Aug. 3, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S. TV. 675 



Ayres, where the bulk of the dairying is carried on, the quantity given by 

 each cow is the highest, but the test is only 3 per cent. Further south, in 

 the hilly country, and across the river in the province of Entre Rios, the 

 quantity yielded is smaller, but the test higher^about 4 per cent, on an 

 average. The variation is accounted for by the different pastures indigenous 

 to each locality. Where hand feeding is resorted to, alfalfa (lucerne) is 

 mostly used, for the growth of which enormous areas are cultivated. An 

 average pidce to pay for milk is about 2|d. a gallon; many dairymen ocntract 

 with a creamery to supply all the year round at this price, the buyer inserting 

 a clause in the contract giving him the power to reject all milk testing below 

 3 per cent. 



Skim Milk. — After the cream has been separated, the skim milk is run 

 into vats, and manufactureti into casein, for which ready sale is found in 

 England for the manufacture of knife handles, buttons, &c. 



Casein. — In 1904, dried casein was fetching £30 a ton in London ; in 

 1906, it dropped to about £20, but it has since gone up again in value. There 

 are several casein companies in the Argentine, with central mills in Buenos 

 Ayres. They buy all the skim milk from a creamery, for, say three years, 

 giving about a farthing a gallon for it ; manufacturing the casein at their own 

 expense. It takes about 7,500 gallons of milk to make one ton of casein. 

 This works out at somewhere near a penny per gallon realised for skim milk, 

 with the price for casein at £30 per ton. Deducting freights, commission, &:q., 

 leaves about three-fifths of a penny per gallon as the net value of skim milk. 

 The whey, after the casein is extracted, is given to pigs, who do well on it. 

 The plant required for the manufacture of casein is very cheap ; the chief 

 items of expense are a press, and a drying room fitted with boiler and steam 

 radiator, for use in wet weather. In fine weather the sun's rays do all the 

 drying. The S3'steai of manufacture is simple, but it would take too long to 

 give all details here. The Argentino does not require his skim milk for 

 raising calves, and he can utilise the whey residue of the casein for his pigs — 

 when he keeps any. Prior to the introduction of casein factories, the bulk 

 of the skim milk was thrown away. 



Measuring, SavijMng, Testing. — Milk is not weighed, Ijut is j^oured into a 

 small measuring vat placed on the receiving platform — graduated to 5 litre 

 marks. 



Testing is done by either Gerber or Babcock machines. Most of the 

 factories take daih' tests ; others are satisfied with a composite sample tested 

 every week. One central butter factory, which owns some fifty creameries, 

 has samples taken daily at all its stations. These are forwarded by rail, 

 under lock and key, to the head factory, where two samples are taken for a 

 check ; one to be tested straight away, the other placed in a flask, and a 

 composite test taken at the end of the week. Skim milk, butter-milk, and 

 cream tests are all checked in the same way. Cream samples are also 

 weighed. I do not know of a single factory that measures the sample for 

 testing, as we do in New South Wales. 



