380 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



subject. It is in my estimation the keynote for better and more suc- 

 cessful creamery management. The fundamental principles seem to 

 me to be so strong in its favor that it is hardly necessary to argue 

 in its favor. 



Testing every day has been discussed pro and con through all 

 the dairy papers and what the speaker has to say on the subject 

 may not be new to the buttermakers and creamery men present. 

 At the same time we would like to have your undivided attention for 

 a few moments. At the conclusion of this paper you will be given an 

 opportunity to one and all express your views as the subject may 

 appeal to you. 



The creamery that does not test every day must take composite 

 samples. The testing is then done every two weeks or once a 

 month — a practice which we think is wrong and not in the least 

 correct. It is the way the composite sample is taken and handled 

 that is wrong. Theoretically it is right. The method of handling 

 is the point we wish to lay considerable stress on in this argument. 



In Iowa very few buttermakers are testing every day. Most of them 

 take composite samples. Why are they taking composite samples? 

 In the first place, most of them have so much work they do not have 

 time to do the testing every day. They could not if they wanted to. 

 In the second place, the average farmers creamery deems it a very 

 wise plan to be economical with the labor question. If the butter- 

 maker can possibly take in the cream, make the butter, and get 

 through with his day's labor at any reasonable hour of the night, he 

 is compelled to do so alone. In a majority of such cases the butter- 

 maker does not have the time to attend to some of the little matters, 

 such as testing his cream for acidity, testing the buttermilk, testing 

 the butter for moisture, weighing the butter before shipping, and the 

 keeping of a set of daily records. 



No, some of the farmers cannot see the necessity of doing those 

 little things when they are really some of the most essential things 

 for successful creamery management. As a result they will not hire 

 any extra help and the butterraaker cannot do it all alone and test 

 every day. 



In the third place, a great many of the buttermakers do' not want 

 to test every day, for they think it is too much trouble. Not many 

 years ago most all the creameries received all whole-milk. When 

 the hand separator came they changed from whole-mlk to cream from 

 the hand separator, but they did not change the system of taking the 

 samples. The composite jar remained on the shelf just the same, and 

 it is hard for those buttermakers to do anything different. They like 

 to stay in the same old rut. 



Now listen — we must admit there is a vast difference between the 

 per cent of butterfat tn one hundred pounds of cream than there 

 is in one hundred pounds of milk,. In many cases the way the whole- 

 milk sample is taken is wrong. Why then must not the composite 

 sampling of cream be decidedly wrong? Composite samples, whether 

 milk or cream, to be correct, must be taken in the right proportion 



