DAIRY BOARD COMMENDED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19734, 31 December 1926, Page 21 (Supplement)

DAIRY BOARD COMMENDED

IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY A BRIGHTER OUTLOOK An encouraging note is sounded in a report relating to this season’s dairy produce, which has been forwarded to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. O. J. Hawken, by the Director of the Dairy Division, Mr. W. M. Singleton. Butter and cheese have recorded a distinct improvement in quality, and the principal stimulus towards that improvement is held to be the system of differential advance payments according to quality introduced by The Dairy Control Board. ” The increased supplies of butter from the Baltic States and Siberia, together with increased quantities dur-; ing recent years from Argentine,’’ states the report, “have caused New Zealand dairymen to realise that, at least in the immediate future', competition will be keen, and that good quality is of paramount importance. In view of the fact that milk may be manufactured into butter or cheese, it is further recognised that cheese is not likely to be in short supply as a rule, an.l that good quality is as necessary in cheese as in butter. The spring can scarcely be said to have been uniformly favourable for production. The corresponding period of 1925 was doubtless still less favourable, however, since' for the August-November period this year we have an increasd production amounting to 7.6 per cent. We are however, some 4 per cent below th<* production of the corresponding period of 1924. There is, therefore, some' leeway to make up on quantity. Improved Quality “Climatic conditions have been more favourable to quality than to quantity of dairy produce. There has also been a general move forward by dairy farmers and factory managers with respect to quality in both butter and cheese. /The manner in which the producers and managers are co-operating with rii° Department towards effecting improvement is to be commended. Dairy companies in some districts have been preparing for this push forward during the past 12 months, and from time to time during that period I have been requested to approve of additional farm dairy instructors to assist dairv farmers in producing a better quality of milk and cream. These requests have come mostly from the North Island, although a number camo from the South Island. The result of the general efforts towards improvement has been gratifying. Usually spring quality of butter and chee'se is not as good as the average for the. season, but the qualitv of butter this spring is practically identical with the average qualitv for all last season, while cheese shows a marked improvement over last season’s average. “It is the general consensus of opinion that the principal stimulus towards this praiseworthy improvement is the differential advance payments in accordance writh quality. The board is therefore to be commended for its action, and to it in the final analysis belongs much of the credit for the improvement in the quality of butter and cheese this season.