550 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing room. To prepare starters and to ripen cream are subjects that most 

 any man with average ability can be taught how to do. It is more of a 

 manual or mechanical proceedure where skill is the chief requisite quali- 

 fication. But to receive and sample milk rightly one must be endowed 

 with skill, ability to handle details, accuracy and quickness in handling 

 figures and making computations, ability to grade and select milk, ability 

 to stimulate interest in the production of good milk, and ability to recon- 

 cile and satisfy unsatisfied patrons. In order to accomplish these latter 

 results one must have some judgment of human nature, and as some one 

 has termed it, "a liberal sprinkling of business principles." 



To many dairymen the term receiving of milk is limited to simply 

 pouring the milk out of the patron's can into the weighing tank, recording 

 the number of pounds of milk, and then lifting the valve so that it can 

 escape into the receiving vat. Such a conception of receiving milk is eas- 

 ily satisfied. Any boy or man without mature judgment or special train- 

 ing can do this. But when we give the term "receiving of milk" its broad 

 and comprehensive interpretation we must include first the selection of 

 milk. This can be properly done only when a man's senses of smell, taste 

 and sight have been cultivated, and are made use of, together with the 

 power of observation. How to select milk depends upon the acuteness of 

 the senses, but how to dispose of these different qualities of milk in the 

 most economical way depends upon the knowledge the receiver has of the 

 effect of these different defects of milk upon the ultimate product, and 

 also upon the amount of common sense and judgment he is able to consult. 

 Because a can full of milk is sour, if otherwise clean, does not necessarily 

 indicate that it is unfit for the production of a first class quality of butter; 

 of course it should not be mixed with the sweet milk, as it might coagulate 

 it all or clog up the separators, but if retained until after the sweet milk 

 has been skimmed it might be run through the separator successfully. 

 However, it is more safe to class it as defective milk, and keep it together 

 with the rest of the poor milk in a small vat by itself. Dirty, putrid and 

 bitter milk is the kind of milk that is specially conducive to a poor quality 

 of butter. One can full of such milk if mixed with the rest of the milk 

 may lower the grade of all of the butter made during that day one or even 

 two cents per pound. 



To keep this poor quality of milk by itself in the receiving vat is of 

 utmost importance, but it is equally important to keep the weight of it 

 by itself on the milk sheet. When a patron delivers a can of poor milk 

 to the creamery he should not receive as much for it as does the man who 

 delivers a first class quality of milk, for it is an established fact that as 

 good butter cannot be made from the poorer milk. The quality of milk 

 delivered can be designated on the milk sheet by marking the good milk 

 "A" and the poor quality "B" milk. Thus, at the end of the month each 

 patron can be paid according to the quality of the milk he delivered with- 

 out much trouble to the creamery operator and with justice to the patrons. 

 Tbis is one of the best means of bringing about a reform in the methods 

 of caring for milk or cream on the farm. There are dairy farmers to whom 

 explanations and teaching concerning the care of milk should be admin- 



