Conditions of Difficult Churning 217 



are churned together ; but under various conditions, 

 and from time to time, the completeness of separation 

 varies with the size of the granules of butter; that 

 is to say, if the granules have reached a certain size, 

 it does not always follow that the fat has been re- 

 moved from the buttermilk to the same degree, so 

 that the size of the granules of butter is not a certain 

 indication of the completeness of churning. When the 

 churning process is complete, the buttermilk takes on 

 a thin, bluish, watery appearance, quite distinct from 

 the thicker creamy appearance of the unchurned cream, 

 and the churning should be continued until this con- 

 dition of the buttermilk is reached, even though the 

 granules are increased in size beyond the point favor- 

 able to their best separation from the buttermilk. 

 The higher the temperature at which the cream is 

 churned, the greater the percentage of fat left in 

 the buttermilk and the more casein will be incorpo- 

 rated with the butter. 



Difficult churning. Conditions often arise under 

 which it is very difficult or impossible to cause the 

 butter to unite in granules and separate from the but- 

 termilk. One of the chief difficulties accompanies 

 a small and hard condition of the butter granules 

 with a high viscosity in the cream. These con- 

 ditions usually occur in the late fall and early win- 

 ter months, when the cows are far advanced in lac- 

 tation, and when they are often fed on dry food 

 of a character to make hard butter fat. An im- 

 proper ripening of the cream often accompanies 

 these conditions, so that complaints of difficulty in 



