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Title: ABC - Butter Making - A Hand-Book for the Beginner
Author: Burch, Fredrick S.
Language: English
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[Illustration: JERSEY COW, MATILDA 4TH.]
ABC
BUTTER MAKING
----A----
HAND-BOOK FOR THE BEGINNER.
BY
F. S. BURCH,
[Illustration]
EDITOR OF THE DAIRY WORLD.
CHICAGO:
C. S. BURCH PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1888.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by
F. S. BURCH,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
MILKING 17
Washing the Udder--The Slow Milker--The Jerky Milker--Best
Time to Milk--Kicking Cows--Feeding during the Milking--
Loud Talking--Milking Tubes--The Stool--The Pail.
CARE OF MILK 23
Animal Heat--Milk as an Absorbant--Stable Odors--Cooling--
Keeping in Pantry or Cellar--Deep Setting--Temperature of
the Water--To Raise Cream Quickly--When to Skim.
THE MILK ROOM 27
To have well Ventilated--Controlling the Temperature--Pure
Air--Management of Cream--Stirring the Cream--Proper
Temperature at which to keep Cream--Ripening Cream--
Straining Cream--Cream in Winter.
BUTTER COLOR 30
Rich Orange Color--White butter--The Juice of Carrots--The
Use of Annato--Commercial Colors--Beginners generally use
too much.
CHURNING 32
The Patent Lightning Churn--Churning too Quickly--The
amount of time to properly do the Work--Churning Cream at
60 degrees--Winter Churning--Starting the Churn at a Slow
Movement--The Churn with a Dasher--Stopping at the proper
time--Granular Butter--Draining off the Buttermilk--Washing
in the Churn--To have the Churn sufficiently Large--Churning
whole Milk--The Best Churn for the Dairy.
WORKING THE BUTTER 38
The Right Temperature--To get the Buttermilk all out--Half
Worked Butter--Overworking--Use of the Lever--Working in the
Salt--Rule for Salting--Butter Salting Scales.
MARKETING BUTTER 43
The way Four-fifths of the Farmers do it--The Right Way and
the Wrong Way--Waiting for Better Prices--City Customers--
Have a Commission man Judge your Butter.
PACKING AND SHIPPING 46
The Size and Style of Package--Roll Butter--Packing ter--
Packing in Earthen Jars--Tin Packages--The Relative Cost of
Wooden Packages--Ninepound Bale Boxes--To avoid "Woody
Taste"--Parchment Paper--Excluding the Air--Print Butter--
Uniformity of Color--Top of Packages--Keeping Packed Butter
Cold.
THERMOMETERS IN THE DAIRY 52
Price of a Good Tested Article--The kind our Grandmothers'
used--Floating Thermometers--Importance of their use.
MAXIMS FOR A B C BUTTER-MAKERS 54
HOW TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER. A chapter by Mr.
N. Bigalow 57
[Illustration]
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Frontispiece. Jersey Cow Matilda 4th.
Milking Tube, 19
Milk Stool, 20
Milk Pail, 21
Haney Deep Setting Can, 23
Jersey Milk Can, 24
Shot Gun Deep Setting Can, 25
Cooley Can, 25
Conical Skimmer, 28
Branch of Annato Tree, 30
Rectangular Churn, 32
Pendulum Churn, 33
Bowl of Granular Butter, 34
Barrel Churn, 36
Danish Butter Worker, 38
Eureka Butter Worker, 39
Favorite Butter Worker, 41
Butter Salting Scale, 41
White Ash Butter Tub, 46
Ninepound Bale Boxes in Crate, 47
I X L Butter Printer, 49
Onepound Butter Mould, 50
Glass Dairy Thermometer, 52
PREFACE.
I do not claim anything new or startling for this little work, nor do
I claim to be what is usually termed "an authority" on the subject
treated. A B C BUTTER MAKING is the result of my own experience in
the dairy, together with an extended and careful observation of the
experiences and practices of some of the most successful butter-makers
in the country, and is an answer, in a complete form, to the numberless
questions asked me (as Editor of the DAIRY WORLD), by beginners in the
dairy.
THE AUTHOR.
MILKING.
