FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 309 



facturing butter of that quality, while still others claim that this Is 

 easily done in a whole milk plant, hut not in a creamery run on the* 

 hand separator plan. These various ideas are not really true. We ar3 

 able to make a high grade of butter under any of these systems, pro- 

 viding the proper methods are adopted. Some of the main factors to 

 be considered in this connection are the condition of raw material, 

 pasteurization and the use of commercial starters. 



It was once supposed by a few progressive creamerymen that a first - 

 class butter-maker ought to be able to make good butter from half rotten 

 cream. Later on experience taught us that there is no method by which, 

 we can renovate old over-ripe cream or milk and make a desirable 

 product from same. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the 

 milk or cream furnished the creamery is in a clean and sweet condition 

 and free from all foreign odors. In order to reach this result it is 

 necessary for the butter-maker to gain some influence over his patrons 

 so that they will receive his instructions and feel that they are benefited 

 thereby. The care of milk on the farm and the relation of the butter- 

 maker to that subject has been so fully discussed at conventions and 

 through dairy papers that it would be superfluous to spare time for that 

 subject at this time. 



The hand separator system has undoubtedly within the last years 

 tended toward lowering the quality of the Iowa butter. This is not 

 because the hand separator system is wrong, but because that system 

 is still in its infancy and the methods employed by the hand separator 

 factories need improvement. Similar difficulties were observed the first 

 few years after the factory separator was introduced, but soon the sep- 

 arator system was found to be superior to the old system, and the hand 

 separator system has already proven to have several advantages over 

 any of the previous systems. 



When the hand separators were first introduced there were several 

 of their agents that advocated washing of their separator once a day or 

 once every other day. These representatives have nearly all disappeared 

 by this time, which is a blessing to the dairy industry, as such men win^e 

 not only a disgrace to the firms they represented, but they were trying to 

 tear down that splendid reputation which the Iowa butter has and 

 which it has taken so many years to establish. A cream separator, it 

 matters not whether it is a factory or a farm machine, and all dairy 

 utensils used in connection therewith must be thoroughly cleaned each 

 time they have been used, and if this lule is not followed, then the qual- 

 ity is going to suffer. This has been fully demonstrated by the bacteri- 

 ologists as well as by the practical creamerymen. 



In using care and judgment in our work the hand separator system 

 can be made a success and as good or even better cream can be secured 

 in that way than by the older system, but in order to get the best resulto 

 it is necessary that the cream is gathered as often as the milk. The one 

 who starts a hand separator factory and recommends that the farmer? 

 keep their cream at home until their can is full surely does not have 

 much regard for the reputation of Iowa butter. It is often the fault of 

 the butter-maker or creamery manager that it is so difficult to have the 



