THE DAIRY

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 34, 4 May 1917, Page 7

THE DAIRY

CREAM SEPARATOR PROBLEMS. Farmers who sell cream to the creamery or city trade will be interested in the following remarks by -Professor H. F. Judkins, of the Connecticut Agricultural College. One of the serious problems confronting tlhe cream-gathering creamery is to keep its patrons satisfied with their butter-fat test. The fact that many operators of hand sepatators do not understand why the test of their cream varies from day to day and week to week causes no end of dissatisfaction. The simplest explanation from the patron’s viewpoint is that the man doing the testing in the creamery is not doing his work a?curately. In some cases this may be the true explanation, and right here it may be said that too much emphasis cannot be placed upon carefulness in operating the Babcock test. ,

But this chance of an occasional mistake on the part of the tester by no means answers the question why there is so’great a variation in the cream test from the hand separator under farm conditions without having variation occur in the test of the cream. Moreover, the factors that may affect the fat-content of the cream are so numerous that a constant test report from the creamery should be regarded with considerable suspicion. The causes of £he variation may be one or any combination of the following : 1. Variation in the speed of the separator. 2. Variation in the temperature of the milk separated. 3. Rate milk flows into the machine. 4. Amount of flush water or skim milk used in flushing the bowi. 5. Change in the richness of the milk separated. 6. Adjustment of n the cream screw. 7. Steadiness in running. Variation in the speed of the separator is the most common cause of trouble. On most separators the speed of the crank is given on the crank. This means that with other factors right the machine will do its best work only when turned at or very nearly the required speed, The_ common causes for variable speed are attempts to separate large amounts of milk with a small-capa-city machine and frequent changes of operators. In nine cases out of ten after a man has turned a separator for fifteen minutes he unconsciously drops off his speed. If the farmer does the separating to-day, his boy to-morrow, and the hired man the next day, and so on. the speed will vary all the more from that required, All this means not only a variation of the per cent, of fat in the cream, but whore the machine is turned at too low a speed, an actual loss in money to the farmer. That is, turning the crank too slowly results in a lower testing cream and a higher testing skim milk. The low speed of the crank affects the speed of the bowl, so that a complete separation does not take place. Suppose the separator is turned to-day at proper speed, and to-morrow an average of 10 or 15 revolutions below the proper speed,this change in speed is enough to affect a variation in the test of cream from 1 to 15 per cent., the greater variation occurring when the cream screw is set for a thick cream.

A separator will do its best work when the milk is at a temperature of 90 to 100 degrees Fah. In the case of most machines ,if colder milk than this is separated, less cream and richer cream and a richer skim milk are the results; Variations in the test of cream due to temperature of separation may vary from 1 to 5 per cent, 1554.