DAIRY RESEARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 19

DAIRY RESEARCH.

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE AT SHINFIELD, READING. By George M. Moir, M.Sc., A.I.C. [Copyright.] (Photographs in This Issue.) J. Dairy farming has for many year s been recognised as one of the leading industries of the Dominion. Its importance is likely to increase in the future because of the fact that it is capable of attaining in considerable measure that much-to-be-desired closer settlement of our sparsely populated districts. This industry is based upon the production of milk, which is partly to be sold as such in New Zealand, but chiefly to be manufactured into butter, cheese, casein, dried milk, and sugar of milk.; Of these substances the last, which for economic reasons is manufactured in smallest quantity, is the simplest* in composition. Y’et even it is not a’ simple chemical substance like caustic soda or alcohol, but it is all composed of one single substanca which chemists call lactose. As a result of long and careful investigations which were carried’ out many years ago, clever chemists were enabled to tell us exactly how the atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are fitted together in lactose. The other more- important dairy products are none ' of them definite chemical substances like milk sugar, but all vary tremendously according to the circumstances of production and manufacture. Everyone knows how enormously milk, butter, and cheese can vary. Even if we took a vat bf milk and dried half of it by the roller process and the other half by the spray process, the products would be found to have important differences. Casein as it qxists in milk different from the powder manufactured by the lactic acid process, and both differ again Ijom rennet . casein. A great many of these variations. are due in part to the variation of the milk as drawn from the cow, and in part to the subsequent treatment (unintentional as - well. as intentional) of the milk. It is for this reason that the dairy industry to-day has more need of advics based upon scientific research and tawwOigatiou

than any other New Zealand industry. If the factory manager could turn on a tap and get every day precisely the same milk—like water out of a pipe—one of the first and most important difficulties of butter-making and cheese-making would be eliminated. But every cow gives differentmilk, and although scientists have discovered meiins of saying how much fat or water, or how many bacteria any sample contains, there are many othe r very important things they ar e still trying to discover about milk and its products - ' . . • .

, The importance of research in connection with the industry has gradually been realised during recent years. The Federation of Taranaki Co-operative Dairy Factories took a great forward step when it decided a few years ago to obtain scientific advice. Dairy farmers throughout New Zealand are ’ well aware of the improvements yyhich have resulted from the investigations of the federation’s scientist, Mr P. O. Veale, 8.A., M.Sc. It is highly satisfactory that the Government has decided to extend the work here begun by establishing a dairy research institute as an important feature of the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North. Various reasons have prevented research from being commenced at this institute, but the services have been obtained of two scientists, Mr H. R. Whitehead, M.Sc., A.1.C., and Dr F. H. M'Dowell as bacteriologist and chemist respectively. These two gentlemen have recently been devoting their to the gathering of information which is likely to help them to solve

the many problems connected with dairying in New Zealand. As with this object in \iew they have both spent some months at the National Institute for Research.in Dairying at Shinfield, near Reading, the writer proposes now to give some account of . the work of this institute. The des cription must necessarily be brief, for it is quite impossible to, give in a column or t«o anything approaching a complete account of what has been done. Before 1 ' going further it may be well to controvert an idea which many people have that as Great Britain has to import most of the butter and cheese she needs, little dairy farming is done. One ha s only to think of the fresh milk needed every day for her millions and millions of people to realise that all this must be produced upon her own dairy farms The value of the fluid milk sold as such in England, and Wales is nearly £50,000.000 per annum; for. other dairy produce (quite apart from what is imported) the figures are: Cheese £3,000,000, and butter £6,000,000. The total of these three is but a few millions short of three times the annual value of the dairy produce exported from New Zealand. The, National Institute for- Research in Dairying was established in 1912 as part of a scheme for the development of agricultural research in Great .Britain, arid was located at University College, Reading. “In the matter of numbers of personnel and equipment the institute nas a very modest affair. The first members of its staff were a bacteriologist, a chemist, and one laboratory assistant. Its laboratories were improvised on the top

