4o6 Journal of Agriculture. [lo July, 1909. 



Co-operative factories in Denmark protect themselves against exploita- 

 tion by dissatisfied members. Similar action has been taken by the leading 

 co-operative factories in Ireland. According to the last report of the Irish 

 Agricultural Organization Society Limited the following resolution was 

 passed : — • 



That, with a view to the prevention of overlapping and competition for juilk 

 supply ijetween dairy societies, and to promote in them the growth of a more co- 

 operative spirit, this meeting strongly urges on such societies the necessity for — 



[a) Defining, by mutual agreement, the area from which shall be drawn th.e 



milk supply of each society. 



[b) Requiring all milk suppliers within such area to become shareholders, 



and refusing to accept milk from non-sharehohlers or from persons 

 whose milk has been rejected by other co-operative creameries on the 

 grounds of its inferior quality or condition ; and, 

 (r) Adopting, where practical, a rule binding members to supply all their 

 milk, except what may be required for household consumption. 



It would be well if something similar could be done here. Many of 

 our co-operative butter factory companies are not co-operative in spirit, but 

 are now purely competitive trading concerns, encroaching on the territory 

 of neighbouring factories, and duplicatmg to some extent the cost of col- 

 lecting supplies. All this w'aste energy and additional outlay must come 

 out of the cows' teats, .so to speak; in other words, the dairyman in .some 

 shape or form has to pay the piper. 



Defects. 

 With regard tO' the defects in manufacture, it is satisfactory to be able 

 to state that mottle was much less prevalent, but that improvement is 

 somewhat discounted by the presence of milky moisture and free moisture 

 in the butter. I am .sorry to state that in many cases there are good grounds 

 for suspecting delil^erate attempts at loading of butter by the manufac- 

 turers, which, however, have not been successful. When a purchaser draws 

 a trver of the butter and discovers free moisture, or worse still, free 

 moisture which is cloudy or milky, the quality and price are at once dis- 

 counted. In a few instances, under certain circumstances, there is perhaps 

 no help for it, but, as I have already stated, I have no doubt that clumsy 

 atte.npts are made to load the butter to the full capacity the law allows. 

 It is difficult, of course, to control either the moisture contents or the clean- 

 liness of the moisture contents in hot weather where insufficient refrigeration 

 is provided. Fortunately the number of factories w^orking with insufficient 

 cooling power is becoming fewer each year. Last season there should hn\e 

 been less reason for complaint because factories were not working up ;o 

 their full capacities as was the ca.se in previous seasons. 



Altogether too much of the butter which arrived at the Cool Stores 

 during the warmer months was very soft, showing that it had been 

 despatched from factorv to railway cool trucks under exceedingly unsatis- 

 factory conditions. There are a number of well-managed factories in 

 Victoria whose butter ahva\s readies ilic Cool Stores in a faultless state. 

 It is part of a factorv manager's dutv to follow his butter from factory to 

 rail and to see that the vehicle in which It is to be conveyed is suitable, 

 and that it has not too long to wait before the cool truck arrives. In warm 

 weather, it is desirable tO' keep the current day's manufacture at the 

 factorv, and, indeed, to put all butter in the factory cool room before 

 sending it to the station. It is a great pity that more butter factory 

 managers do not follow their butter right through to the Cool Stores at 

 least once or twice each sea.son. It would be well worth the company's 

 while to arrange for them to do so. because of the valual)le information 

 to be gained under this and other headings. 



