MEAT PRODUCERS’ BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 20

MEAT PRODUCERS’ BOARD.

SMITHFIELD PRICES. The New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board has received the following cable from its London office, dated August 3, advising Smithfield delivered prices averaged for week ending that date as follows:— (Prices for the two previous weeks are also

Frozen venl , Not a unted. Lamb: Market firm. Consumption is improving owing to cool weather Mutton: Market very firm: better prices. ■Reef: Market firm with good demand. pMPV RFJW.ARCH. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE AT SHTNFTFLD. READING.

By George M. Moir, M.Sc.. A.I.C. [Copyright.]

Apart from the library, the work of the institute may be divided up into four departments—dairy husbandry, chemical, bacteriological, and the dairy. Although these are to a certain extent distinct yet they work together in perfect harmony in carrying out the investigation of many problems from every point of view. The dairy husbandry department has charge of the farm and the management of the cows and the operation of the milking machines. It includes in its work the trying out of various feeding crops (as well as manurial experiments) in order to ascertain what will give the best results, both roots and crops for silage. The best and most economical means of rearing calves and feeding the. cattle in the winter have received considerable attention. A very important matter has been the investigation of the production of various taints in the milk, due either to weeds or to foods which the cows consume. In the chemistry department a great deal of time has been devoted to investigating the food value of milk, and especially the vitamins which it contains. This is a matter of tremendous importance in a country like Britain, where for a long time in winter the eattle are altogether stall-fed, with the result that the vitamin content (and therefore the food value) of the' milk is greatly reduced. Fortunately, we do not have this problem in New Zealand. The rennet coagulation of milk lias been extensively studied, and at tlfe present time the effect of pasteurisation upon this change is being investigated by the writer in. the hope of obtaining information that will be of value to New Zealand cheesemakers. The rennet coagulation is intimately connected with the presence of calcium (or lime) salts, the assimiliation of which by animals is in turn dependent upon vitamin D. It is hardly possible to make the man in the street, or rather the man on the farm, understand the importance of an adequate supply of lime and its special vitamin not only for cows in milk, but also dry cows, pigs, calves, and, indeed, all growing animals. Young animals derive their supplies of these two essentials from their mother's milk in which the vitamin is associated with the fat, while the lime is combined chiefly with casein and phosphorus. If calves or young pigs do not get sufficient of these materials their bones will not grow properly. If the cow cannot obtain i cient lime from her food it has been shown that some of the lime from her bones will .pass into her blood, and thence to the milk. Thus, when eowa that give a lot of milk are dried off

prior to calving they must still be given good food to enable them to establish a reserve of lime in their bones. The chemistry department, in conjunction with the bacteriology and the dairy husbandry department, has evolved a test known as the Broin-Cresol-Purple test, which enables niammitis to be discovered in its early stages. This should be of considerable use in New Zealand, as the successful treatment of the disease depends largely upon applying remedial measures at the earliest possible moment. Another investigation that will probably be of great value to New Zealand is the work that has been done in connection with the utilisation of whey by-products, both at Shinfield and at the \\ hey Research Factory at H.'tslington. Some months ago the Empire Marketing Board made a grant to the institute to provide a scientist whose duty it would be to investigate defects in dairy produce from the dominions. Dr W. L. Davies, who was appointed to this position, has already obtained some very interesting and important results, which show that the presence of minute traces of copper and other metals (from dairy utensils and machinery) will cause serious damage, especially to butter. The great work of the bacteriological department has been in the first place to ..discover where contamination, or.

more exactly, bacteria got into the milk, and in the secoud place how to prevent these bacteria from getting in. It is the bacteria which cause the milk to turn sour, if not before it is sold, then very soon after. Among other things, empty milk-cans at a railway station were examined and found to contain millions of bacteria, even when dry and apparently clean, while unwashed or badly washed cans were very many times worse. In this way everything with - 1 which the milk came in contact from start to finish was examined. Then means had to be devised to improve the milk supply, and in this Dr Stenhouse Williams and his assistants adopted the fundamental principle that “ prevention is better than cure.” The bacteria that cause the trouble must be prevented from getting into the milk. With this end in view everything that is used in handling the milk must be sterile. The cows’ flanks and udders are cleaned before milking, and, instead of using wide open buckets a special kind with covered tops is used so that the minimum of dirt can fall into them. The milk is passed over a cooler and run into sterile cans. These cans, coolers, and buckets arc all thoroughly washed and sterilised, not by treating them with disinfectants, which may taint the milk, but by steaming them.* Quite simple home-made apparatus has been devised to enable the steaming to be done over an ordinary farm copper or boiler. In America it has been the practice to sterilise with disinfectants, but these must afterwards be rinsed off or they will taint the milk. It is usually the case that the water used for this* last rinsing contains large numbers of bacteria, so that the utensils at the end are little better than before the use of disinfectants. After having discovered how to produce clean milk at Shinfield, the next thing was to show the farmers how to do the same thing. This has been accomplished partly by demonstrations at farms where a* number of the neighbours can be present. A clean milk demonstration at an agricultural show was first given in 1920 by members of the staff of the institute* and was rather treated as a joke by the farmers. They soon, howeVfer, realised the value of these demonstrations, and now it is impossible to grant all the requests to give them at shows. Dr Stenhouse Williams is a great believer in the ability of the farmer to do the right thing when he is shown how to do "so, and he maintains that the improvement in the quality of the milk is largely due to the keenness of the farmers to turn out a first class article. Clean milk commands a higher price, and, in addition to this, the clean milk competitions that are conducted in many of the countries serve to encourage* the fanners in a healthy spirit of competition to try to produce milk of the very best quality. Without going into de it should be added that those who handle the milk at the large distributing centres rn-the towns are also shown how to avoid contamination.

shown.) N.Z. Wethers ami Maidens — 7Z ti 2? 13 3 . "5 Canterbury quality, lb. d. d. d. selected brands 56/ under 73 7a 73 57/64 -i 7J 1i 65/72 ... 7 GJ 64 Other brands 56 tinder 7} 65/72 63 GJ Gi N.Z. Ewes C4/under 5§ 5} 54 N.Z. Lambs— Canterbury quality 36/ under 101 10 j 104 37/42 ... 9J 91 9J 43/50 9J 9} 94 fx cands 9 J 9J 95 Selected brands 3G/under l n } ICJ 10} 37/42 93 9J 94 Other brands: First quality 3G 'under 95 9’ 94 37/42 ... ■'j; 94 9} Second quality 30/32 avr. 10 10 10 Australian Lambs— Victorian, first quality 36/nndcr Not quoted. 37/42 Not quoted. Argentine Lambs— First quality 36/under Not quoted. 37/42 Not quoted. N.Z. Beef<1. <1. d. Ox fores ... ... 4 3? Ox hinds ■ - GJ 6* 6} Cow fore? 31 3} Cow hinds ... Or 5} Argentine Chilled Beef— Ox fores . ... 4 31 Ox hinds . ... 74 65 61 Argentine Frozen Beef— Ox fores .. Not quoted. Ox hinds ... Not quo! ed. Frozen Pork— Porkers, 60/801b , ... 7} 74 Porkers, 81 /991b , ... 7 7 7 Porkers, 10071201b . ... 7 7 65 Baooners, 121/1801b . ... 74 74 74