CHURNING 307 



The frequent occurrence of overchurned butter with an 

 abnormally high moisture content is not the result of over- 

 churning, but is usually due to the weak body of the butter 

 for which other conditions, such as soft butter fat, high churn- 

 ing temperature, or cream that was not held at the churning 

 temperature long enough, are responsible and which conditions 

 are also responsible for the overchurning. It is difficult to 

 stop the churn before the butter is overchurned in the case 

 of cream that is not cooled sufficiently to make the butter 

 come reasonably firm. 



Overchurning has a tendency to injure the grain of the 

 butter. Danger of this type is especially great when the but- 

 ter granules are small and firm, like shot, and when an effort 

 is made to secure larger granules by a prolonged continuation 

 of the churning process. This condition occurs generally when 

 the cream is very thin and cold. Additional churning causes 

 excessive friction between these granules and often results in 

 a salvy butter. This may be avoided to some extent by draw- 

 ing off a part of the buttermilk, The greater density of the 

 butterfat in the churn thus produced, hastens the completion 

 of the churning and avoids unnecessary injury to the grain of 

 the butter. 



In order to secure butter of a good body the individuality 

 of the butter granules should be preserved. Injury to the gran- 

 ules, as the result of overchurning, causes injury to the body 

 of the butter, usually making it salvy or greasy. 



Churning Difficulties. Churning difficulties are occasion- 

 ally experienced. In the majority of cases when the butter 

 granules are exceptionally slow in gathering, and when the 

 churning process is greatly prolonged, the cause lies in the 

 peculiar character of the butterfat and the great viscosity of 

 the cream. These abnormal conditions are chiefly due to cer- 

 tain individual cows. They therefore are encountered largely 

 only where butter is made on the farm and from the cream of 

 one or a few cows only. In the creamery the cream supply is 

 derived from a comparatively large number of cows, which 

 differ in breed, lactation and feed, so that abnormal cream 



