ADDRESSES BY EXPERTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 8

ADDRESSES BY EXPERTS.

The South Island Dairy Association _of New Zealand (Ltd.) continued its meeting on Thursday, the president (Mr J. E. Hurdley) occupying the chair. There was * large attendance of members. The Ho». T. Mackenzie (Minister of Agriculture), Mr G. J. Anderson. M.P. (Mataura), Mr D. Cuddie (Chief Dairy Commissioner), and Mr C. J. Reekes (chief veterinarian and director of the Live Stock Division) were also present. THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.

The Chairman said he was sure they were all pleased to see the Hon. Mr Mackenzie in their midst. —(Applause.) The Hon. Mr Mackenzie, who was well received, said he did not intend to address the meeting at any length, as the experts were to sneak after him. For himself he had to say that he wished to work wifchi the dairy people. He did not desire to propose regulations which would he against the interests of the dairying industry. He wished to bring into force regulations which would be for the benefit of a great industry, and which would be of advantage to the country as a whole. The experts would speak plainly to them concerning the spread of tuberculosis. _ Let them keep their (products up to a high level—and there was no reason why they should

not,—and the trade would greatly increase. He had already given figures to show how it had increased in the past, and without doubt it would further increase in the future under proper conditions; and if they worked steadily together to obtain that which made for perfection they would do a great deal of good.—(Applause.) BOILER INSPECTION IN FACTORIES. Mr M'C'oll brought before the Minister the matter of boiler inspection in factories, urging the necessity of altering the time for inspecting the boilers. A suitable time would be between the 15th June and the 15th September, and not'less than seven days' notice of inspection should be given to each factory. This would be more satisfactory to the factories, and also to the department than to carry out the inspection when the factories were busy. The. Hon. Mr Mackenzie said this was the first time the matter had been brought under his notice. He would confer 'with the Machinery Dqpartment to see if it could not meet the wishes of the parties interested. No doubt the industry was of sufficient importance to strain a point to meet the convenience of the people engaged in it. If the department could not agree to the request one might consider the propriety of putting on a man to do the work at the time suggested. However, he would go into the whole matter when he went back to Wellington.— (Applause.) On the motion of Mr Barnett . (Christchurch) a hearty vote of thanks was- accorded Mr Mackenzie for his . attendance. PASTEURISATION.' Mr Reakes said the question of tuberculosis as affecting cattle and pigs in this country had reached a point when it was necessary that some definite' measure must be adopted in order to effectively cope with it. In New Zealand at the present time the percentage of tubercular cattle was very much lower than was the case in most of the older countries, particularly Great Britain; but at the same time it was evident, from the statistics available from the results of the inspection of cattle at meat export slaughter-houses and abattoirs, that the disease was making steady progress in the country. The percentage of tubercular cattle had increased at the' rate of 1 per cent, for the? three years ended March 31, 1909, while in the case of -pigs the progressive increase had been at the? rate of 2 per cent, per annum. The methods which had' been adopted up to the present in endeavouring to cope l with this disease consisted of Careful inspection of animals during life, and as a result of this method a considerable number were culled out and destroyed every year This was good so far as it went, but it was only dealing with the disease at one end; and it was obvious it was futile to concentrate their energies solely on the destruction of diseased adult cattle when every -year they were raising, a crop calves fed upon unpasteuri6ed skim milk, much of which, as shown by its. effects upon pigs, was contaminated by the presence of tubercular germs. Consequently, a large proportion of these calves would, no doubt, become infected. The fact of the whole of the supply of .a factory or creamery being mixed together made it possible for a few diseased cows among the suppliers to contaminate the whole of the output of separated milk or whey. It was necessary, if the disease was to be coped with effectively, to take measures to prevent it being disseminated amongst calves and pigs by feeding them on these contaminated dairy by-prcducts, and this could be done by the process of pasteurisation. In Denmark compulsory pasteurisation had been in .vogue for several years, and when Mr Cuddie and himself were in Copenhagen two years ago they had the privilege of discussing the matteT with Professor Bang, who was recognised as one of the greatest living authorities on the diseases of dairy etock. Professor Bang was emphatic in assuring them that the pasteurisation of separated milk at factories was- a most valuable measure in preventing the spread of