THE FRIESIAN

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1778, 3 July 1926, Page 2

THE FRIESIAN

SUITABILITY AS A CHEESE COW.

EXPERIMENTS TO BE MADE IN TARANAKI.

Mr H. E. Johnson, of Tokaora, at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Friesian Breeders’ Association, held at Palmerston North during show week, outlined the experiment to be tried in Hawera by the Federation of South Taranaki Dairy Factories, in support of which the council had been appealed, to. By means of the experiment the Federation expected to determine the relative value of the different breeds’ milk for cheese-making. The question was of the utmost importance to all dairy farmers, and the scientific value of it was made possible by reason of the laboratory which had been set u,p by the Federation at Hawera, and which was controlled by a highlyqualified scientist. The investigation was to determine the relative values of Jersey, Ayrshire, and Friesian milk for cheese, or, in other word,s, to determine over a full season the average number of pounds of cheese which could be made from one pound of butter-fat. It was proposed to record: (1) The weight of each lot of milk received; (2) fat lost by gravimetric analysis of each sample; (3) 'weight of cheese made; (4) the moisture content of the cheese; (5) fat content of the cheese; (6) the grading points awarded; (7) analysis of the whey run off from each va/t; and (8) weight of whey butter-fat obtained.

It was proposed to utilise the facilities existing at the Tokaora branch of the Hewer a Dairy Company, and to d,o all analytical work in the laboratory of the Federation. The Hawera company had agreed to give every assistance. The dairy herds to be used in the testt were those of Messrs F. Mills (Ayrshire), H. E. Batten (Jersey), and H. E. Johnson (Friesian). Tiie chairman stated that the council had that day decided to support the Federation, both financially and morally, as it was expceted, that the experiment ivould be of very great value to dairy farmers. Mr A. C. Trousdale (’North Auckland) said it behoved the Association to pull the Friesian breed out of the rut. The Association was not spending enough money, and the time had arrived when members would have to face the issue. It would be better for breeders to sell their bulls to dairymen for, say, £lO a piece, rather than knock them on the head as calves. ' In order <to popularise the herd breeders should be prepared to quit yearling bulls at a price representing the cost of rearing them. Mr E. M. North (Omimi) said the cost of rearing a bull was nearer £25 than £lO, and Mr W. R. Wright (Rahotu, Taranaki) said he (himself once worked out the cost at approximately £2l.