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THE LONDON DAIRY SHOW Olympia, 24th-27th October, 1950

by E. CAPSTICK

The 64th Annual Dairy Show was held at Olympia, London, between October 24th and 27th, 1950. This Show marked an innovation in that the members of the Dairy Engineers’ Assoc- iation, by agreement with the British Dairy Farmers’ Association, did not take their usual stand space and show machinery, but instead contented themselves with small offices in the National Hall. This was the first visible effect of an arrangement whereby the British Engineers will in future show at the London Dairy Show in odd years, and the American engineers will show a t Atlantic City in even years. Our engi- neers feel that the cost of showing annually is so high and the difficulty of producing something new year by year so great, that a biennial display will be the more appreciated by those in the dairy industry interested in machinery.

In going round the Show it was obvious that this decision had in no way embarrassed the Show authorities, as every inch of space had been let. Manufacturers of ice-cream machinery and apparatus, and the purveyors of houses and equipment for the poultry industry, had both taken full advantage of the extra space available for displaying their wares.

The New Inventions Classes suffered owing to the absence of the larger manufacturers, but in the Class for the productive side of the industry a Silver Medal was given to the SIMPLEX DAIRY EQUIPMENT CO., LTD., for their RUNWAY RE- CORDER MOBILE MILKER, a new invention which permits the recording of individual COW’S milk on a Releaser-type of plant. Bronze Medals were given to J. W. WOOLLEY & Co., LTD., for their BAIL TRAIL which consisted of a stoutly built trailer on which an adaptation of their well tried electrobloc steriliser was mounted. The bloc of this can be heated up whilst the trailer is a t home and can then be taken out by car or tractor to the distant bail to provide steam and hot water. Messrs. GASCOIGNES (READING) LTD. were also given a Bronze Medal for their CABINET SPRAY COOLER which embodies the now well established chilled water ice bank system. Instead of the churns being immersed, however, the water is circulated over them using a special lid rotating on the water-wheel principle. A third Bronze Medal was given to CLARE’S SERVICES for CHURN- CLIPS, ingeniously devised for holding churns afte washing and sterilising in an inverted position

On the dairy distributive side a Silver Meda

T h e “ Bldis loe C u p ”. with 500 points.

T h e f in i sh of the inspsction, with the dairy shorthorns nearest camera in the lead T h e y were eventually put back to third place, the Byitish Friesians taking jirst place, and

the Ayrshires second place. (Photo. by Sport G General Press Agency).

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The Simplex Recorder (Simplex Dairy Equiement

was given to FORD’S (FINSBURY) LTD., for an ALUMINIUM C A P MAKING PRESS electronicaIly controlled to prevent jamming and capable of fitting to any existing bottling machinery.

In the section covering the Agricultural Industry, a Silver Medal was awarded to Messrs. F. W. MCCONNEL LTD., for the MCCONNEL- GILMOUR HEDGE CUTTER, a particularly stout piece of machinery which can be mounted on any suitable tractor and can tackle the tough- est and most neglected hedges.

A Bronze Medal was given to the RUSTPROOF METAL WINDOW Co., LTD., for their “ DARBEK ” MANURE CONVEYOR. The novelty of this inven- tion is the metal dung channel and the methods of cleaning the brushes and squeegees.

In the Ice Cream Section a Silver Medal was given to W. COMBES & SONS LTD., for their machine for filling ice cream hardening trays from a continuous freezer. This machine eliminated the necessity for hand squeeging the surface of the mix, and was also capable of filling a two colour mix into them in one operation.

A Bronze Medal was given to NATHAN’S SALES, LTD., for their ICE CREAM BRICK CHOCO- LATE COATING MACHINE, which was particularly designed for compactness and certainly effected real economies in space.

Many other interesting machines had been entered in the New Inventions Classes, but they could not be considered for awards as they had not conformed with the Conditions laid down by the Show Authorities, which require all machines to have been used for a reasonable period in normal commercial practice. It is to be hoped that most of them will be re-entered a t next year’s show, when they will have been able to fufil this condition.

co., Ltd.)

For those of us interested in Dairy Technology, the absence of large numbers of machines to inspect enabled us to spend more time than usual looking at the magnificent display of cattle. In recent years, tpo, the Show Committee have made very strenuous efforts to provide good facilities for their members to see the Judging in comfort. The scene in the Empire Hall with every seat on the ground floor packed with members, and the galleries on the first and second floors lined two and three deep with spectators, when judging for the principal cups took place, emphasises the enormous interest taken by the Agricultural Committee in the efforts of the judges appointed to select the champions and prize winners.

