aggregate by tho suppliers to the fa<3- ' torio^ and cieameries on the up-keep of horses waggon*, and. harness, to say no-"- 1 thing of the loss of time in running backwards and forwards every day, and then takes into consideration the economies and • adAantages that the home separator method ' offers, he cannot hejp but admit that the latter system has everything to recommend it. In the fir«t place, the very expensive item of daily cartage is dispensed with altogether, as the factory waggon would come round each day. if necessary, and gather all the cream supjijie*. — The Factory Waggon Collection • Ky<tem. — i The ht'it results are obtained from home t-epaiating where provision is made for delivering the cieam in firot-class order, and undoubted!} the best and most <H-onom:-cal m<-tht,d of handling the cream ii by the adoption of the fucioiy waggon

' eottectioti system, whereby the cream is called tor and taken away from the farm, regularly, thus enabling tne factory to produce the very highest quality of butter at a minimum of expense to the suppliers, and the saving of an immense amount of time, labour, and money. This method & only an extension of the co-operative *ystem, which has been so largely employed in other branches of the dairying industry. ' In Victoria, where the cream collection system has been extensively adopted, it has proved wonderfully successful. It solves one of the biggest difficulties that confront dairy fanners— namely, , the heavy expense* and the enormous amount of labour "involved in the daily cartage of milk and cream. Employing one or more waggon* to traveF a certain district to collect the cream supplies at the various farms has been taken advantage of by- the leading cooperative factories, as well as the proprietary companies, with the- ,most satisfactory results all round. A small charge per can is made to cover the expense' involved, which, compared with the existing system of every farmer carting his own milk or cream, is infinitesimal. . ■- — Calf-rearing and Prevention of Disease.— . There are several reasons why skim milk has greater vaiae when fed as homo separator mUk. , One. is that it can be' fed regularly, Young calves need a sweet, warm, pure food ofte£ and regularly.. None ol the%e joints can be -obtained fron*" a' creamery or factory. septCx&ipr, Jand aft * of tiiein are covered 'by the home separator. The* importance of having jpure, fresh, fckim milk for the calves cannot be over-eeti-^ mated. In fact, it is absoiutcijr essential" to the production of sound,' healthy, profit- -. able dairy herds. < Under the. factory and creamery systent - there is & grave danger v of communicating diseases from one herd to another, 'as any infection brought to line creamery in one supplier's milk jnay-!be ! -taken home in the skim milk by - other; suppliers sooner or later, consequently Jthe I owner of healthy cattle runs the x risk cf having tuberculosis and other diseases introduced into his herd through feeding ocatamin&ted skim milk to the young stock. All dagger of spreading disease can fed i obviated by using a home separator.