PAPERS READ IN SECTION On 



I.— MILK STANDARDS. 



By M. A. O'CALLAGHAN. Gvi'rniiufiit Duinj K.iperf, N.S.W. 



Almost all wi-iters and speakers of recent date have attacked the 

 milk question from the consumers point of view only; and statements 

 liave been made which have done more to retai'd than to encourage 

 progress. It goes without saying that any judgment given wliich is not 

 equitable, or any opinions expressed which have not got solid fact for 

 their bases, must biing about that dissatisfaction which causes a 

 reaction rather than a progressive movement. Accuse an innocent 

 man of any charge, and repeat the accusation sufficiently often, and 

 in time you will find a sour, disheartened persoii. Now, if our dairy 

 farmers are even occasionally accused of sins which they do not 

 •commit, it goes without saying that we shall, instead of getting their 

 best eft'orts towards improvement, only bring about a disbelief in the 

 t-eachings and work of scientific men. For this reason it becomes 

 absolutely necessary, if we are to make any progress towards improv- 

 ing the quality of our milk, to understand the position thoroughly 

 •ourselves as teachers; and then we may be able to demonstrate error, 

 and convince the farmer of the necessity for better things. 



The Preseat Positigx. 



Let us review the position somewhat : — 



The consumer or his agent purchases from the farmer cow's milk. 

 Well, what is cow"s milk l We might define it as the whole of the fluid 

 secreted by the healthy mammary glands of the cow. 



If the farmer supplies us with this in an unadulterated condition, 

 we can have no quarrel with liim, unless there is something more 

 •definite in the way of standards mentioned in the contract. If the 

 farmer then sells his milk as drawn from the cow, and an analyst 

 present?, him with a certificate- that sucli milk contains a certain pei'- 

 centage of added water, the farmer, now knowing the l^asis from 

 which the analyst drew his conclusions, simply l>elieves that the 

 •chemist does not know his business, and this belief makes it more 

 difficult to get such a farmer to follow in any way the teachings of 

 science. 



Thus it is that in this stage of tlie dairying industry in Australia 

 it is rathei' important that if milk standards are to be fixed, they shall 

 not only be equitable, but shall I>e woikable ones, and the standards 

 on which the analyst bases his conclusions should be clearly shown on 

 every certificate of analysis. The farmer (and frequently the presiding 

 magistrate) does not know that the analyst does not absolutely find 

 water in the milk apart from that yieldcMl l)y the cow; and does not 

 dream for a moment that the analyst assumes that normal milk 

 contains a certain percentage of solids inir fat, and that if the milk in 

 question does not reach that standard the analvst concludes that water 



