Dairy Skimmings.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 227, 5 November 1887, Page 3

Dairy Skimmings.

Analysis as a Guide in Butter J>atkies. — Di. E Lewis Sturtevant, a student of dairy problems, montions that wo cannot predicate with any certainty how much butter will come from milk ot a given analysis A complicated scrie-s of factors are involved, not only as regards previous treatment of the milk, its peculiar properties with referenco to breed, condition, etc., ot tho cow, but as well in almost certainty the character and motion of the churning.

I A Clkax Bed foii Cows. — The great difficulty of many dairymen is to keep their cows clean or from becoming encrusted with their voiding?*. This is very easily remedied if a little attention ib paid to the construction of their quai'ter?. They should be so built as to have a place just large enough for the cow to stand and lie on, two or three inches higher than the main floor, and with cracks between the planks big enough to allow of thorough drainage. This i\ill make it just as easy to keep the cows clean as horses.

The Best Breeds yon the Dairy. — If dairy characteristics arc specially desired &ays the Western Jiuruf), avc must look to the dairy breeds. They will fill that place. As to which ib best, opinions will differ. We all know what the Holbtein, or Dutch Friosion will do. Wo have never known her to fail to give satisfaction, and she is growing inpopularity every day. But in so saying we have no intention of disparaging ' other breeds. They all fill an important place, and there are conditions under which some of them jniglib bo preferred to the Holstcin, ov Dutch Friesian. Bub we do not believe that, ordinarily, a better cow than tho latter can be got for dairy purposes. They are a milking breed, and you are about as sure as you arc of anything, that when you get a Holstein you have got a cow that will give plenty of milk, if she is properly cared for. You are not .sure of this with cows from the beef breeds or with common cows. Rrser.PTiKjLiTY of Cri:am to Odours. — Fat oils have a strong affinity for odours ; milk, cream and butter readily take up any scent that may be carried or held by the air. Hence the necessity of actual cleanliness of every untensil, implement, apartment, or the poison, in everything connected with dairying. Dirty cows, dirty handb, the odour of the unwashed body, bad smelling stables, the odour of manure piles or garbage of any sort, the scene of cooking, illy ventilated apartments or decaying substance or germs of disease, all these aie readily taken uu and carried in milk.

Bad Butter xot Wanted. — " Every year the line is being drawn more closely about dairy products, "' says a writer, "and each succeeding year brings an increased demand foi strictly lirst-class grades, and a weaker demand for the poorer ones. In all probability the time is not far distant when it will almost be impossible to dispose of poor butter at all, except as grease, and at grease prices. Notwithstanding all that is .said against imitation butter, it is a truth that the meanest, filthiest imitation of all is made from genuine cow's milk, but in such a slovenly, incompetent manner that all value and trace of genuineness has been eliminated."

Churning ix Winter and Summer. — Butter is slower coming in the a\ inter season than when the weather is warmer, the cream usually being at too low a temperature. Those who churn by gues.s work will be hours doing that which may be done in a much bhortcr time by the use of a thermometer. In winter the temperature should be sixty-four degrees, and in the Summer sixty-two degrees. In winter the cream may become coole 11 . and in Summer warmer, hence it is best to start one or two degrees warmer in cold weather and two degrees cooler in warm a\ cather.

Dil'Teiu;nt Conditions ov Milk.— ln France and Italy the milk of a cow after calving is not considered to be in its normal state till ten days. Ab this stage it is called colostrum. It contain" no caseine, turns rapidly, but does nob acidify. It has been alleged the longer the milk remains, in the udder the richer it will be. Hence the morning is superior to the evening mihdng. Wolffs experience does not confiim this. Milk may not only be bitter as a consequence of marshy fodder, but also from the animal's, bile entering into the circulation, and so massing to the milk.

Take Care ok the Cali\ — Never let a calf go hungry because it will not drink cold miik. If you have not time or patience to warm the milk, sell the calf to someone who will do it. If a calf will drink cold milk in warm weather after it is a month old it might be allowed, but I will not recommend it oven then. Some farmers in my a icinity raise good calves on buttermilk. They change by degrees from skim milk by adding a little buttermilk to the skim milk at first, and increasing it gradually. There is no great danger of young calves ea(ing too much grain food. Attention and judgment will keep one on the right track in tlri.s matter.— President Gurler, of the Illinois Dairy Association.

Industry and Brains in Dairy Work.— There is one thing we do not often fee noticed in dairy writings, and which is a conspicuous feature in successful dairying. It is the necessity of personal industry. It is to bo feared that many go into dairying under the very erroneous belief that it is oasy work. In fact, wo know some who have ; and whoever does cherish this error, and follows the belief with practice, will find his pocket-book growing slimmer all the time. One grand way, therefore, to mako the dairy profitable is to work and keep an eye on all the details. Those who have achieved success in the business have been workers in the strictest sense of the term, and they have not only worked with their hands, but with their minds. Action of Air in Curing Cheese. —ln the curing of cheese, says Dr. Reynolds, of Maine, certain requisites are indespensable in order to attain the best results. Free exposure to air is one requisite for the development of flavour. Curd sealed up in on air-tight vessel and kept at the proper temperature readily breaks down into a soft, rich, ripe cheese, but it has none of the flavour so much esteemed in a good cheese. Exposure to the oxygen of the"air develops flavour. The cheese during the process of curing takes its oxygen and gives off carbonic acid gas. He also adds that the development of flavour can be hastened by subjecting the cheese to a strong current of air. The flavour is developed by the process of oxidation. If the cheese is kept in too close air during the process of curing, it will bo likely to be deficient in flavour.

Make a practice of raising the heifer calves of the best milkers to replenish the dairy stock as needed. It is the only way first class milkers can be secured. Good butter is the prime necessity of evei*y well set table ; and it f-hould bo the endeavour of every farmer's family to excel in the quality as well as in the quality of their butter, Does your cream refuse to produce butfcer, the conditions so far as manipulation is concerned being correct ? The Dairy World says : " The faultis probably in some ono or moi*e cows of the herd. Test the milk separately of any ono that may be suspected, especially of any one that may be ailing in any way. "