THE DAIRY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1033, 12 August 1879, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE DAIRY.

MANAGEMENT OF THE BUTTER. DAIRY. In answer to a series of questions published in the Westchester (Pa.) Republican, a correspondent of that paper furnishes the following very valuable article, which should be carefully read and considered by all butter dairymen : Pastures and flay. —ln answering his first question, I would say that as a pasture for the production of butter, I would greatly prefer a natural growth, such as is usually found in our Brandywine meadows ; good clover pasture will increase the amount of milk, but my experience has shown me that if my cows produce el given amount of butter from natural pastures, tliey will, when turned on to clover, decrease the amount of butter at least one-fourth, while the amount milk would be materially increased. I would unhesitatingly give the preference to good natural grass as a butter producer. For hay, I would still give the preference to natural grass, but the difference is not nearly so great, for I hold that clover hay, nicely kept, and not too much dried, wiil make as much butter as any other kind which X can get. If we pasture our meadows and tlie natural grass of our uplands, we must, of course, mow the clover of our arable land, or vice

versa. ' Dairy Booms and Temperature. —For keeping milk I would give the preference to a good spring house in summer, and a or vault in winter ; the grand object is to keep the milk as nearly as possible at an even temperature the year round. With regard to the proper temperature of the spring-house or vault, I would say that one object is to make all the cream rise in the least possible time, and to do this we must keep the milk at a regular temperature. Several experiments have been made to ascertain the proper temperature ; as a rule it has been found that milk at a temperature of 50 deg. will raise all the cream in 36 hours ; nt°a temperature of 55 deg. it requires but 24 hours ; at a temperature of 68 deg, it requires but 20 hours, while at one'of 77 deg. it needs but 12 hours. In another experiment, the milk was kept at a temperature of from 34 deg. to 37 deg. no cream of any account was thrown up in threo weeks. These and other experiments all ££o to show the great iitiportance of this point \ in lact, it is the mainspring of success in the butter daily. That this regular temperature can be best attained l)y a wel'-constructed vault there can be no doubt, biiu during the summer it may also be attained by a spring house,- which has its own attendant advantages, such as exemption from carrying milk up and down, stairs, &c., but on the other hand the spring house is generally so situated as to be liable to overflow from heavy rains. With regard to the state of the milk at the lime of c 1 i ill' n i n I prefer that the milt should not become thick all through, but endeavor to have it in that stage in which a small portion at the bottom and sides of the pan is thick, showing that the thickening process has commenced. _ If allowed to° stand until the milk is thick all through, there is great danger of injuring the quality of the butter. At a temperature of about 70 deg. it will be best to alHm every dav, or at most, every 30 hours. If our West Bradford correspondent will take the trouble to skim liis milk, in 24 hours after milking, and aga n .in 12 hours more, keeping the two skimmings separate, he will find that the last skimmed will make a very inferior sample of butter. , Depth of Milk m Pans.—My own experiments have ■ demonstrated that to put the milk more than threei .inches deep in the pans entails a loss in the amount of cream ; the cream is so near of the same specific gravity as the milk, that it cannot rise through a very great depth ; again, in a large body of milk, it requires a longer time for it to lose its animal 'heat, which must all be destroyed before the cream commences to rise ; if any one will take the trouble to set a shallow pan with not more than three inches of milk, away with a bucketful from the same kind, he will find that the pan will raise nearly, it not quite as thick cream as the bucket I would not put away milk deeper than . from two and a half to three inches, and have found that the increased outlay for pans is more than made up by the incren.se ixi bnttsr. . • , Temperature of Cream. In answering his question as to the' proper temperature of the cream when put into the churn, I would say that this questions forms ope of the most important in his series, but is at the' same time one which is often neglected. Careful experiments have demon. strated that while the cream shouldjiever be lower than 50 deg., it should be higher than-55 deg., for the operation-of churning will raise it from five to .tea. degrees. ■ In a long series of experiments conducted in an English dairy, the best temperature

was found.to be 63. deg. whenthe cream goes into, the churn. By far ib'o %I'ariy keep the- milk and ; cream, at the same temperature, or at least in the same cellar or vault. Either the .cream, pi milk will suffer, one being too ■warm or the other too cold.

How Long to Churn..—But is not 6iif friend mistaken in wishing to obtain'/his butter " in,the'le'ast possible Time-']''' '•Mj*' experience is that if the'butter too soonit is at the expense of .quality, if not quantity, too. I would rather chum one hour than less, and coitr.ider that by so doing I make.better butter ; by.raising the temperature of - the cream the butter may be prepared in less time, but will not make so gbbd an a'ticle. In the best English dairies it is not considered too long if twice the above time is occupied in churning. Salting Butter.—The quantity of salt needed to keep the butter will vary from one pound of salt to twenty-four of butter, to the same amount for twenty-eight pounds. The object is to have'the water and buttermilk which remain's in the butter thoroughly saturated with salt, and of course the more the butter is worked and freed from the buttermilk, tho less salt will be required to salt it enough for preservation, but as enough salt-to keep it will'not usually make it salt enough for the taste of many customers, we must add more ; one pound to twenty-four of [butter will not generally be too much for j the public taste.

Milk ".or Cream for Ono Pound of Butter.—His question as to tho amount of mdk or cream required to make one pound of butter is very difficult to answer,frOm tho fact that milk varies so much. From nine to eleven quarts of milk should make two of cream, which in turn ouglife to make one. pound of butter, or, by weight, eighteen , to twenty pounds- of inilk should make four of cream, which should make one of butter. i give these data from a dairy of common cows, and it will, of course, vary with otli'et" breeds .and 1 herds ; it- will not-apply to AlderneyS, for the proportion of .'cream and: butter to the milk is nrach greater. Two quarts of cream is a fair average for one. pound of butter,..though many cows will furnish an article requiring much less to make one pound. . "