agriculture. DELIVERING MILK AT FACTORIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1624, 30 November 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

agriculture.

DELIVERING MILK AT FACTORIES.

X. A. WUJfABD. Most milk be delivered at the factory once or twice a day ? This a question often asked by those about entering upon dairying and especially at the West and in the new distriots, by farmers not familiar with the details of dairy management. The question is an important one involving ihe expenditure, or the saying of much labor and time during the year in accordance with the system which may be adopted. Now in answering this question correctly some oircumstances must be considered. If the milk is to be delivered to a butter factory where it is to be set and manipulated for batter-making, then it should be delivered twice a day, morning and evening, as soon after milking as is practicable. Experience has shown that milk coming to the factory while warm will throw up more cream that when allowed to get cold, and if the temperature has fallen off very much, the best method of treating such milk is to raise the temperature at the factory to 104 degrees Fahr. before setting, when the temperature may be reduced by surrounding the milk vessels with cold water or with water and ice. It will be evident, therefore, that milk freshly drawn is required to be operated upon, to give the best results in butter-making. For cheese-making the circumstances arc somewhat different, the night's and morning's mess of milk are massed together at the factory, and immediately operated upon to_ convert it into cheese, the raising of cream is not desired in any part of the process, and all that is required is that the milk be sweet and sound. If the night's milk therefore can be cooled at the farm and delivered next morning in good condition, no loss will be entailed in converting it into cheese, any more than would result if said milk had been delivered at night and cared for at the factory. In New York, where the cheese factories are to a large extent managed on the co-oper-ative plan, milk in most instances is required to be delivered when freshly drawn, or twice-a-day. The custom of twice-a-day delivery originated with the early factories, and the plan has been blindly followed— many supposing there is no other way, while some farmers prefer hauling milk twiee-a-day, to taking the trouble of caring for the night's milk at the farm. In very large dairies, such as often found in New York, ranging from GO to 100 cows, this may be so, especially as more than one team might be required to haul the two messes of milk once a day. With smaller herds, however, this reason does not apply, and since it has been proved over and over again, that the night's milk properly cooled at the farm, can he delivered next morning in better condition than it would be if massed at the factory on the twice-a-day plan of delivery, there can be no good reason why the once-a-day plan may not be adopted whenever such course is desired ; the once-a-day plan it should be observed, requires two seats of carrying cans, since the warm milk of the morning should not be mangled with evening's milk while being hauled to the factory. The night's milk, of course, when kept at the farm requires to be properly cooled down to 60 degrees at least, before it is left for the night ; and this can be done by dividing the milk up in the cans and placing them in tanks or vats where they can be surrounded by cold water, and if running water can flow in and out of the tank during the night, so much the better. II " well-water " is used it may require to be changed, and the milk stirred until properly cooled, but this often will bo found far less trouble than the extra hauling of the milk. There are factories that have adopted this once-a-day plan of delivery, where the finest quality of ihe cheese is made, and some of the managers of such factories have affirmed that they get much bctte.x milk on the once-a-day plan than the twicc-a-day ; because their patrons are more particular in the care of milk, in milking, and the general treatment of their herds, thus assuming responsibilities which they were inclined to shirk when folowing the twice-a-day delivery. — Rural New Yorker.