BAD BUTTER

Otago Witness, Issue 1031, 2 September 1871, Page 10

BAD BUTTER

Of all the butter made, only a small portion is tolerable, and a much smaller portion is really good. It is worth while to consider why this is so, and whether or not this condition may be reversed, and the great portion of butter made good instead of bad : especially is it worth while to consider, when the very good butter will command in market from 20 to 40 cents per pound more than what may be termed ordinary butter. This is a very largo difference, and if very good butter (we do not say the very best) can be made as easily as the indifferent or ordinary, then it is a loss— a wicked waste — of from 2d to 3d per pound on butter badly made.

What makes the butter bad or poor ? There may be instances where the food of the cows might have a tendency to produce such a result, but, as a general rule, our pastures produce as good a quality of food for cows as could be desired, and our meadows furnish hay as sweet as hay can be, and when bad butter results from feed, it is the rare exception, and not the rule.

There is undoubtedly a difference in cows, but there is not, probably, one in a thousand of healthy cows from which good butter cannot be made. The trouble then must be in the manipulations of the milk, cream, or butter, or all of them, and the irresistible inference is that, with proper pains-taking, ninetenths of all the butter made might be from very good to the very best quality, without any additional labour or cost. What would a difference of 2d per lb on nine-tenths of the butter made amount to . ; More than our farmers can afford to lose.

Butter is made bad by impurities and by improper handling. Of the first, such extraneous matter as may become mingled with the milk before it is deposited in the pans is not the worst ; but to produce the best results, perfect purity and cleanliness should exist.

The great drawback is in letting the cream stand upon the milk until it becomes sour, and often until the cream itself is sour and the milk worse. One mess of soured or partially decayed milk mingled in with fifty pounds of butter will destroy its good quality, and in a short time render it more or less offensive to taste.

To make truly sweet butter we must have sweet cream, and no sour, half-de-cayed matter mingled Avith it, as such Avill often, if not always, remain in and mingle with the butter, in spite of all working and washing. Starting with sweet cream and no sour milk mingled with it, you will have sweet butter. The cream should be churned every day, as it cannot be kept without in some degree deteriorating, while butter made sweet can be kept, any length of time if wholly free from buttermilk.

HaA-ing made the butter sweet, a little careful manipulation Avill ex-press all the buttermilk. Too much working or handling with the hands may make it greasy. Perfect butter is rather a wax than a grease, but it may easily be converted into ordinary grease. In this care and skill are requisite, but not care or skill beyond what persons of ordinary intelligence can exercise. Will our dairymen and women take the subject into consideration, to their own profit and the great satisfaction of those who eat their butter .' — The Recorder and Farmer.