INSPECTION OF URBAN MILK-SUPPLY DAIRIES.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2, 20 February 1928, Page 146

INSPECTION OF URBAN MILK-SUPPLY DAIRIES.

This matter was dealt with by the Director of the Live-stock Division in his annual report for 1926-27 as follows :— The work connected with the inspection and registration of dairy premises supplying milk - for direct human consumption entails constant and careful supervision on the part of the Inspectors, in order that the desired standard may be achieved and maintained. The work throughout the year has been carried out successfully, and on the whole the dairy premises are being maintained in a satisfactory condition. Some difficulty (financial and otherwise) naturally exists in a number of cases in getting all done that is required to bring the premises up to the required standard, and in these cases we have had to be satisfied with such improvements as could be effected. The amendment to the Dairy Industry Act which was passed and came into force during the year will enable the difficulty which has previously existed in regard to farms held on short tenancy to be overcome, in that the landlord is required to bear a share of the cost of improvements in proportion to the unexpired term of the lease. In addition to the inspection of dairy premises, where special attention is given to cleanliness, methods of handling, and cooling of the milk, &c., a careful clinical examination of the cows is carried out, and any showing evidence of disease are destroyed ; also suspicious cases are subjected to the tuberculin test, and if a reaction is shown they, too, are destroyed. Numbers of composite samples of milk are also collected and subjected to biological examination at the Veterinary Laboratory at Wallaceville and elsewhere, with an exceedingly small number of positive results. Greater use has been made during the year of the New Zealand patent sedimenttester, further testers having been supplied to officers for use in addition to those previously supplied for the large centres. These testers are of value in affording direct ocular evidence of the condition of the milk in regard to dirt content, and it is proposed to further extend the supply of them to other districts.