tuberculosis in cattle. He instanced an interesting case bearing on this. A farmer, who previously had a herd of cattle free from this disease, had his herd retested, and he was astonished to find that, although his old stock was still healthy, the two-year-olds were not, and what was more unaccountable, his calves and yearlings were not affected. Investigation by Professor Bang's officers brought out the fact that during the time the two-year-old stock were being fed on milk the owner was supplying a factory whe're the skim milk was not pasteurised, whereas the animals in his herd in other years had been fed on pasteurised milk. In addition thev had a good object-lesson in New Zealand. At a dairy factory in the North Island, where it was known some of the herds supplying it were affected with tuberculosis, the whole of the skim milk from this factory was used for feeding- calves and pigs on one ptece. In 1908 the pigs from this place were so badly affected with tuberculosis that the percentage of diseased animals varied in different lots slaughtered under inspection from 59 per cent to 100 per cent. In 1909 the owner installed a Tough-iand-ready pasteurising plant at the factory, and fed the pigs on the pasteurised skim milk. As a result, though in the beginning of the year a few tubercular pigs were found, there were only 10 per cent., as compared with from 59 per cent, to 100 per cent, in the preceding year. As the season went on, successive large batches of pigs were slaughtered without a single one being found affected with tuberculosis, yet these pigs had been kept in the same pens, were bred from the same stock, and were kept under exactly similar conditions in every way, except that the milk was pasteurised. Even the styes had not been disinfected, though the owner had advised to do this. It would be interesting at this stage to lay before the meeting the following extract from a paper read by Dr Bang at the Hague Congress, 1909 : —" There is great danger for oalves and pigs in the milk they drink, especially skim milk and whey _ returned from creameries. Calves and pigs may be otherwise infected, but in my experience the alimentary infection is the most important. Is it necessary for the Government to support the struggle against this danger? This depends on the country's agricultural condition. Where the farmer feeds calves and pigs with milk from his own herd, State measures are not necessary. Quite different is it when, as in Denmark, all milk is sent to factories, and where the farmer never gets his own milk back. In those countries where tuberculosis is very prevalent- the skim milk may spread the disease to a previously healthy herd. The cooperative factory system, which otherwise has been a great agricultural success, has *»een the means to spread such diseases as

foot' and mouth disease, tuberculosis, etc. This danger is so great that I am quite sure no herds would have been free from tuberculosis nowadays in case no measures were taken to prevent this contagion. My opinion is that a State measure is most urgently needed in this case. Private initiative would not be sufficient to protect the individual farmer in the long run. Fortunately, it was prohibited by law in Denmark in 1593 to return from factories skim milk and butter milk unless it was heated to 185 deg. Fahr. in 1904 the lw was altered so that it is now prohibited to export butter unless the cream has been heated* At the same time the pasteurising temperature was altered from ISSde.g to 176cleg. This was done on account of mine and Mr Stribolt's experiments, which proved that a heat of 176 was sufficient to kill the tubercle bacilli. This temperature is also suitable as starch test, wnich is used as control, only proves if milk has been heated to 176 deg and not over. The speaker also quoted the following extracts from the report of the United States Department of Agriculture: "Recent feeding experiments conducted by the bureau have proved conclusively that hogs are readily infected through the ingestion of feces and milk from tuberculous cows. ■ "' _. " Methods of Infection.—The mest frequent infection of hogs with tuberculosis occurs, no doubt, through the digestive tract, and in this mode of infection tuberculosis of cattle is very intimately concerned. In those instances in which a marked increase in the number of tuberculous hogs from a certain locality has been noticed and investigated it has too frequently been found that the hogs in question had been fed upon the by-products of a cream separator. " Infection through the milk of tuberculous cows.