Dairying in Italy.
CO-OPERATIVE BUTTER-MAKING IX LOMBARDY.
Those persons who know anything of ■ the various systems of butter-making as j practised in me countries supplying the j London market arc well aware that the j
method in vogue in this colony is one 1 which is specially suited to Xew Zealand, j and is quite distinct from the methods j employed in other countries. So far as j actual manufacturing details are con- j corned, the system is practically perfect, and in this direction our butter is perhaps second to no other butter in the world. It is in the all-important detail oi' rlavor where the weakness exists, but in this it is more the quality of the raw product, or the milk, that is at fault, and not the butter-maker. A proof of the 'standard of excellence attained by New Zealand buttermakers is to be found in the fact that, when the Italians wished to establish butter-making on a co-opera-tive basis in their country, their London agent advised the selection of a New Zealander to direct the work. It was thus that dir Farley was sent for from London to Auckland to teach up-to-date mcthids of dairying to the Italian dairy farmers.
lii an interesting chat with a “New Zealand Times ” representative, air Farley, who is at present in the colony, gave some interesting details of the methods of milk production in vogue in Italy, and of the system upon which he instituted cooperative butter-making in the plains of Lombardy. When he reached the scene of his labors, Mr Farley found the business of milk production being carried on in a rather crude fashion. The cows, however, were of a very fine description, and Mr Farley computes that they were returning an average in butter-fat of fully two-tenths of one per cent, higher than is secured in this colony. The herds arc composed entirely oi' the Swiss breed, which originated from a cross between the Jersey and Holstein, a cross, by the way, which has proved eminently successful'in at least one district in Taranaki. In the first place, Swiss dairymen selected the Holstein-Jersey cross us the foundation for their herds, until it has now become a distinctive breed. A traveller passing through the great dairying districts of Italy, on the plains of Lombardy, would naturally exclaim, Where are the cows ? They are all stabled; even during the warm Italian summer months, they are kept tied up in their stalls. Only during the hottest month of the year are they allowed out. As a result, they give a groat deal more milk than is annually secured from cows of equal capacity in | this colony. Grass is cut twice a day from the paddocks, and carted to the byres, labor being plentiful and very eiieap. But while the labor is cheap, the land is dear, and for this reason it would not pay to graze the cattle ; at the same time, under the system of feeding adopted, there is absolutely no waste of food, eyory blade of grass being utilised. Lombardy is for the most part irrigated, and the land is exceptionally fertile. The fact that tour crops of hay can be cut in one season is the proof of this. Mr Farley explains that in consequence of the cows being housed and artificially fed their milk goes to make, together with the system of manufacture, a class of butter which is in great request for the best class of London trade—palecolored and insipid. It very much resembles the famous Brittany roll butter, and it is only against this butter that the Italian article will come in competition. The characteristically insipid flavors of these butters is intensified by the fact that no salt whatever is used in their manufacture. Italian butter is packed in a similar method to the Danish, in casks containing 1121 b net. Sometimes, however, it is made up into 21b rolls, a dozen rolls being packed in a box, hut the London people prefer to have it in the casks and make it up themselves ; the journey from Italy necessarily crushes the rolls and takes from them the fresh and neat appearance they originally presented. The whole of.the milk, Mr Farley states, is utilised at the factory, the skim milk not being returned to the suppliers. The curd is manufactured in the usual way, and is sold to button factories. The milk sugar is also manufactured, and sol'd to wholesale druggists. Pigs are fed near the factories on the whey. This system works in well with the method in vogue for the rearing of calves. These are reared on the whole milk ; and it pays to do so, as a calf at six weeks old is worth about £4.
One of the weak points of the Italian industry is the transport by rail in the country itself. Owing to the delays in getting the butter to the seaboard it is often seven or eight day between the time the butter leaves the factory and when it arrives in London, while it only takes a messenger two days to make the journey. The delays in question arc caused by the system adopted in Italy of leasing the goods traffic to private firms for a certain number of years, the latter finding the trucks and controlling the work absolutely. The evils of the system seriously react not only on the butter, but on the fruit and other Italian industries. When Mr Farley parted with Italian dairymen the industry was nourishing. The co-operative system upon which it was based, was also giving the greatest satisfaction, and was rapidly speading. The factories are established on very much the same lines as the co-operative companies of this colony, except that in Italy the suppliers pay up their shares in full when the company is formed, instead of, as with New Zealand supplies, having the value of the shares deducted from the monthly milk cheque. The Italian farmers make about 4:}d per gallon for S‘6 milk, and the milk is, of course, paid for on the butter-fat test, the Gerber system being used. It is not at all likely that the development of the Italian dairying industry will ever affect the industry in this colony, as Now Zealand will never be able to make butter for the class of trade for which the Italians are catering. Mr Farley, it may be mentioned, is at present engaged in extending the dairy produce business of Messrs Lovell and Christmas, Ltd., of London, to tho South Island. Hitherto the company’s operations, though on a gigantic scale, have been confined to tho North Island. Mr Farley is one of the oldest dairymen in tho colony, and has been connected with the factory system of butter-making from its inception in New Zealand. He was for years manager for Messrs H. Reynolds and Company, makers of the famous .“ Anchor ” brand of butter, a business which was afterwards absorbed by the New Zealand Dairy Association of Auckland.—N.Z. Mail.
Long Milking Qualities. —Assuming that every cow-owner will, as he should, insist upon a reasonable quantity and satisfactory quality in tho product of every cow lie keeps, the next point of importance is persistency in milking. Indeed, I place this habit, or attribute of the cow, first of all in the case of the family cow, or wherever only two or three cows arc kept. A large flow of milk, when a cow is fresh, is very deceptive and often leads to carrying an animal, which, really, in the course of one year, is a source of loss. There is no plan so safe as the daily record of weight of milk produced. This takes no appreciable time or labor, but it results in showing absolutely what the cow gives in return for tho time she is fed, and how evenly she distributes the product through the year. This “ holding out ” in milk is one of the greatest virtues of tho Jersey cow, and a characteristic of the breed. This one point alone is enough to make the Jersey especially desirable for the family cow; also for the producer of milk for sale, who desires a permanent dairy with a uniform supply, rich in quality.—. Rural New Yorker. We have a shrewd suspicion that Mr Seddon is finding some such drastic and autocratic law as this an immediate necessity. Within the next year or two, there will be such a washing of public dirty linen as will electrify the colony.— Auckland Observer, on the Libel Bill. If the present state of things is permitted to continue, justice in the country will be a name only, and employers will have to go beyond tho colony to seek it.Paeroa Gazette. A few years hence New Zealanders themselves will see the comic side of much that is now being done by our Parliamentarians,—Hawera Star.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GIST19010828.2.41
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 198, 28 August 1901, Page 4
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,479Dairying in Italy. Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 198, 28 August 1901, Page 4
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.