HOME SEPARATION.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 2, 15 February 1913, Page 144

HOME SEPARATION.

CARE OF CREAM ON THE FARM.

G. M. Valentine.

It is a ■well-established fact that the quality of the manufactured article depends principally on the character of the raw product, and this applies with special force to cream separated on the farm and delivered to a distant manufacturing centre, often at infrequent intervals. Further, it has been conclusively proved that good butter can be made from gathered cream, if this has been carefully handled and delivered in a good condition to the factory. Given a daily delivery of well-cared-for cream, it is possible to make just as good butter under home separation as under the whole-milk principle; but as this is not always possible fact, the system is generally in operation where transit difficulties make a daily delivery impracticable—the necessity for care on the part of the farmer in the handling of the cream is seen to be a vital consideration in the success of the undertaking. Cleanliness essential. If there is one principle more than another which should be emphasized in the successful handling of cream it is that of cleanliness. With milk and all its products this is the great secret of success, and the farmer separating his own cream should paste this fact in his hat if he would succeed in producing the best article and thereby afford the factorymanager a chance to turn out a first-grade butter. Let it' always be remembered that it is the first-grade article that brings the first-grade price, a fact particularly emphasized this season. Conditions on all oversea markets have enabled buyers to discriminate more strongly than in the past between first and second qualities. It therefore behoves the farmer who is unable to make a daily delivery of his cream- to take Such care of it that he will be able to land it at the factory in the best order possible under the circumstances. The general principles laid down in regard to handling milk on the farm under the whole-milk system apply with equal force where home separation is in vogue. Having produced a clean milk, this should be at once removed to the separating-room, never under any circumstances being separated .in the milking-shed. A special room should be provided for the separation, at least 30 yards from the milking-shed, and it should be located on the windward side of the shed. This should never be used for any other purpose. It should have a concrete floor, be

provided, with good drainage-facilities, be well ventilated, . and be furnished with a good supply of water both for cooling and washing purposes. Cooling the Cream. If possible, separating the cream, should be carried on simultaneously with the milking process, as the cleanest skimming is obtained when the animal-heat is in the milk. An efficient cooler should be provided, in order to reduce the cream to the lowest possible temperature. As the amount of water required to cool the cream is comparatively small, this should present no serious difficulty. It is also . advisable to. provide a trough of cold water, preferably running, in which to stand the cream■cans, in order to maintain their contents at a reduced temperature. .Should a satisfactory supply of water for a cooler, not be available, the trough system will have to be depended on, and the cream frequently ■Stirred to reduce the temperature. The stirring is necessary in any case to break up the froth which collects on the surface of the cream. For this purpose nothing is better than the perforated plunger generally used in factories. Being made of metal it is easily kept clean. It is not to be thought that, where cream is delivered daily to a factory, the cooling is unnecessary. I have sometimes seen cream delivered ■every day, but which had been carelessly handled, arriving at a factory in a worse condition than a two days’ supply which had been handled with every care and had been effectively cooled. Under no circumstances should cream from one skimming be mixed with that from another, skimming, unless it .has been previously well ■cooled, as this. is one of the causes of that worst of all defects in home-separated cream known as the fermented ” flavour. The most unsatisfactory of all suppliers to the home-separation factory is he who ■places a can under the separator and does not touch it again till it has received the cream from several milkings, neither stirring nor ■cooling, the cream being thus held at the very best condition for the ■development of acidity and of undesirable flavours.. While held on the .farm the cream-can should be covered with a light cheese-cloth to keep ■out dust, and this cloth should be thoroughly washed and then dipped in boiling water each time it is used.

The Separator.

On the care of the separator largely depends the success of home .separation. Unless this is kept sweet and clean it is impossible to .secure, the cream in a sound state. Thorough cleaning after every time •of use is imperativenot merely the running through the machine of .some hot water, but the dismantling of the machine and the effective ■.cleansing of all the parts. The idea that it is not necessary to wash the machine. more than once a day is entirely wrong, and if practised ■will invariably cause rapid deterioration of the cream.

Having finished separating, first wash the various parts of the machine with warm (not hot) water to which has been added a little washing-soda or a reputable cleansing-powder. A brush should always be used in preference to a cloth, which rapidly becomes unsanitary. Thoroughly scald with boiling water, and place to air, preferably in the sun but in a sweet atmosphere, until again required. With this processno drying is necessary. CreamIt is very necessary that the cream-cans should be thoroughly cleansed and scalded. Although in the majority of cases the cans are washed at the factory, it is most desirable that they should be cleansed again before being used, and the method advised for the separator applies also in this case. Carriage of the Cream. Having taken every care to produce a well-conditioned cream, it is necessary to see that it is handled in transit in such a manner that it will arrive at the factory in the same good order. If left on the roadside to be picked up, it must be protected from the sun by any simple means, provided it is effective. The farmer’s interest in his cream should not end at this point. He should see to it that the same care he has taken with it on the farm will be exhibited by the men responsible for its conveyance to the factory. Bad flavours are frequently developed by reason of the sun striking on the unprotected, can. . Payment according to Quality. The care of the cream throughout all stages of production and handling is a vital matter to the farmer. In the majority of homeseparation factories in this country to-day the one price is paid for all grades of cream, a practice much on all-fours with the old unsatisfactory system of paying for milk by the gallon. But the day is near at hand, when cream will be paid for according to the condition in which it reaches the factory as well as for its butter-fat content. The men who handle their cream properly should assuredly be recompensed in money value for their trouble, just ,as the men who fail to realize their duty in this connection and thereby reduce the market value of the factory’soutput should be. penalized. The First and Last Word. There is one word of advice on this subject which cannot be repeated too often; it is the first and the last'word on the successful handling of dairy-products, and it is the secret of success at the present advanced stage of the industry just as it was when the dairy-farmer and butter-maker were working under the most crude conditions. This-all-important word is CLEANLINESS.