Butter Factories.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2039, 1 August 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Butter Factories.

b? uajoii a. alvokd.— in the Live Stock Journal. The factory eyptem of malting butter find ohceno run rrought a revolution in American dairying. The change marks a groat advance both on iho firm and m tho mnrkot. The rreultn:g production of such large quantities of bnttor at:d cheese, of remarkable uniformity Bud high quality, puts the innumerable odd lots from private dairies at great disadvantage in the markej. There may be, and probably nre, at any Riven time a few email lotrf of dairy products from single farms to be found In stock which are better than any factory Roods. But the average quality of the factory pioduc^ id denidely above tho market avcrsge midM the old dairy methods. The imitatioufl nnd aduUtnUsonfi of lute years hftvo brought &\ ropnto upon American dairy markets in fcncral, but one who e'eeks them can alwayn liiul in aluindcnce the pure products of factoring and creameries. And these a^ayK co.mman<j the highest market price, because of the reputation established and maintainpd. The factory— also called creamery— system in, therefore, steadily extending in the United States. It takes various forma, but as to bntter-rnntiDg the Fnirlamb ia tbe most senBible, popular, and profitable. C. 0. Fairkmb, now dead, waa a dealer in rlairy produce in Philadelphia. He was inclined to production rather than sale, believed there was room fer progress in dairying, and ro remcrvod to the new dairy region of Winconein, and engaged in butter factories. Bringing business idens and methods to his work, ho eoen condemned the only system, then practiced, of every producer hauling all his milk daily to the factory; and, inventing pimple appliances to suit the purpose, he estiblkhed, experimentally, a factory receiving and handling onlyoream. Snccoa* resulted and thus started the new plan. It is only just that tt should be known liy the name of its originator, and many establishments are called Fairlamb Factories, but the more general pre.-cnt title ia The Cream Gathering PJan. T.ua ia better, becauie descriptive in i^elf 6t its own characteristic feature, and aluo because the plan ti r.flaptrd to us.- with numerous appliaooea, ofher than the rAh lamb o*ira>nd other artiolei Qwt denigHf ' bi Mr. l'ilrhjUtib to upply bit princtplta. . . Tht plaa reoogaliM iht ctouWe Importance of Otrrying tha botlen-tnaking away irom the farm, and rf keeping the alum milk all for Jb6me use. Tho steady drain on the farm by rcmovftl oE the whole milk product could be nffsct by purchaifl foods and fertilisers, but to the farmer rearing young Animals of any kind nothing could replace milk, if all oarricd awy. The milk kept at home i* almost ft olear profit over the old oyatsm, because in practical operation the ca3h receipts for the cream alone equal those for the whole milk as daily carried to the faotoiy in the old way. A butterfactory handling the whole milk must add to its capacity and labour on account of this calk of ra* mnr?rial, which becomes bo largely a waste product. The skim-ruilk is either fed at a disadvanLgj or made into an inferwr quality of (" white oak ") cheedf, which hardly pays for its making. A Faiii*mb or cream-gathering factory is more compact, less expecuve to fit up and to to manage, and lar more.hkely, because of its simplicity, to prove successful in raw hands, or und'T co-operative management. Its ino3t thorooghly b«nefiaUl form is, as a purely cooperative enterprise, a neighbourhood affair owned by the cow owners somewhat in proportion to their h«6s. On the oth« hand, it i* » pretty safe business venture for a single proprietor, Hire a gristmill or u saw-mill well located. Of course, the nearer tho raw malarial, cream, to the factory, the better, beoauee of ito perishable nature. Ba f I know factories gittntod in Li-g^ fowjie aad cui€3 buying their cream through country agents anywhere within 100 miles, it being ahtpped to the country by rail. Cream-gathering may bo adopted in a very scattered community, or where the producers arc located within a small radius. In the latter oaso there is economy in the gathering. It ia suited to an association of a few large produceis, or to a large number ef email one 3; and tha one factory may number among its patrons the ownerß of eingle cows and ef herds of all siz?s. This eystem i* favoured in our older dairy ptates. Two years ago there was no butter factory iti Maine, now thcro are seven all on tho creara-gs,t;heiing plan. There are several in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and more in New York. As instances of practical success these cases may bo cited : — A neighbourhood of twenty farmers, most of whom had regular and satisfactory eales of their butter to consumers in near-by towns, by starting a factory made the whole product as good in quality aT the very best of tho private dairies before. Thus, while no loss to the best it was gain to all the reßt. Numerous " patrona" of such factories report their cash income from a given number of cows to be as great ac fro en the same cows wheu all the butter-making was done at home. Not only do single contiibutors often admit that the factory butter from their cows is of better and more uniform quality than resulted from the best home efforts, but they also claim that the factory makes moro butter by Bof 10 per cent, than was done at the farm, from the same weight of milk. In all communities where this system has replaced the old way of home dairying, the housewives would as soon think of bringing back the spinning-wheel and the loom, aa to again go to churning.