Before we can make butter we must have milk, and a few suggestions on
this important question will not be out of place here. In order that
no dirt or hairs may find their way into the milk-pail, a careful
dairyman will always brush off the teats and udder of his cow before he
begins to milk, yet, I am sorry to say, thousands of men who profess
to be careful dairymen do not know this, and are sometimes guilty
of that most uncleanly habit of softening up the teats by squeezing
out a little milk on their hands. A large number of cows are utterly
ruined every year by improper milking; irregular milking spoils a large
number; noisy, loud talking and rough milkers help to spoil a good many
more. The very slow milker, as well as the quick, jerky milker, who
never strips the cow thoroughly, are helping to make a large number
of our cows unprofitable. Six o'clock in the morning and six o'clock
in the evening are by far the best hours to do the milking. Some of
our deep milkers should be milked three times a day for a week or more
after calving. I might write a chapter on kicking cows, but after a
wide and exceedingly costly experience in this line will simply say I
do not believe in them, and would not accept the best one I ever saw as
a gift. I am satisfied that it is not a good plan to feed or "slop" a
cow during the milking, as a hungry animal will be too deeply absorbed
in eating to "give down" all the milk. Better feed just before or
immediately after milking. Keep strangers away from the stable during
the milking hour; never carry on a conversation in a loud voice with
some person in another part of the stable while milking; in short, do
nothing that will be likely to draw the attention of your cow, or she
will in a greater or less degree "hold up" a part of the milk. When
possible a cow should always be milked by the same person, as the
milker soon learns any little peculiarity of the animal, and knows
exactly how to handle her, as well as readily detecting any unusual
occurrence, such as shortage of milk, sore or caked teats, etc. Milk as
rapidly as possible, without jerking, and avoid hurting the teats with
sharp and long finger nails by keeping them well pared. Never attempt
to draw the milk from a very sore or inflamed teat with your hands;
it only causes the animal great pain, and in nine cases out of ten you
will fail to secure all of the milk. Milking tubes, made of silver,
are not only great conveniences, but now that they can be bought so
cheaply, are an absolute necessity, and all farmers should keep a few
on hand for use in case of an emergency. The silver tubes are the best,
and can be purchased for half a dollar each of almost any dealer in
dairy goods. I have mailed thousands of them during the past few years
to dairymen in all parts of the country, and have received hundreds of
letters stating that valuable cows have been saved that would otherwise
have been ruined for milking, but for the use of these tubes. It might
be well to say right here that in no case would I recommend the use of
tubes for regular milking, as their constant use would soon distend the
orifice of the teat, so that it would leak. Grease or wet the tubes
before inserting, and be careful to push in slowly. If the teat is
very sore the tubes may be allowed to remain in the teat for a day or
two, but I would advise that they be removed after each milking when
possible, and always wiped perfectly dry.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A good milking stool not only adds comfort to the milker, but helps
to facilitate the work to a greater degree than one would naturally
suppose. I give an illustration of a handy stool, and as a novice can
easily make one, I will simply say, make the leg according to the
length of your own. Before closing this chapter on milking I want to
say a word about the pail. Never use a wooden pail or vessel to milk
in. The best pail I ever used was a patent device called the "Michigan
Milk Bucket," and were it not for the expense (I believe the price is
two dollars), they would soon come into general use. The illustration
shows exactly what they are--a combined pail, strainer and stool; and
as the strainer prevents any dirt or hairs from getting into the pail,
and the close-fitting cover precludes any possibility of the milk
absorbing stable odors, I cannot say too much in their praise. When
these pails were first placed on the market the strainer was at the
bottom of the receiving cup, and all the dirt was washed into the pail,
but the manufacturers altered them by placing the strainer an inch
above the bottom of the receiver, and I believe that they are now as
near perfect a milk-pail as one could ask for.
[Illustration]
THE CARE OF MILK.
I shall not attempt to enter into the chemistry of the milk. It would
be out of place in this A B C treatise. One peculiar thing I wish to
draw your attention to is the "animal heat." When the milk first comes
from the cow you cannot help noticing that it has a sort of feverish
smell, which soon passes off after exposure to the air. This "cowey"
smell should, of course, be allowed to pass off, but not in the stable,
where the milk would be likely to take on a worse and more lasting odor.
