192 AGRICULTURE. 



HI. Churning. 



Churning is the gathering together of the fat 

 globules into a mass called butter. This may 

 be accomplished by any kind of agitation violent 

 enough to cause the fat globules to come together 

 with some force. 



i. Effect of Temperature. One of the most 

 important factors to be considered in connection 

 with churning is the temperature. Temperature 

 controls, to a large extent, the time of churning, 

 the loss of butter in the buttermilk, and that 

 important quality of the butter called the grain. 

 The higher the temperature of the cream the 

 softer the butter fat becomes, and the more 

 readily it unites, shortening the time of churn- 

 ing. The temperature should be so regulated 

 that the time required for churning will be be- 

 tween one-half hour. and one hour. No definite 

 temperature can be given as applicable to all 

 cases, as it must vary somewhat with the thick- 

 ness of the cream, season of the year, and period 

 of lactation. The best rule is to churn at as low 

 a temperature as it is possible to have the butter 

 form within the desired time. Butter factories, as 

 a rule, churn cream from 50 to 54 F. in summer 

 and from 54 to 58 in winter. (Smaller dairies 

 usually churn at somewhat higher temperature.) 



The greatest improvement that could be made 

 at a small expense in the method of butter- 

 making on the average farm would be the use 



