DAIRY CONFERENCE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8843, 20 June 1907, Page 2

DAIRY CONFERENCE.

The proceedings of the Conference opened yesterday morning by ft paper by Mr J. B. Veale on the advantages of machine, milking as compared with hand milking. Mr Veale said the machine made a new era in the dairying industry and it would surely supersede hand milking. His experience this season had been that two men ..working two machines could comfortably milk 50 cows in one and a half or two hours. This time included the cleaning up. The work was more pleasant and the drudgery and disagreeable features of fhand milking were eliminated. The cows were quieter, and sol'o teats were reduced to a minimum. In a dairy of 25 co>rs, unless the farraer wished to iindertake the work single-handed, the eCoiiohiy wonW not be so great, and probably show no great saving. The outside cost of the up-keep of two machines could bo set down as £SO per annum. The machine could be kept perfectly clean by half ail hoar's labour a day. Tho use of tlie machine enabled, ft man to feei that he could .open liiS mouth on a necessary occasion witlu out being told to tako "a week s notice and milk .the,., blooming. cows himself." It removed the necessity tor child labour and enabled tlie farmer to run tho industry on an economic basis; made it possible to give omployces a Sunday free at times, attracted a better class of labour and enabled a fair wago to bo paid. With the machine both the quantity and quality of tho milk was maintained and on a herd of 40 and 50 cows his weekly butter fat did not vary 51b. it was necessary to use tho machine intelligently as some cows needed quicker pulsations than others. Milk was cleaner than from cows hand milked, but a dirty hand milker would no doubt be dirty in the use of the machine. In reply to questions Mr veale Said there was little or no difference if tlie machine was used for ho iters, Or Cdws broken in to hand ■ milking, gohie could be milked clcati while Others required to bo stripped. This depended rather on the shapo of the teats tliau the animal. Ha had not found it injurious to tho. cow to •continue the operation of milking after the animal had ceased to givo milk nor had it been his experience during throe years, that any cows gave a reduced supply. Messrs Wells and Gaue, users of milking machines, said their experience had been much the same as that of Mr Veale. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Veale for his instructive paper and the. manner in which he had replied to questions. Mr J. Thomson, Dairy Instructor, read a paper on factory management in Which he said a manager should set an example of thorough cleauliiiesd to all with whom he came m Contact. His next duty should bo to become thoroughly well acquainted with each of his suppliers and so deal with them as to inspire their confidence and respect. Ho should liaVe a thorough knowledge of all tho machinery and at times give assistants tho opportunity to receive milk as they also contemplated becoming managers. Each can of milk should bo inspected before being received on the wcigh-can and if found unsuitable should be rejected forthwith. Tho manager should also pay a visit of iuspocton, as often as possible, to the farms of the suppliers. Cloth screeners should not be used as they ware a breeding ground for injurious germs. No smoking should be allowed while receiving milk or cream. He was a strong believer in the use of a sampling. tube instead of the dipper. Oream should bo lipened just sufficiently t 6 co-aguiate the as if the process was tarried too far tlie croam would not be in a sound condition." Mr Thomson pointed out the necessity of good water, advocated the use of a turbine tester instead of a baud machine, and referred to many other technical points in tho process of butter making. In jv.ply to questions Mr Thomson said milk should bo put in the testing bottles at a temperature of from 75 to 80 degrees and the test should be read at 140 degrees JTahr. A vote of thanks was accorded tho reader of the paper. The Hon. Mr McNab gave an address on the work being done by his Department. In his opening remarks he said he desired it to be known among the farming community that political considerations had' no weight in the Work of his Department. There were no politics in connection with the dairy industry. In this industry there was Jhardcr toil thaii iii any other wealth producing industry in the colony j therefore it behoved them to render that labour as efficient as possible. Mr McNab explained what had been done in regard to the establishment of the experimental station, by tlie appointment of Mr Singleton, who would commence work after his holiday, with the latest information obtainable in connection with his duties. In regard to clean milk, he Was in the fortunate position of being able to say that at the last Cabinet meeting, held specially for this purpose, it had been decided to give him the Whole care of the dairy factories from end to end of the Colony, and more, that as the question of clean milk affected the producers and consumers alike, it had oeen decided that it would not be right to load the producers with the Whole cost, and tho estimated sum of £13,000 had been allotted for • the expenditure in connection With milk inspection. (Applause.) In to the registration of dairies, tlie charges would be merely nominal, therefore there would be no cause o'f complaint that there was a special H,x. With regard to the appointments it, this the intention that every single oile* should be' entirely on the ground of fitness, aild men would be selected, on the reconiinendatfaris of the officers in charge quite regardless of their political views. At the commencement, the inspectors would be instructed to try the effect of moral suasion, and he thought that when dairymen had been shdwri m what direction lay tlieir interest it would not be necessary to resort to' the strong arm of the law. • Only recently he received two cables from the Mother Country stating that certain samples of New Zealand butter coutainedfa large per centago of foreign fat, and one only a few days ago stating that sainplotf had been found to contain an entirniotis; amount of moisture. They wanted to find out where those complaints' too* their genesis. The only result of the inquiries made here had been that the butters had been in a proper condition when they left this country, and the opinion ho had formed was that our butters had been branded as a quality they did not deserve, and that it was necessary to have some one at Home in touch with the Department here to watch the condition of the butter on its arrival in the Mothercountry. (Applause.) The Government would appoint an officer to that duty—one of the graders—thoroughly conversant with the conditions at this end, who should remain in England two years, and then give place to another grader. By the inspection- of this officer it was hoped to' ascertain whether foreign fat found in New Zealand butter was contained in it on arrival. Ho thought not. The Minister then explained what had been done at the Levin State Farm in the improvement of the dairy herd, and what manner it was proposed by Government ,to raise the standard of the dairy herds of tho colony. By judicious selection it was proposed to specialise the cows for dairy purposes", and the result immediately aimed at was an average of IO.OOOIbs of milk per cow. He read a statement of the yields of milk from the cows on tho State Farm at Levm, from October Ist, 1903, to May 81st, 1907. This showed that the highest vield during December, 1903, had been GOG.SB, and the lowest in May, of 891.6. The increaso effected up to 1907 in the same months had been to 1071.8 and 74i.14 respectively. It showed that 23 cows wero now giving an avorage of 10,0001bs of milk per annum. Tims they would .sec, said tho speaker, that a high standard had been attained. Ho had been laughed at at a meeting of farmers on stating tho object of the Department. Inasmuch,, however, as tho cattlo now on the farm were crossbred, tho Department could not send out sires to farmers. The desiro was to supply farmers from one end of tho colony,to tho other will! milking pedigree "stock. What he proposed was to obtain "animals of tho bestmilking strains in the world Avherover they could bo found, of four breeds if possible. Iu this connection tho Government had received an offer from a gentleman interested in agricultural .matters, :which was to' present tho country •with tho nuclous'of a herd', Short- . horns' for proforenee, from the finest strains in the world at a cost of £IOOO. Ho proposed to got tho agri- "! cultural. officers to ascertain whoro 1 fcheibest could be gdtf i«id bring them J