Milk is a great absorbent, and quickly takes on any and all odors which
it comes in contact with, and when once taken on, they can never be got
rid of. Therefore, the moment we are through milking a cow, we should
either take the milk out of the stable and into another room, or pour
it at once into a can or some vessel with a tight-fitting cover, that
it may not absorb stable odors before we are through with the milking
of all the cows. I think the best plan is to strain the milk at once
into an ordinary deep setting can and put the cover on tight. Remove
the can, as soon as it is filled, to the milk-room.
[Illustration: HANEY CAN, BACK VIEW.]
[Illustration: HANEY CAN.]
[Illustration: JERSEY CAN.]
Now comes the cooling of the milk. To make good butter we must cool
our milk rapidly. The sooner we cool it down to 47 degrees after it
leaves the cow the better the butter will be. The old-fashioned way of
setting the milk in shallow pans or crocks in the milk cupboard, which
in summer was placed in the cellar and in the pantry in winter, is
still kept up by a good many farmers, and this no doubt accounts for
the steady production of ten-cent store butter with which our markets
are always overstocked. If you expect to make good butter never set
the milk in the pantry or cellar, as the odors which it will absorb
there are just as numerous, if not quite so bad, as those in the cow
stable. There is but one way, and dairymen are pretty generally agreed
upon it, and that is to set the milk in deep cans in cold water, and
the colder the water the quicker the separation of the cream from the
milk. If you cannot afford to buy the patent deep setting cans like the
Cooley, the Haney, the Jersey, or the Wilhelm, by all means get the
common deep setting "shot-gun" can, with or without the glass gauges in
the sides. The purpose of all these cans is to cool the milk rapidly,
and though the manufacturers of this or that can may claim that their
can does the work more quickly than the others, I am of opinion that
they are all good, and one as good as the rest. If you have a spring,
and can set the cans in the ground, where the water can flow all around
and over the cans, you will be fortunate indeed. If you have no spring,
and cannot afford a creamer, make a tank a little deeper than the cans,
and keep the water flowing around the cans. The colder the water the
better. If the water from your well is not colder than 47 degrees you
should use ice. By using ice or very cold spring or well water you get
all, or nearly all, the cream to rise in from twelve to twenty hours,
and as I said before, and I want to firmly impress it upon your minds,
the quicker you get the cream to rise the better butter you can make.
Never allow the milk to set more than thirty hours, as it becomes acid
or too thick, and loses much in flavor. I would much prefer to skim
sooner, if I lost some of the cream by so doing, as I would more than
make up what I lost in quantity by the improved quality.
[Illustration: "SHOT-GUN" CAN.]
[Illustration: COOLEY CAN.]
[Illustration]
THE MILK-ROOM.
It would be well to say a word about the milk-room before passing on to
the management of cream. It is absolutely necessary that we have a good
milk-room in which to not only set the milk, but to ripen the cream, do
the churning, and work the butter.
Have the milk-room well ventilated, and build it so that you can
control the temperature at the proper point all the year 'round. A good
airy place, with plenty of elbow-room is essential. I see too many
small, "stuffy" crowded rooms, where there is scarcely a place for half
the utensils. Now, see that the air in your room is always pure, and do
not pollute it by going directly into it from the cow stable, with all
the odors clinging to your clothes and manure on your boots. Also have
the room situated as far from the barnyard and hog-pen as possible.
MANAGEMENT OF CREAM.
Skim the milk before the cream becomes too thick and tough on top. I
never allow the cream to remain on the milk a moment after I think
it is all up or separated from the milk. If you use the deep setting
cans you will find the little conical skimmer, with ten or twelve inch
handle, the easiest to skim with.
[Illustration]
If you put the cream in a can, or other vessel containing cream
that was skimmed some hours previous, be sure to stir it all well
together, so that it may be of the same consistency. Keep the cream
at a temperature of 62 to 68 degrees until it becomes slightly sour,
when it is ready for churning. I have churned very sweet cream and
very sour cream, but have never been able to get butter of good flavor
from anything but slightly soured cream. I am also of the opinion that
butter made from cream only slightly sour will keep much longer than
when made from a very sweet or sour cream. I am often asked if I think
that straining the cream is an advantage, and I will answer by saying
that I do think it aids somewhat in helping the butter to come more
evenly. In the winter it may be found necessary to place the cream
near the stove, where it can be gradually warmed up to 68 or even 70
degrees, in order to have it sufficiently sour.
