228 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



tural school, or indeed in any school save that of experience. How- 

 ever, as 3'ou all know, experience is credited with being a good teacher, 

 if a hard one, and it is jtossible, therefore, that mine may have taught 

 me some lessons that may be of use to some of you. 



To make good butter is not such a simple matter as it appears, and 

 it demands a care and attention that is seldom given to it. This fact 

 accounts for tbe amount of bad butter that you see sold and used, and 

 is one reason why oleomargarine and other patent butter is in such 

 demand- They not only are cheaper or as cheap, but they run more 

 evenly good, keep better and taste better. 



The tirst essential for good butter is to have good rich milk and 

 clean milk, milk that is free from any extraneous tlavor such as may 

 be absorbed from the atmosphere, feeds or plain dirt. To get this 

 care must be taken as to the kind of feed used, especially if the milk 

 is for butter. Milk that tastes all right and is all right for other pur- 

 poses, when used for butter will not do at all. One can often dis- 

 tinguish the different tastes of feeds in the butter, and any radical 

 change in the feeding may be at once detected. A little too much 

 silage will spoil butter, and in cases Avhere several cows' milk or the 

 produce of the whole dairy is used, a knowledge of what each cow 

 is getting, the amount, etc., should be carefully watched and known, 

 and the effect upon her milk noted. This should be done in every 

 dairy, as a matter of fact, as it is only thus that the feeding can be 

 profitably done. Many cows do not need, and others do not digest, 

 the kind of food or the amount of it that their fellows in the same 

 stable should have. It is this knowledge of the individual that is a 

 most important feature in any sort of dairying, and it is essential 

 in a butter herd as a cow's milk is affected by her condition and this 

 quickly affects the butter. 



Having made sure that there is no taste in the milk from the feed 

 that will show in the butter, the next thing is to be sure that the milk 

 is cleanly drawn — that the milker has clean, dry hands, that the cow's 

 sides and udder have been brushed and freed from manure and dust, 

 loose hairs, etc., and that the milk is taken as soon as possible from 

 the stable to prevent the contamination from the unavoidable odors 

 and dust of a cow barn or milking shed. Care should be taken that 

 the cans and pans are not exposed to road dust and manure and that 

 they are scalded and washed thoroughly clean. 



The milk is now ready for the dairy, and it depends very much upon 

 whether it is to be separated or hand-skimmed what is to be im- 

 mediately done with it; but as I am speaking of profitable butter mak- 

 ing I assume that it is to be separated. In my opinion, milk for butter 

 making should never be thoroughly cold. It should be cool, but never 

 thoroughly chilled. In the dairy of which I have charge the milk is 

 separated at a temperature of about 75 to 80 degrees. It is necessary 

 to hold it over night, as we separate but once a day, so that the eve- 

 ning's milk is set in coolers or cans in the spring. These coolers hold 

 about 12 quarts, a convenient size to lift. 



Our spring water keeps about 56 degrees. I have a coal stove in the 

 spring or dairy proper and keep a low fire all winter, keeping the tem- 

 perature about GO degrees and we try not to liave it vary more than a 

 degree or two one way or the other, and are very careful af)Out venti- 

 lation and to prevent coal gas, dust, etc- Men are not allowed to enter 

 the dairy in their working shoes nor is smoking allowed there. Care 



