Who’s got the cream?

A couple of questions could be asked by the media: The cows used to produce enough cream – are there fewer cows?

Can the farmers control the fat content in the milk produced and are they capable of producing creamier milk if given enough notice by the Dairy? (clue: the answer is a three-letter word beginning with a “y”) By how much has the Dairy reduced exports? How much cream and milk is being dumped by the Dairy and shops?

For your information I had, unusually, to go back to the Dairy late morning today. I saw them dumping 36 four-pint pots of double cream. A waste of plastic packaging and cream. I asked why, knowing full well they could hardly say ‘we’ve got too much of it’ after their remarks in the newspaper. The answer given was ‘it didn’t pass its tests’. So the questions then are: ‘Why not?’ – are the tests too stringent and who designs them, or who fouled up in order for the tests to have failed and what measures are in place to avoid a future repeat? I always find it especially curious and disappointing when product is declared to have failed after it has been packed. If the lack of butter is caused by the lack of cream, why has the milk, especially the red, been so excessively creamy lately? Is the Dairy skimming off the cream properly?

MATT WATERMAN

mattwaterman4@hotmail.com

Editor’s Footnote; Andrew Tabel, Guernsey Dairy general manager, replies: To answer your correspondent’s questions it is useful to start with some background on local butter production.

Butter is made by the process of churning cream, which is obtained by ‘skimming’ raw milk delivered to the Dairy and in the production of skimmed (green) milk and low fat (blue) milk. Full cream (red) milk contains the highest percentage of cream in the Dairy’s range of fresh liquid milks; nothing is added or taken away and is therefore a link with Guernsey’s dairy past, when only fresh ‘whole milk’ was available.

The Guernsey cattle breed is capable of producing raw milk with amongst the highest cream to milk ratio when compared to other dairy breeds. While that is a well-known feature of our local breed, it is also true that farmers can control the cream content to some extent. The type of factors under farmer control include the animals’ diet, health and welfare. However, environmental conditions, calving cycles and availability of good quality grazing also play a major role and are less controllable.

Another important point to appreciate is that, over a year, more butter is produced than is needed to meet local demand and the Dairy has an important export market, which ensures it does not need to ‘dump’ (in the sense of sell off cheaply) excess butter or, indeed, liquid cream. However, to get access to these markets the Dairy has to commit to continuity of supply, routinely adjusting order volumes in harmony with availability.

Cream availability (to manufacture butter) fluctuates throughout the year, depending on seasonal variations in the milk received from farms and in sales of milk and liquid cream.

Guernsey’s cow population has remained relatively static since 2000. There are currently around 2,550 cattle, of which around 1,000 are young stock – heifers – not yet in milk production. The number of cattle being milked on island dairy farms in any week will vary and is typically slightly higher in the spring and summer and lower in the winter. However, farmers work hard to avoid having too many animals in the spring, which results in a ‘spring flush’ of milk which is more than the market can simply absorb.

Farmers work closely with the Dairy to bring about a situation where industry output is relatively stable throughout the year, which ensures continuity of supply of fresh liquid milk is maintained. Nevertheless, we have to recognise that cattle are not machines that can be turned on if demand increases and so one responsibility of the Dairy is, by balancing the products it produces, to help to harmonise the inevitable fluctuations.

The Guernsey Dairy is committed to meeting the highest standards of product assurance and, like your correspondent, we hate to see any of our product go to waste. However, there is no compromise on safety and the accepted industry standards are always complied with by running a rigorous testing programme throughout the production process that includes post-production checks to ensure the integrity of the packaging and the quality of the product is not compromised. The incidence of product rejection is extremely low and the reasons for failures in these tests will vary. All results are monitored and reviewed and the Dairy’s processes are adjusted when and wherever necessary to improve quality and reduce waste, thereby maximising operational efficacy.