[Illustration]
BUTTER COLOR.
[Illustration: BRANCH OF ANNATO TREE, SHOWING BLOSSOMS AND SEED PODS.]
We all prefer to have our butter of a rich orange color. White butter
looks too much like lard. Then, too, butter of a pale white hue never
sells for as much in the market as the rich colored article. Years ago
people colored butter with the juice of carrots; later on the seeds
of the Annato plant were crushed and the juice mixed with potash and
water. We now have many specially prepared compounds in the market,
put up in liquid form and ready for immediate use. Almost all of these
commercial colors are good, but should be used sparingly. Nearly all
the beginners use too much the first time. There is no general rule to
follow in using color, and you will only be able to tell how much to
use by practice, as the butter of some cows is naturally of a richer
color than others; this is especially true of the Jersey cows, the
butter from which needs but little artificial coloring. Always put the
coloring into the cream before beginning to churn.
[Illustration]
CHURNING.
[Illustration: RECTANGULAR CHURN.]
[Illustration: PENDULUM CHURN.]
Few persons know how to churn properly. No matter how rich or nice the
cream, if the churning is not done at a proper temperature and in a
proper manner you cannot make good butter. Avoid the "lightning" patent
churn, which the agent will claim to bring butter in five minutes.
Cream that is churned too quickly always makes butter of a cheesey
flavor, and quick to get rancid. Churning should never be done in less
than twenty minutes, and, if possible, not longer than forty minutes.
Generally the proper temperature at which to have the cream before
beginning to churn is 60 degrees, but sometimes this must be varied
a few degrees, according to circumstances. In winter we find 65 or
68 degrees will be necessary in order to have the butter come within
forty minutes. When cows are fresh the butter comes much more quickly
than it will after they have been fresh for a long period. Always
start the churn with a slow movement, gradually increasing until you
have reached the proper speed, which is 40 to 50 strokes per minute.
I do not believe in the churn with a dash inside, nor do I believe
in keeping the churn in motion a moment after the cream breaks. All
sensible dairymen are trying to keep pace with the times, and have
adopted the granular plan. This idea of scooping out great lumps of
butter from a churn, and trying to squeeze and rub out the buttermilk
with its caseous and albuminous matters is a thing of the past. Squeeze
and press and knead all you please, and nothing but the water of the
buttermilk will come out; the very impurities which you desire to get
out of the butter will be all the more firmly incorporated in it. Not
one butter-maker in ten (no, nor fifty) knows enough to stop the churn
at the proper time, when the butter has formed into little pellets the
size of a wheat kernel. When those little pellets have formed, pull
out the plug or stopper in the bottom of your churn; if you have not
got such a thing as a hole in your churn, don't waste a moment until
you have bored one there, at least an inch in diameter, and place a
small piece of very fine wire sieve on the inside of the churn over the
hole, and thereafter be careful not to have your plug so long that it
will punch the sieve off every time you put it in. Let the buttermilk
drain off through this hole, after first pouring in a little cold water
and cooling the contents of churn down to a point where the globules
or kernels of butter will stick together when you agitate the churn.
Now let the churn stand and rest a few minutes, then pour in more cold
water, and let it drain off through the hole again, and if the water
comes out as clear as it went in, stop pouring, shake the churn a
little, then make a good strong brine of well powdered salt that has
been first sifted thoroughly, cork up the hole and pour in your brine,
and let it stand on the butter for fifteen or twenty minutes, after
which draw off as you did the water. You now have your butter in the
best possible condition for working. When you purchase your churn be
sure and get one large enough; it is much better to have it too large
than not large enough. If you think you have not sufficient cream for
a churning and the cream is ripe, do not wait for another skimming,
but add sufficient milk to have the churn filled to about one-fourth
its capacity. Do not use milk that is very sour, as it is likely to
contain so much casein that your butter will not be of good flavor.
Many dairymen churn all the milk with the cream, but as it only adds
more work to the churning, I do not recommend it except in cases where
there is not cream enough to properly fill the churn. Illustrations are
given of the best churns for the dairy, viz., the Barrel Churn, the
Rectangular Churn, and the Pendulum Churn.
