Notes from the Divisions. 875 



DAIRYING. 



Most creameries and cheese factories are preparing for the season, and the 

 services of officers of the Dairy Division have been in frequent demand. The 

 prospects for the 1920-21 season are favourable in some districts where good 

 rains have fallen, but other .areas, notably the Eastern Province, are still very 

 dry. A factor which is likely to retard prodviction daring the early months 

 of the season is the calvings which appear to be vfrv laie in most of the dairy 

 farming districts, due no doubt to the severe drought experienced last season 

 when cows got into low condition. Nevertheless a good season is predicted, and 

 it is .anticipated that considerable quantities of butter and cheese will be 

 available for export towards the end of the summer. This means that ijrices 

 obtainable for these products oversea will largely determine those the factories 

 will be able to pay for milk and cream. Consequently, farmers must be 

 prepared for lower prices than those which prevailed last season, which did 

 not allow of the surplus being exported at a profit, and considerable losses 

 have been sustained by creameries and cheese factories who have had to export 

 their surplus before tha commencement of the new season. 



The Superintendent of Dairying (Mr. E. O. Challis), together with Dairy 

 Inspector Gow, have been engaged in grading and supervising the export of 

 butter and cheese at Durban, while the Assistant Superintendent (Mr. E. G. 

 Hardy) and Dairy Inspector Allison have been engaged on similar work at 

 Capetown. It is not anticipated that any more butter will be exported for a 

 couple of months at least. All the graded butter has been purchased by the 

 Food Controller, London, at a, contract price, as the sale of this commodity 

 in Great Britain is still under control. A condition of the contract is that 

 the butter must be covered by a Government Grader's certificate. Only first 

 and second grades are accepted, and every case is stamped with the Union 

 Government's grade stamp before being shipped. Creameries should mark every 

 case of butter packed, whether intended for export or not, with a mark or 

 number indicating the date of manufacture and churning it is from. Grading 

 regulations are in course of preparation, and after they have been gazetted, no 

 butter will be accepted for grading unless it is marked in accordance with 

 such regiilations. The quality of the butter examined was not altogether 

 satisfactory; a good deal of it had to be de-graded to second grade, no doubt 

 largely due to the fact that it had been in cold storage for several months. 

 " Fishy " flavour was the cause of trouble in many cases. This objectionable 

 flavour develops in the butter during cold storage, and has still bafHed all 

 efforts to ascertain its cause and means of prevention. It is probably due to 

 an organism which is not affected by ordinary .-.torage temperatures, but has 

 only rarely been found to develop in butter stored below 5° F. As pasteurisa- 

 tion of the cref:m would appear to be the most successful means of prevention, 

 creameries are strongly recommended to adopt this process more generally. 

 The dearth of knowledge regarding the origin of this trouble is fully recognized, 

 and it is hoped to carry out research work in this direction shortly. 



Quantities of cheese have also been exported, chiefly from East Griqualand 

 factories, and shipped to the open market, as the control of this commodity 

 has been removed. All this cheese has been carefully graded, and should 

 realize good prices, particularly in view of the fine advertisement obtained by 

 our cheese at the recent London Dairy Show. Notwithstanding this, it is, 

 unfortunately, practically certain that the factories will sustain a loss owing 

 to the high price paid for milk last season. There appears to be still a good 

 deal of last season's cheddar cheese held, which will probably be exported 

 before the new season's make comes on the market. The position, however, 

 has been considerably relieved, as practically all the Australian cheese imported 

 earlier in the year has now been disposed of. 



New co-operative creameries will shortly be running at Ladysmith, Natal, 

 and Empangeni, Zululand. New cheese factories will open at Estancia, Trans- 

 vaal, and Clanville in the Dordrecht District, Cape Province. 



The possession of motor cars by two itinerant officers of this Division has 

 greatly facilitated the performance of their duties. 



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