—Then hogs were fed on tuberculous milk for only three days, and the post mortem examination, held 107 days later, showed that 83.3 per cent, of the animab had become tuberculous. "When hogs received tuberculous milk for 30 days, and were allowed to live 50 days longer, IPO per cent, of the animals had developed generalised tuberculosis. In one instance a shipment of 74 hogs showed tuberculosis in 61, and investigation brought out the • fact that the swine bad been fed on the skim milk of a creamery in a near-by town. "In one State where hand-separators are quite frequently used'on the farm a lot of tuberculous hogs, which contained 36 per cent, of tuberculous animals, ' vss traced to the farm of the raiser, and the State authorities were notified. The latter made a tuberculin test of the cattle producing the milk, with the result that about 22 per cent, of them re-acted'. " Treating of creamey milk as a cause of the spread of tuberculosis among hogs Professor Moueson, of the - ' Paris Veterinary College, makes the statement that sterilisation of the by-products of creameries and cheese factories results in the disappearance of tuberculosis of an alimentary origin among the hogs fed with them, and the hog-owners do not longer fear losses from this disease. " We now have absolute knowledge that the vast majority of cases of hog-tuber-culosis are produced by (1) raw milk and slime - from creameries; (2) hand-separated milk from tuberculous cattle; (3) feeding behind tuberculous cattle; (4) feeding tuberculosis cattle; and (5) feeding slaughter-house offal." —(Nos. 4 and 5 are prohibited by law in New Zealand.) ■ It was pointed out that in Denmark the export trade in bacon and pork was. worth some five and a-half millions sterling per annum. There was no reason why New Zealand dairy-farmers should not go in more largely for pig-raising than was the case at present, and if it could be, ensured that the food supply of the pigs was kept uroontaminated by disease germs it should be (possible to develop a profitable export trade, as well as supplying all the needs of our own country. Under present conditions a profitable export trade was not possible, and a New Zealand dairy-farmer was prevented from making the money he should be able to make were proper conditions existing-. He quoted from a letter he had received from a prominent . exporter of meat from New Zealand, in which this fact was strongly emphasised. Mr Reakes went on to state that the direct loss to the community generally consequent on the condemnation for tuberculosis of cattle and pigs, amounted last year to upwards of £38,000. and in addition to this there was the indirect loss resulting from the depreciation in constitution, power, and milk-yielding capacity of affected but undetected cows, and the weakened constitutions of their progeny. The whole question was one which should be tackled effectively and thoroughly,, and he had: every confidence that the dairy factoryowners would co-operate with the Government in its efforts to bring about a satisfactory state of affairs both in the. interests _ of human life . and the health of ouir live fctock.—(Applause.) Mr Cuddie spoke on the practicability of carrying out pasteurisation. The ciple was now recognised in New Zealand in connection with the manufacture of butter. They had made a great deal of progress in this direction in the last two years, and from all they could learn it was only a matter of a short time when practically every private factory in the Dominion would have adopted that system of making butter. If further proof were needed of its value they had only to look at the exhibits of butter in tne winter show. Up to the present time, however, they had not done a great deal with regard to the treatment of the skim milk and whey. When it became known that the matter of disease among the dairy stock was so serious the departmental officers felt it was necessary that they should obtain some data with regard to the cost of carrying out the work. About 18 months ago they arranged with the Hawera Dairy Co. to treat the whey at its principal factory in order to arrive at some definite decision £5 to the cost. The company agreed to place the factory at their disposal, and Mr Singleton took charge of the trial. The matter was oarefully gone into. The amount of fuel consumed was carefully weighed, and the work carried on for some time. It was found that the heating of the whey to 160 deg ran out at lfd per 10001 b of milk received, or lid for every 100 gallons of milk. When the temperature was raised to a higher degree it was noticed that the albumen in the whey thickened, and to some extent spoiled its food value, but they were assured by Mr Reakes that the temperature of 160 deg was sufficient for the purpose. The farmers in the district expressed themselves well pleased w'ith the

' result, claiming that their calves snd oigs j throve better than on the raw whey. it j had also the advantage of keeping the whey tanks much cleaner than under the i old method, and reduced the acidity in the ■whey to such .an extent that the stock did much baiter on it. After devoting their attention to that branch they commenced some experiments in connection with the skim milk. They obtained leave from the Ballance Dairy Co. (Pahitua) to put a pasteuriser into one of its creameries. Thoy were handling about 1600 gallons per. day, and they were able there to carry on the wcrk for about a fortnight. When using the exhaust steam in the ipasteurisin.g it was found the cost of treating the skim milk, heating it to 176dccr, worked out at only gd per thousand pounds of milk handled, while with the direct steam it cost Id per thousand pounds of milk. The farmers at that factory were very well pleased with the improvement in the food value of the skim milk. They then obtained leave from the Minister to carry on , some further work at Glen Oroua on a larger scale. The expense in connection