[Illustration: BOWL OF GRANULAR BUTTER.]
[Illustration: BARREL CHURN.]
[Illustration]
WORKING THE BUTTER.
[Illustration: HOME-MADE DANISH BUTTER WORKER.]
Never work the butter when it is too warm. I find that 56 degrees is
about right. The main point in working butter is to get the buttermilk
all out, and also to get it in good solid compact form. More depends
upon proper working than one would naturally suppose. You often see
butter with great drops of buttermilk standing all over it; such butter
was only half worked, and will generally contain thirty to forty per
cent. of water, and will keep sweet but a very short time. The other
extreme is overworking, and this produces a dry crumbly mass, with no
flavor. If the churning is done as described in the foregoing chapter
very little working is necessary, as the buttermilk is very nearly
all out of the butter before it leaves the churn. Take the butter out
of the churn with your butter spade, and heap it up on the worker.
If too warm for working at once, throw a cloth wet in cold water over
it, and leave to drain and cool for thirty minutes. Before using the
lever of your worker always dip it in cold water. Now take the lever
and gently press the butter out over the full surface of the worker,
and sprinkle on some salt; begin at the sides, and roll the butter back
into the centre, being careful not to do any rubbing or you will have
greasy butter. Now press out the whole mass again, and give it another
salting, and repeat the working two or three times until you have
incorporated the salt throughout the whole mass evenly. The general
rule for salting is to use one ounce of salt to a pound of butter, but
as some people like "salty" butter and some "fresh" butter, you must
salt according to the wants of your patrons. I always use a fine sieve,
and sift the salt over the butter on the worker, just as the baker
sifts his flour over the dough when making it. Much depends upon the
quality of the salt used in butter-making, and if you desire to make
good butter use only good salt, which is put up in sacks, and branded
"Dairy Salt," by nearly all the large salt makers in the country. If
you have a large dairy do not trust to guesswork, but buy a scale and
use it. An illustration of a scale which is made especially for salting
butter is given above. These scales weigh from one-half ounce up to
250 pounds, and as they can be used for ordinary weighing without
regard to the butter-salting attachment, every dairyman should have
one. They cost about six dollars.
[Illustration: EUREKA BUTTER WORKER.]
[Illustration: WATERS' PATENT BUTTER WORKER.]
[Illustration: CURTIS FAVORITE BUTTER WORKER, FOR ONE OR TWO COWS.]
[Illustration: BUTTER-SALTING SCALE.]
An illustration of a home-made butter worker, which is used largely by
the Danes, is herewith given. Any man that is handy with tools, can
make one. Cuts of three other good workers are shown; they are well
made, and cost but a small amount.
[Illustration]
MARKETING BUTTER.
"Butter well made is half sold," says an old maxim; but one would
naturally suppose that it was "quite sold," to observe the careless
manner in which four-fifths of the farmers market their butter. Who has
not observed the tactics of the country storekeeper in buying butter?
Here comes Mrs. Smith, or Jones, who is known near and far as a good
butter maker. See how anxious the merchant is to please her; he knows
that her butter is in great demand and will be sold at a good price
before night. He pays her the highest market price, and while weighing
the neat prints of golden butter, carefully wrapped in spotless cloth
or snow-white parchment paper, tells her that he wishes she could have
brought in more. It's a pleasure to have the trade of such a woman. But
now comes Mrs. Easy. Observe the cloudy expression on the merchant's
countenance, as he tells her that he's overstocked with butter; that
the market is "way down." You will notice that he charges her a "long
price" for whatever he sells her, and dumps her butter, which is
generally in mussy rolls, into the nearest shoe box. And who can blame
him, knowing that he cannot sell Mrs. Easy's butter at home, but must
ship it to the nearest market and sell it for "low grade dairy" at a
price which seldom, if ever, nets him a profit.
One seldom hears of the markets being overstocked with "gilt edge"
butter; on the other hand, the market is nearly always loaded down with
"low grades" and grease.
The best plan for marketing butter is to endeavor to find customers
at home, and sell as soon as possible. People that pack their butter
and wait for a rise, are sometimes disappointed, and no butter can be
as good four or six months after it is made as when fresh. It is far
better, as a rule, to sell as soon as possible, at the best price you
can get, than to wait for a rise that sometimes fails to come.
