7"7 



the milk is set immediately after milking, it will sometimes go thick 

 in u or 15 hours, and when that occurs the cream globules eannot 

 force their way through the thickened milk to the sin taee. and thus 

 so much cream is lost, or, at least, the butter returns are short, and 

 the calves or pigs get the benefit ol' it. It is a rather suspicn >us 

 sign, if no other feed is given, to see calves keep very fat, and a 

 examination into die method of skimming might disdo^- 

 where a heavy loss takes place. It will not pay a butter farmer to 

 fatten calves at the expense of the churn. 



Having seen that the cream is of the right thickness for churn- 

 ing, the next thing to do is to see that the temperature is correct. 

 If this is looked after it will save many a weary hour's work in 

 turning the churn. Always use the thermometer, and never depend 

 on the feel or touch to gauge the temperature. To show how 

 deceptive the touch is, any one can try an experiment for them- 

 selves. Have some water at 60 degrees and cool the hand by 

 putting it into very cold water for a little time, then put it into the 

 water at 60 degrees. The water will feel quite warm. Xow put 

 the hand into warm water and let it get thoroughly heated and put 

 it back into the water at 60 degrees and it will feel quite cold. 

 Thus the temperature to the touch will depend altogether upon the 

 state of the hand at the time of trial. As a general rule, the proper 

 temperature to churn at is about 58 to 60 degrees, but a certain 

 allowance can be made according to the outside temperature. Thus, 

 if the weather is very cold, it will not do any harm if the tempera- 

 ture goes up to 62 or 63 degrees, or, if very hot, down to 55 or 56 

 degrees. If allowed to go lower, the time of churning will pro- 

 bably be greatly prolonged, or if higher, the butter may come too 

 quickly and be soft and greasy, or it may not come at all. 