with it was very little above that of the Pahiatua creamery, ranging a little over Id per 10001 bof milk. If they worked it out on the supply then being received it meant about 6d per cow per annum to the settlers, and they were treating up to 3000 gallons per day at that particular factory. The company was so well pleased with the result that it had decided to install a larger boiler next year, and in all probability i it would continue the work in one form or other. After having obtained that information it occurred to them that they might reduce the cost and get a simpler means of treating the skim milk. The speaker went on to describe an apparatus suitable for the purpose which had been manufactured in Wellington. This apparatus was fixed up between the skim milk tank and the skim milk purqp, and the steam from the exhaust was turned on. It was found that the milk could be handled from one separator at the rate of 400 gallons per hour, using only two-thirds of the exhaust steam. By using all the steam the milk got too hot. When two separators were used, and 800 gallons were put through, it required the whole of the exhaust steam to heat it to the required temperature. The cost was practically nothing. They were still carrying on the work, and they were satisfied that i.i a great many cases the cost of doing the work would amount to little or nothing. He admitted that some difficulty might be found at the smaller creameries or cheese factories, where the boiler pressure was low. Apart from the better food value and the prevention of the spread of disease this method was having a beneficial effect on the milk supply, as it brought about a better state of affairs in regard to the skim milk and whey tanks, and in some cases it had done good as regards the milk cans. It would also help considerably in tl e qualtiy of the Butter and cheese, and if adapted in the factories in the south the owners would have great cause to be satisfied. —(Applause.) Mr Lumsden spoke of the beneficial results of the pasteurisation methods adopted in the Drummond factory. In reply to a question as to the food value of pasteurised 6kim-milk and whey, Mr Cuddie said the department had not carried out any exhaustive experiments in that direction. It was unquestionable that the food value was greatly improved in both cases, though he would not say the process made whey of the same value as skim-milk. He also spoke of the importance of cooling the milk, which he regarded, as the keynote of the success of the industry, j Other questions were answered by the experts. The Chairman called the attention of Mr Cuddie to the motion in the order paper , by Mr Hunter, who had not been able to : attend the meeting—viz.: "To point out I to dairy commissioner where the Babcock ! tester fails to give satisfaction in cheese ! factories." Mr Cuddie said he was sorry Mr Hunter j was not present to move in the matter, j because he did not altogether see the drift j of ,it. - The question of paying for milk in i the_ butter-fat test had been discussed at I various times, and. as far as he knew, no i more accurate and reliable test was known | than the Babcock test, which was the best iin use to-day. There was also the Casein test. One arrived in the Dominion lately. i The officers of the department had. not | been able to do anything with it yet, but : they would take it in hand shortly. | In reply to another question, Mr Cuddie 1 said that the cost of a skim-milk pasteuriser [ would depend upon the amount of j milk handled. The apparatus with which [ the _ officers of the department had been testing recently would be much cheaper than the ordinary pasteuriser. It would run about £ls or £l6, exclusive of the cost of fitting; up. On the motion of Mr W. Nicolson, : seconded by Mr J. Barnett, a hearty vote ; of thanks was accorded Mr Cuddie and Mr j Reakes for their addresses. THE EDENDALE RESOLUTIONS. In reply to a_ question as to why the resolutions, bearing on the selling scheme, passed at a meeting at Edendale recently, had not been brought before the meeting. The Chairman explained that the meeting referred to was a meeting of representatives of soutnern factories, and was not under the patronage of the association. I Two of the executive attended the meeting j as farmers belonging to the district, and | Mr Scott also went down in order to afford ; any information he could, but it was not an association meeting. ELECTION' OE DIRECTORS. The following gentlemen were nominated as directors (seven): —James Lumsden | (Drummond), D. R. Hunter (Edendale), : John Grav (Mataura), J. Barnett (Christi church), H. E. Perriman (Toi-Toi), H. ! M'Coll (Seaward Downs), J. E. Hurdley (Timaru), W. J. Bolt A. M'Farlane (Dunedin), and J. Parker (Stirliner). Subsequently Mr M'Farlane retired. Mr George Crosbie (Glenbam) was also nominated, but, in keeping with a pledge, declined to stand. Messrs Winning and Fisher were appointed as scrutineers. The election resulted as under:—Lumsden 48 votes. Hunter 48. Barnett 48. Grav 46. Bolt 43, Hurdley 35, M'Coll 25 (elected), i Parker 22, and Perriman 16. VOTES OF THANES. On the motion of Mr W. Nicolson, a vote of thanks was accorded the directors for their services last year. A vote of thanks was tendered to the press.