I receive many letters during the year from people asking me to find
them city customers. Such customers, as a rule, are very exacting;
they expect much, and paying a high price, have a perfect right to do
so. These private customers (unless acquainted with the butter maker)
seldom prove agreeable people to deal with. It is better to sell for a
few cents less at home, and leave no chance for dissatisfaction, or if
you cannot possibly sell all you make at home, better ship it to some
reliable commission merchant, and leave him to fight out the battle
with the customers. A good plan is to make up a sample pail or tub,
and ship to the commission merchant with a request that he "judge" and
report on it, with any suggestions he has to offer. Such a request will
be sure to bring you a prompt report from any good dealer.
[Illustration]
PACKING AND SHIPPING.
[Illustration: WHITE ASH BUTTER TUB]
[Illustration: NINE POUND BALE BOXES.]
The size, shape and style of package for butter makers to use, must
depend largely upon the demands of the market to which the butter is
shipped. A few years ago large quantities of roll butter were marketed
in Chicago during the colder months; now you may travel from one end of
the market to the other and not see a hundred rolls. It is but a short
time ago that earthen crocks and jars were extensively used; now you
scarcely ever see them. The cause for this is, that earthen vessels, of
any kind, are not only liable to break, but are also more difficult to
handle in large quantities, and weigh much more than wooden packages.
The great bulk of butter that comes to Chicago now, is packed in
white ash tubs and bale boxes. Occasionally we see a tin package with
wood veneer, but they have never come into general use for the reason
that the acid gets under the tin and causes rust. Wooden packages are
just now most popular, and as the manufacturers have reduced the cost
of manufacturing them to a point where earthenware and tin cannot
compete in price, we may look to see them in use for years to come.
The ordinary white ash tubs can be had of every dairy supply dealer
and nearly all of the general stores; they may be had in 20 lb., 25
lb., 30 lb., 40 lb. and 60 lb. sizes. An illustration of the nine-pound
bale boxes in crate is also given. During the last two years these bale
boxes have become very popular. They can be shipped in crates of six
and are convenient to handle; they can be had for about twelve cents
apiece.
In packing butter in wooden vessels we must guard against "woody
taste," and there is but one way to do this, that is, to soak the
packages from 24 to 48 hours in strong brine and then thoroughly scald
them out. Even this method sometimes fails to accomplish the work.
A capital way to prevent woody taste, is to line the package with
parchment paper, which not only prevents the butter from taking on a
woody flavor, but also prevents soakage and excludes the air. This
parchment paper may now be had of all dairy implement dealers, in
sheets and circles of any size. It costs about thirty cents a pound,
and a pound is sufficient to pack several hundred pounds of butter.
There is still quite a trade in print butter, and when nicely packed
in one or two-pound prints and of good quality it sells quickly, on
account of its convenient shape for family use. For print butter there
has been invented a machine which stamps out one-half and one-pound
blocks very quickly and quite artistically. When butter is shipped in
this form it should be first carefully wrapped in cloth or parchment
paper and packed in boxes in crates. Each box should contain but one
block of butter, as piling one block upon another would be likely to
press out the delicate figures moulded or stamped on the block. The
blocks for these patent printing machines are sometimes artistically
carved, so that the blocks of butter show sheaves of wheat, acorns,
etc., and sometimes with the maker's initials or monogram. For home
use the old fashioned round mould holding from a quarter of a pound to
two pounds is still extensively used, and when properly soaked in cold
water before moulding, makes a very nice print of butter. These patent
printers and moulds save much time and are a great convenience over the
old way of forming the butter into rolls.
[Illustration: I X L BUTTER PRINTER.]
In packing it is always better to pack each churning in a separate tub
or box, as the tub that contains different churnings will not be of
uniform solidity or color throughout, and will therefore not sell for
as much as a tub perfectly uniform.
[Illustration: ONE POUND BUTTER MOULD.]
Remember to soak the covers of the packages, and before fastening them
on sprinkle salt to a depth of a quarter of an inch over the top of
the butter cloth or paper. Never leave the cover off the packages for
any length of time, for the reason that it will not only cause the top
of the butter to become discolored, but it will also admit the air and
spoil the top of the butter for several inches.
