QUALITY PARAMOUNT

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1935, Page 24 (Supplement)

QUALITY PARAMOUNT

THE GRADING OF CREAM. SOME CAUSES OF TROUBLE. Quality is undoubtedly the keystone on which New Zealand dairy produce must depend for its place on the British market, in view of the increasing world wide competition. If the New Zealand producer wishes to obtain the highest possible price for his butter and cheese it is necessary that he should concentrate on exporting nothing but the finest quality produce. In the present era of keen competition and low prices for produce it is only by securing the top price that the dairy farmer can hope to come successfully through difficult times. From the discussions and opinions expressed at various meetings and conferences, there is no doubt that all connected with the dairy industry, including the farmer who supplies the raw material in the shape of milk or cream, the factory manager and staff who manufacture it into cheese or butter, the directors who control it, the watersiders who handle it, the dairy division staff and the members of the Dairy Produce Board and Executive Commission of .Agriculture all realise that quality is of paramount importance.

Suppliers of the raw material, with perhaps a few exceptions, are very keen to supply the best, and if at times during the season their milk or cream is graded at the factory lower than finest they are anxious to know the cause with a view to eliminating them and are always ready to take the advice of the farm dairy instructor or factory manager. It is /ery gratifying to note, too. how willing the factory managers are to co-operate with the suppliers and render all possible assistance in enabling them to cope effectively with the various problems that they are faced with in their endeavours to turn out the finest raw material.

Some interesting remarks on the' ( causes whereby suppliers at times sent cream to the factory tha- did not grade up to finest quality were made by Mr. Noel Ross, manager of the, Mangorei Dairy Company, who last year travelled over, 500 miles to visit the farms of suppliers who had trouble with their cream. Suppliers on the whole had sent good quality cream to the factory, but Mr. Ross learned from his visits some of the causes that resulted in first or second grade being secured instead of finest, and no doubt his experience was the same as that of managers in other parts of Taranaki. - On some farms there was evident lack of an adequate supply of suitable water, with .the result that there could be no provision made for. cooling the milk or cream, or for washing properly. In some cases the separator, receiving vats and buckets were not washed at night, while in others the milk pipes were not clean. The necessity for an adequate supply of good water, from a well if possible, could not be too strongly stressed.

Mr. Ross also emphasised the necessity for keeping the cream in a cool place where there was no fear of it being contaminated by smells, from the shed. The necessity for protecting the cream from the sun while it was on the roadside awaiting the arrival of the cream wagon was another important matter in order to avoid curdling the cream, because according to the regulations curdled cream must be graded second. The majority if not all of the above causes are probably more prevalent in the hot weather, and no doubt the availability of chea;. money will overcome to a great extentrfhe handicap previously due to lack of finance and enable dairy farmers to effect the necessary improvements. J .

One very important aspect which _is probably not known by some dairy farmers is the necessity to separate after each milking. Trouble frequently, is experienced in the winter owing to the tendency of farmers, when there is only a small quantity of milk, to leave the separating of the night’s milk until the morning. Hot water has to be added to bring the temperature of that milk up to blood heat before separating. That has the effect of destroying the casein in the milk and gives bitter flavour when the cream is graded on the palate. There is ..also at the present time of the year a danger of feed flavour owing to the cows getting into gullies and swamps after feed.