floor of a dwelling house in Reading, and it had no farm and no dairy.” Its income in the first year was £l6lO, which is must less than the Taranaki Federa tion spent 'during the first year, it had scientific assistance. Most of this money was provided by the Government, with an understanding, somewhat similar to that accompanyihg the original grant to the Taranaki ! federation—namely that' the money was in aid of the work, that when it was property started the necessary finance would, be provided, -by the dairying interests that were benefited bv., the investigations. •' J- i In its early stages, instead, of. having before it as we have in New Zealand,?, at present a number of problems urgently awaiting investigation, the National- In-t stitute for Research in Dairying was; in the rather .singular position of having little knowledge of the real extent ;of the problems that required investigation. Although it was known that losses were occurring, nobody knew 'the causes of them nor what they aniounted to.One of the first things to be done therefore was to, try and find out the extent of these losses and at what points they chiefly occurred. Pending the collection of this information, which could not be done immediately, a study of the causes of discolouration in Stilton cheese was begun. This work presently pointed to the desirability of making some investigations with a view to improving the. conditions of the production and handling of milk. Progress was delayed by the war, the exigencies of which later served to emphasise the necessity for the work. In 1916 a committee formed to assist the institute to gather information was able to show that tremendous losses were taking place in England and Wales, due to faulty (chiefly insanitary) methods of production and distribution of milk. It is worthy of note that this really confirmed what the Stilton cheese work suggested. This problem of the handling of milk was not only an agricultural one, nor did it extend merely to the distributing firms to whom the farmers sold their milk. It was in many ways a national one, for the neglect associated with the handling from start to finish was shown to be due to complete failure to recognise the amount of care which must be bestowed upon this commodity.

The facts which had been collected served to emphasise the insufficiency of both staff and laboratory accommodation as compared with the magnitude of the problems which urgently required solution. So it came about that in 1920 negotiations were entered into for the purchase of the Shinfield Manor Estate, which included a total of 350 acres. Even when this farm was obtained a great deal more money was required to convert the Manor House into laboratories, to supply water and electric light and power, and to build and equip a suitable dairy and other farm buildings. When at last in October, 1923, .everything was ready for the staff to commence work the expenditure had reached the total of £76,700, of which £26,300 had still to be found. Of the total, £30,950 had been provided by the Government and the remainder by donations from various companies and private individuals. The largest donation of £5OOO was made by Lord Elveden (now Lord Iveagh). who, in addition, by his personal guarantee has enabled the Institute to borrow the deficit from its bankers. Further donations towards the Endowment Fund of the institute include over £6OOO from Lord Elveden.

This expenditure, and more, has been found inadequate to the demands for research in the dairying industry in England. Compared to others in the country this industry is but a 50:.;.-.-whereas in New Zealand it is the chief one. The establishment of an adequate Research Institute at Palmerston' North will cost a lot of money, but it is ‘to be hoped that those who are to benefit by the research will not forget when the bill appears that it is an investment which does not return 5 per cent, ori 10 per cent., but hundreds.

After this very brief summary of the development of the institute, we may go on to describe still more briefly some of the work which has been done in the past, and some of what is being done at present. First mention must be made of the ■ library which, though small, is a most essential part of the institute. It is difficult to convey to most people how valuable and necessary a proper library is. Research in dairying is carried on in many countries, and the results of these researches are published in numerous journals which appear at regular intervals. If a scientist desires to find information about any particular problem he must first consult the indexes of as many of these journals as possible, to see what others have already discovered. By devoting a day or two or perhaps even a week to this §tudy he may find out all he wants. Without a good library he would have to waste months and months performing experiments which cost a great deal of money, in order to try and discover what others have already made known. It is worth mentioning that the library at Shinfield contains publications in no fewerthan 11 languages. Although Mr Veaje has done splendid work at Hawera, he

has been very much hampered through lack of an adequate library.