• this country. Ho hoped, tli6 GoV** ■nmonfc paying the cost of itaportj > obtain from 25 to lot lat sum; He. would -'ask othej ealthy men of tho colony to staira umlder to shoulder with the donorreviously referred to, so that Gov■nment might receive, say, another 2000 for this purpose. (Applause.) hen with these purebred animals le Department would bo able to ridge the gap and supply fanners itli any strain of animals they jsired, Shorthorn or Holstein, and ie result would be an increase in roductiveness in the industry and 10 ability to pay a higher wage. Er McNab closed his address by milking the officers of the Associaion for giving him the opportunity f meeting «o many representatives f the dairy industry, and impressed pon the meeting the desirability of tich and every, one taking advance Of the work or knowledge of lie Department, ami to mako any inniry they desired. ' Mr F. W. B. Greville gave an adress on what could be done to imi'ovo pastures where it was not at ircscnt possible to plough. Ho uofced Mr Kirk, Government Biolo;istj in silking that 10 per cent of he pastures.of New Zealand were rastod because the land grow weeds ustead of useful grasses. He advised Iraiuage of laud, as wet land wft« old land; therefore much Of-.tM tin's heat was wasted in melting now and ice. Ho also referred to ho groat advautago of ploughing nd harrowing laud, and manuring. Mr Kirk, who was present, told he meeting what information Was ivailable from tho Agricultural Dolartmont on this subject. t . Mr Grevillo was accorded a hearty rote of thanks for his paper. Mr A. G. Shirley, Dairy Inspootor, •cad a paper on butter making, in svhich ho impressed upon the mooting the need of providing pure milk. During tho last ten yours.ho con- . ndered there had been only a very slight improvcont in the supply. But a large improvement had taken place in the quality*of the butter made and the position held by our produce in the Homo market was second only to Danish. In this respect our managers had about reached their limit, Until such time" as a Dairy School was established; Considering tho keen competition 1 ,- he said, it was absolutely necessary to mako a further improvement. Pointing out tho necessity of cleanliness in "connection with the milk supply, ho quoted Professor Backhaus, who had stated that tho number of germs which fell from the air to the ground on one square metre was in the open air 7500, in a clean cow-house 29,000, in a dirty cowhouse 00,000. Ho also quoted figures to prove the necessity Of clea bedding," in favour of dry milking, washing tho udder, and using clean utensils. The paper contained a mass of information spocially instructive to dairy managers, and the reader of tho paper supplemented it by replying to several quo stions. A voto of thanks was passed to Mr

Shirley. Iu roply to questions Mr McNab said tho butchers got tho cows that wore eliminated from the Levin herd but lie was not able to suggest the menus to compel private persons to do likewise. He hardly thought tho time had arrived for giving a public demonstration of tho milking capabilities of the Levin herd, though if they drafted out the proposed conditions lie would look over them. There was no such record obtainable as Mr Buchanan enquired about. Mr Cobbe' said he had a daily record of 500 cows in tho past two years and this indicated the yield of milk varied greatly from the same cow, also the quantity of milk irrespective of test dM not prove the dairy value of cows. Mr McNab said the test at the Levin farm varied from B.G to 8.8. None were kept that tested lower than 3. Mr Chisholm said the Department Had encouraged farmers to keep diseased cows which were good milkers through not offering fai* compensation. . He had a COW Which was giving s!)lbs of milk a day "frith a 8.9 test. Thinking the .cow hind tuberculosis he called in an inspee* tor, who would not take the risk of condemning it. Ho kept tho cow for three weeks longer, then tho Chief Inspector applied the tuberculin test and found it was badly affected. His compensation was £2. He thought it was time farmers,should get a fair value for their cows. Mr McNab said the policv now to be adopted was to remove the cause that produced disease. The attempt to prevent it by killing diseased cattle had been a failure in whatever part of the world it had beeu tried. At the best it had been but a temporary stop gap. And on tho other hand if the full valua were given he might be giving a premium for diseased cattle existing. Replying -to other remarks Mr McNab said the knowledge of the Department as to the disease did not perhaps go beyond that of veterinaiy surgeons. Cattle on the State farms were fed on whatever was available, including ensilage. He admitted that tho hopes raised as to the advantage "of tuberculin tests had not been realised. On the motion of Mr Morton a hearty vote of thanks was passed -to Mr McNab for his very instructive address.