The moment you have packed your butter get it into a cool place--the
cooler the better--and thereafter keep it as cool as possible, until
you have disposed of it.
[Illustration]
THERMOMETERS IN THE DAIRY.
[Illustration]
Frederic Sumner says "There is no more use in trying to run a dairy
without a good tested thermometer than there would be to attempt
sailing a vessel without a rudder," and I heartily agree with him. A
good thermometer can be purchased for from fifty cents to a dollar,
and at these prices is certainly within the reach of every dairyman.
Too much depends upon the temperature of the water in which we cool
our milk, the room we ripen our cream in, do our churning in, and the
temperature of the milk, cream, and the butter itself, to attempt
any guess work. Our grandmothers used thumb and finger to ascertain
the temperature of milk and cream, but in these days of fifty cents,
seventy-five cents, and a dollar a pound butter we find "thumb-rule"
will not work. An illustration of a thermometer made expressly for
dairy use, is given; they are made of glass and float upright in the
milk or cream. The churning and cheese points are marked for the
convenience of new beginners; they retail at about fifty cents, and can
be purchased from any dealer in dairy goods.
[Illustration]
MAXIMS
For A B C Butter Makers.
Test your cows.
Never fill the churn over half full.
Never touch the butter with your hands.
Cream rises best in a falling temperature.
Never churn fresh unripened cream with ripened cream.
After cream becomes sour, the more ripening the more it depreciates.
The best time for churning is just before the acidity becomes apparent.
Never let your butter get warm; when once warmed through it will lose
its flavor.
Excessive working makes crumbly butter, spoils the grain and injures
the flavor.
Never mix night's with morning's milk, as the warmth of the new and the
coldness of the old, hastens change and decomposition.
All kinds of disagreeable odors are easily absorbed by salt. Keep it,
therefore, in a clean, dry place, in linen sacks, if it is to be used
for butter making.
The best butter has the least competition to contend against, while the
worst dairy products have the most. The better anything is, the more
rare is it and the greater its value.
A butter maker that uses his fingers instead of a thermometer, to find
out the temperature of milk or cream will never make a success.
Cleanliness should be the Alpha and Omega of butter making. Absolute
cleanliness as regards person, stable, utensils and package.
Faults--The quickest way to find out the faulty points in your butter,
is to send a sample of it to some reliable butter buyer and ask him to
score it.
The difference between the dairyman who makes $50.00 a year, per cow,
and one who makes $30.00, is that the first works intelligently, the
second mechanically.
Details--The price of success in butter making, as in all other classes
of business, is strict attention to the little details; it's the sum of
all these little things that determines whether your butter is to be
sold for ten cents a pound or as a high priced luxury.
The disadvantages of the system of setting milk in shallow pans or
crocks, for raising cream, are that a long period elapses before the
skimming is completed, too much space is required, and in Summer the
milk becomes sour before the whole of the cream is raised.
Labor saving appliances are intended, as the name implies, to save
labor, but they do not render care, thought and diligence the less
necessary. To understand the principles that underlie the business of
butter making, is as imperative as to use the most improved utensils.
By keeping a strict account only, can you find out the extent of your
success or failure. If the balance is on the right side, you will know
whether and how much it can be increased; if it is on the wrong side,
you will be more strongly convinced of the necessity for improvement.
If you keep your cows in a healthy condition, milk regularly; set the
milk in air tight cans with good cold water (either ice or spring);
skim every twenty-four hours; ripen the cream properly; churn in a
barrel churn or some other good churn on the same principle; wash the
butter well while still in the churn in granular state; you will never
be troubled with white specks in your butter.
HOW TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER.
--BY N. BIGALOW, STOWE, VERMONT.--
It is necessary to have good cows to start with, and if _good butter_
is the object sought I prefer good Jerseys. The next thing is good
feed. Grass that is fresh and tender is best of all. This does not last
very long up here in Vermont. My cows have a feed of green corn fodder,
at night, and a small feed of grain, in the morning. I prefer to mix
different kinds of grain together. It must be all sound and good. Make
the cows comfortable and contented. Kind treatment is indispensable,
and the more regularity in caring for them the better.