The original cattle entries were 851, but owing to a variety of reasons the number of withdrawals were much higher than usual, so that the final are awarded for the yield and butter-fat percent- age for three consecutive milkings out of five, the number of cattle forward was 293 as compared with 335 in 1949.

The milking trials take place prior to the open- ing of the Show to the general public, and points awarded for the yield and butter-fat percentage for three consecutive milkings out of five, the owners of the cattle not knowing which three milkings will be chosen. Compensatory points are given to cows which have been in milk more than 40 days, and cows are disqualified whose milk falls below the presumptive Government standard for both fat and solids-not-fat a t any

The Ta.iri L7niveys.sn/ Automatic Fast-running A lu miniwit Cap Making Press (Fords (FinsbiirJ3 L f d . )

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T h e Cheese Exhibi ts at the Dairy Show, Or_Ym$ia. British Dairy Farmers Association. Photo. b?) Tella Co., Ltd.)

single milking, or any animal whose milk a t three consecutive milkings contains less than 3% butter-fat or 8.5% solids-not-fat.

This year a large number of the high-yielding cows were disqualified owing to a deficiency of solids-not-fat, which emphasises the dangers of breeding for quantity a t the expense of quality. In many districts of the country, bulk milk, excluding milk from Channel Island herds, in April, and to a less extent in August, is very little above the presumptive Government standard for solids-not-fat.

T h e JPcConnel-Gilmour Hedge Cutter ( F . W . McConnel Ltd.)

The first day of the Show is devoted to the judging of the individual breed classes. The real excitement comes on the 2nd and 3rd days when the breeds compete with each other in teams of six for the Bledisloe Challenge Trophy and, as

individuals, for the Buckhurst Challenge Trophy and the Supreme Individual Championship. For the third year running the Bledisloe Trophy was won by British Friesians from the Ayrshires by the narrowest of margins - 1.06 points out of a total of 1599.46 points. Of these points a maxi- mum of 500 are awarded by the Judge on the inspection of the cattle, and the rest for the yield and quality of the milk during the three consecu- tive milkings a t the Show. The final placings are set out below :

Breed of cow

British Friesians . . Ayrshires . . . Dairy Shorthorns . Guernseys . . . Jerseys . . . . Red Polls . . .

Production Inspection Total Points I Points 1 Points

1149.46

1 138.40

941.19

837.26

779.02

688.70

450

460

500

415

430

400

1599.46

1598.40

1441.19

1252.26

1209.02

1088. 70

The Buckhurst Challenge Cup for the cow gaining the greatest number of points, taking into account milk and fat. production in three succes- sive lactations, live weight and inspection, was won by a Jersey, “ Hursley Autumn Tint,” and the Reserve went to a Guernsey, “ Deanlands Princess 2nd.” The Supreme Individual Cham- pionship was won by an Ayrshire, “ Bargower Lady Eva 3rd.”

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Ice Cream Hydro-Electric M o d d Filling Machine (W. Conibes 6 Sons, Ltd.)

In the Produce Section the classes for butter and cheese are creeping up after their very tentative re-start two years ago following the war period. The classes for factory Cheddar and Cheshire were very well filled, but the decline in the farmhouse cheese-making industry has inevitably lowered the number of entries in the farmhouse classes. Stilton Cheese were of good quality, but they all had to be made a t the wrong time of year to produce the super quality of pre- war days. Other varieties such as Derby, Lancashire and Wensleydale all had reasonable representation, and i t is pleasing to see these territorial varieties coming back again, if only to revive memories of better days of long ago. The

Factory Butter Class was only moderately sup- ported, and the same unfortunately must be said of the Classes for Dominion butter and cheese.

The Bacon Classes were reasonably filled and of good quality well above the average standard of the bacon which we have to accept on our ration to'day. L e t x s hope the time is not far distant when real quality will be more adequatelv rewarded then a t the present time.

In conclusion high compliments should be paid to the British Dairy Farmers' Executive and Secretariat for the enormous advances and improvements in the Show, and the comforts for visitors, which have been made in the three years since its resumption following the xvar.