Improvement in Quality of Town Milk Supply In New Zealand

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 63, Issue 5, 15 November 1941, Page 415

Improvement in Quality of Town Milk Supply In New Zealand

By inniiniwKui

E. J. CALLAGHAN,

Veterinarian, Hastings.

MUCH progress has been made during the past few years in the supplying of pure, wholesome milk to the people of New. Zealand. , The two main factors with which the Department of Agriculture is concerned are, firstly, those under the control of the Dairy (Milk Supply) Regulations, 1939, such as the erection of suitable milking sheds and milk houses, the production of a clean, wholesome milk supply on the farm, and the protection of milk and cream from contamination; and, secondly, the general inspection of herds and the tuberculin testing of herds supplying the milk. Although tuberculin testing is not compulsory, it is pleasing to note more and more herds being tested each year, with the result that in the Hawke’s Bay area the milk supply of such towns as Dannevirke and • Wairoa is obtained from tuberculin-tested herds— is, the herds are free from tuberculosis. The milk supply of the various hospitals and schools in the —Pukeora Sanatorium, Hawke’s Bay Children’s Home, and Woodford House School— also obtained from tubercu-lin-tested herds. The accompanying photographs are of the Napier Hospital milk supply ' being taken on their Park Island Farm. The building is ideal from the point of view of health, sanitation, and ease of cleansing, and the herd, including the heifers and bull, is tuberculin-tested.

A point of interest is the “change room,” which is complete with a porcelain wash-hand basin, hot and cold water, and a medicine chest. This much-appreciated facility enables those engaged in the milking shed to per-

form their duties under the most hygienic conditions. A “change room” could, with advantage, be worked into the plan of many proposed new sheds. —