508 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



' DISCUSSION. 



C. E. Carr : I would like to ask you. Professor, if you wash 

 with water at the same temperature of the buttermilk this time 

 of year, or warmer ? 



Professor McKay : I \\ (juld wash with water at the same 

 temperature as the buttermilk any time of the year. That is, I 

 would churn at a hig-h even temperature so the butter would 

 gather middling soft but not slushy. I mean by middling soft, 

 butter you can take in the hand and squeeze together and at the 

 same time it will not assume that pasty condition which rather 

 soft butter contains. 



HOW TO IMPROVE IOWA BUTTER. 



AI. MORTEXSEN, SIOUX CITY. 



In no other industry has there been greater progress during the 

 last few years than in dairying. The methods employed by butter- 

 makers ten years ago will now not be recognized by any up-to-date 

 butter-maker. The machinery is different. The butter-maker who at that 

 time was generally chosen from the ordinary walks of life is now a 

 man who has attended school for perfecting himself in his profession 

 Yet the Iowa butter-maker of today comes far from reaching perfectioii, 

 and in order that we may keep our reputation of making the best butter 

 in the country it is necessary that immediate steps are taken toward 

 making improvement in our system, and that to such an extent that we 

 will be far out of our competitors' reach. An Iowa butter-maker should 

 never be satisfied to follow; he should always aim to be a leader. '■ 



Some years ago one of the leading questions at the conventions was 

 how to avoid mottles. This is a thing not frequently spoken of today. 

 The butter-maker, as a rule, now understands the mechanical part of 

 butter-making to such an extent that he knows how to prevent mottles. 

 The question of most importance now is how to make a high and uniform 

 grade of butter possessing keeping qualities. We do not aim to make 

 the kind of butter that used to win sweepstakes a few years ago, as that 

 did not very often possess keeping qualities. The butter now in high- 

 est demand is quite different in quality from our fancy butter of a few 

 years ago. 



Quality and uniformity are the two main factors to be considered 

 by the butter-makers at present, and for each step he is taking these 

 two factors should be kept in view and be the main centers for all his 

 labors. Some think that in order that such butter may be produced Ii 

 is necessary that the butter be made in smaller creameries, where all 

 of the territory is within easy reach of the factory. Others claim that 

 the central plants have advantages over the smaller ones in manu- 



