SCIENCE IN DAIRYING.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1934, Page 6

SCIENCE IN DAIRYING.

Amid all the turmoil of political action in regard to New Zealand, exports it is satisfactory to note that one important factor in their well-being is not being lost sight of. Whether a quota is applied by Great Britain to New Zealand dairy produce or not there is no question but that the higher the quality of that produce the greater will be the demand for it oversea. The conference of the New Zealand Dairy Science Association at Massey College this week is a reminder that research is continuing and that efforts are being made to co-ordin-ate investigations throughout the Dominion. It has been made abundantly clear that the way to obtain highest quality butter and cheese is not so much by any revolutionary alteration in system of manufacture as by attention to detail in the handling of the raw product through all the processes required at the factory. Dairy scientists in the Dominion have not confined themselves to purely scientific research. They have shown its relationship in such ordinary matters as the proper control of cowsheds and the care of livestock. It is a scientist, Mr. P. O. Veale, of the Hawera laboratory, who has evolved a system of arriving at the cheese value of milk if it is considered that to pay on that value is fairer than to continue the present system of payment on butter-fat content. Other “practical” matters such as the elimination of non-acid milk, and even the treatment of timber for butter boxes, have been handled by scientific investigators to the great benefit of the industry. The conference of the Science Association had two aims: It was for the discussion of results achieved to see how far local circumstances might affect them, and to prevent overlapping and duplication of work. The association is one that should receive the full support of the dairy industry, and it is satisfactory to note that its membership is increasing.