HOME SEPARATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 560, 19 April 1913, Page 6

HOME SEPARATION.

CARE OF CREaM ON THE FARM

Expert opinion, as represented in the Department of Agriculture was for a long time strongly opposed to home separation, on the ground that the quality of the produce must suffer, but the enormous strides made in home separation of late years have proved that this system has come to stay. Recognising this the department gives sqme useful, if not new, advice in its journal, in which Mr G. M. Valentine writes as under:— It is a well-established fast that the quality of the manufactured article depends principally on the character of the raw product, and this applies with special force to creem separated on thefarm and delivered to a distant manufacturing centre, often at infrequent intervals Further, it has been conclusively proved that good butter csn 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—in 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.. If there is one principle more than another which should be emphasised in the successful handling of cream it is that of cleanliness. With milk and all Its product 3 this is the great secret of success, and the farmer separating his own cream should pastethis fact in his hat if he would succeed in producing the best article and thereby afford the factory manager a chance to turn out a first grade butter. Let it always be remembered that it ia the first grade article that brings the first grade price, a fact particularly emphasised this season. Conditions on all oversea markets have enabled buyers to discriminate more strongly than in the paßt 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 a 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 laest 30 yards from the milking shed, and it should be located on ths windward side of fhe 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. 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 comparativley small, this should present no serious difficulty. It is also advisable to provide a rough of cold watter, preferably running, in which to stand the cream cans, in order to maintain their contents of 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 t< is purpose nothing is better than the perforated plunger generally used in factories. Being mads 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 some times seen cream delivered every day but which had been carelessly handled, arriving at a factory in a woise condition than two days' supply which had been handled with every care and had been effectively cooled.

Under no cicrumstances should cream from on 6 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 until it has received the cream from several mi'kings, 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. 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 imperative—not merely the running through the machine of some hot water, but the dismantling of the machine and the effective cleaning of all 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 cearn. Having finished separting, first wash the various parts of the machine with w.arm —not hot —water to which has been added a little washing Boda or a reputable cleansing powder. A brush should always be used in preference to a cloth, which rapidly becomes unsani-

water, and place to air, preferably in the sun, but in a sweet, atmosphere, until again required. With this pro cess no drying is necessary. It 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 agaiu before being used, and the method advised for the separator applies also in this case. 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 and flavours are frequently developed by reason of the sun striking on the unprotected can. The care of the creams throughout all stages of production and handling is a vital matter to the farmer. In the maiority of home separation .factories in this country to-day the one price is paid for all grades of cream, a practice much on ail-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 butterfat content. The men Who handle their cream properly should assuredly be re:ompensed in money value for their trouble, just as the men who fail to realise their duty in this connection and thereby reduce the market value of the factory's output should be penalised. 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.