We try to keep the milk entirely clean. If it is necessary we wash the
cows' bags, before milking. The milk is strained into large, open pans,
and as soon as the animal heat is out of it, the pans are covered over
with thin cotton cloth. The covers are made by sewing the edges of
the cloth to some strips of basswood, about three-fourths of an inch
square and a little longer than the pans. They cost but a trifle, and
after using them ten years we would hardly make butter without them.
The butter is not quite so yellow, at first, for raising the cream
under the covers, but will be after it has stood a few hours.
When we first tried our large pans, we used to run water around them,
but the coolers have got to leaking, and we do not think it would pay
to get new ones.
Our rule is to skim the milk soon after it sours, as the cream will
come off easily. We keep the cream in a cellar, when it is necessary,
but prefer to keep it in the milk room, when it is not too warm. Our
dairy is small, and we have churned only twice a week, this year. We
use the Stoddard churn, and would not use a float churn. I have never
seen the acme churn yet, and hardly think it has been made. 58 degrees
is the right temperature at which to churn the cream, in warm weather:
62 in cold, and 60 in spring and fall. We put in from three to six
quarts of water to thin the cream, and if the cream is too warm we use
cold water (we have a cold spring), and in extreme warm weather use a
little ice. If the cream is too cold we warm the water sometimes up
to 120 degrees. If that will not answer, the cream must be warmed
beforehand. The buttermilk is drawn off as soon as it can be done, and
leave most of the butter in the churn. Any butter that runs out is put
back with a skimmer. We use cold water enough to keep the butter in the
grain, and wash it until the water runs clear. I suppose brine would
be better, but have not used it much. After the butter has drained,
the salt is strained in with a paddle; and then it is taken out with
the paddle and pressed into the butter bowl. We use about an ounce of
salt to a pound, but some of it works out. After it has stood a few
hours, it is worked with a lever in an old fashioned butter worker,
just enough to get the salt in evenly, and then it is ready to print.
We always try to injure the grain as little as possible.
Our printer holds four pounds, and makes eight half pound prints.
The prints are put up in four pound boxes, and cut apart with wooden
blades. The boxes are made here in Stowe, and are washed and scalded
with boiling water, sprinkled with salt.
Our milk house is shaded on the eastern side by a willow tree, and on
the southern by another building, and we can cool it to some extent
with currents of air. But if we should admit currents of air, without
the covers over the pans, there would be white specks in the butter.
We use butter color when it is necessary to color the butter, but think
it better to color it too little than too much.
I am in the habit of mixing a small quantity of cotton seed meal with
the grain for the cows, and think I get a little more milk from that
than anything else. Linseed meal is very high here, and I have never
used it.
Last, but not least, the cows must have pure air to breathe, and the
milk, cream and butter must be kept in a good atmosphere.
I am fully convinced that any farmer that makes a prime article of
butter, of uniform quality, has an excellent opportunity to use common
sense and sound judgment.
Consumers of such butter, as I have described, need not have any
fear that they are eating anything that is, or _ever was_, filthy or
unwholesome.
THE DAIRYMAN'S LIBRARY.
Creaming Milk by Centrifugal Force $ 50
Hazard's Butter and Butter Making 25
Curtis' Hints on Dairying 50
Willard's Practical Dairy Husbandry 3 00
Willard's Practical Butter Book 1 25
ABC Butter Making, by Burch 30
Harris' Cheese and Butter Maker's Hand Book 1 50
The Jersey, Alderney and Guernsey Cow 1 75
Feeding Animals. Stewart 2 00
Dadd's American Cattle Doctor 1 75
Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows 1 25
Quincy on Soiling of Cattle 1 50
Keeping One Cow 1 25
Jennings' Cattle and their Diseases 2 00
Barn Plans and Out Buildings 1 75
Any one of the above books will be sent post-paid on receipt of price.
The DAIRY WORLD, Chicago, Ill.
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Finely Printed, Elegantly Illustrated and ably Edited by Practical
American, Swedish and Danish Butter and Cheese Makers.
$1.00 PER ANNUM,
SAMPLE COPIES 10 CENTS.
THE DAIRY WORLD,
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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
-Obvious print and punctuation errors fixed.
-Illustrations have been repositioned so as not to split paragraphs.
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