THE DAIRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 7

THE DAIRY.

Cream-rai»ing in Deep Pane. — One of the secrets to success in raising cream", when the milk is set in deep, "narrow vessels, as in the well-known Schwartz system which is still fo largely employed in Northern Eitrope, is that the milk should bo set .immediately it comes from the cow, and before it "has lost its natural warmth. The warmer the milk is at the tima of -setting, the more rapid and more complete will be the ascentof the cream. Another very important and essential point in the' working of this system of cream raising is that the water surrounding the vessels should be kept at as low a temperature as possible. The difficulty of procuring cold water . in Bummer weather to keep the milk at a. sufficiently low temperature-has always mili- . tated against the adoption of this system ( to any extent in the3e countries. In Sweden and other parts of. the .continent, however, where ice is abundant, and can . be conveniently obtained all through the' season, the system is employed to great advantage, and is thera found to give more satisfactory results than any other method of cream-raising. Cream rises more rapidly when the milk is set in deep cans or vessels of this kind than when set in ordinary shallow pans at a depth of from 2^in to 3in. , Experiments have gone to .show that while it requires fully 36 hours for milk set in shallow pans to throw up the whole of its cream, the Eamo milk, when set in deep pans, would have yielded all" the cream likely to be obtained from it within 24- hours. The explanation of this is very simple." The milk, when set in the deep pans, is always mu»h warmer than in the case of that set in shallow pans, and the warmer the milk and the cooler the medium in which it is sst, the moro rapidly will the cream rise, since the ascent of the cream is due to the cooling of the watery portion of the milk, which parts with its heat more rapidly than the fat globules, and thus becomes heavier, with the result that it has a tendency to sink to the bottom and allow the warmer, and therefore lighter, fat globules to rise to the surface. A Profitable Jersey. — Jerseys are famous as butter producers, but it 'is not even every Jersey that can give such a good accountof herself at the pail and churn ns one- of which her owner sends a record to the Live Stock Journal. During the past five years this cow has produced a total of 3335 gallons of milk, and the money value of her produce has- worked out to £143 11s, or an average, of £28 14s pc annum. Her record for the period is set out in detail as follows : — £ s. d. 256 gal new milk sold 13 9 5 891* gal new milk consumed at la .. 4-t 11 G 9511b butter sold, etc., at Is 2id .. 56 14 7 297i1b cream sold, etc., at Is . . . . 14 17 6 1668 gal skim milk sold, etc., at 2d 13 18 0 Total £143 11 0 Every 201b of milk yielded lib of butter, and every 100 gallons of new milk yielded 76 skim milk, 14 butler milk, and 10 gallons cream. Regularity of Milking. — Milker 3 should always have impressed upon them the necessity of performing the operation quietly, quickly, and thoroughly. They should also be instructed to make a point of commencing to milk at exactly the same hour every morning and evening. Nothing is -more conducive to causing cowb to fall off in their milk yields than the objectionable practice of milking them at irregular hours, say at 6 one morning and 7 the next, or 4 one evening and 6.30 or 7 the next. How the Prize Butter was Produced. — A good story is told of a certain dairymaid who was in the habit of carrying off leading honours at the various, shows at which she exhibited.' For a long time her rivals sought in vain for the key to her success, but one of them, a neighbour, eventually discovered that the Champion "was in "the habit of " steeping " her butter over night in a cool spring well with the object of hardening the grain, and thus giving it a firm but brittle texture. On one occasion the rival who succeeded in making this discovery brought some of her own butler to the well on the eve of an important show, and there and then exchanged it for the handiwork of her opponent. The result was that next day both of them succeeded in obtaining first prizes. There were no more " hollow victories " for the champion after tliis.