DAIRYING 9 



384. Filling the Churn. When the churn has become cold 

 the cream may be added, but it should always be strained through 

 a hair sieve or some other fine sieve. This will remove lumps of 

 curd, dried cream or butter granules that will make white specks 

 in the butter if not removed. 



385. The churn should never be filled more than one-half 

 full, and one-fourth full is better. A churn that seems to be too 

 large is better than one too small for the dairy for which it is 

 bought. 



386. The butter color is added to the cream just after 

 filling, using the amount of color desired by the customers to 

 whom the butter is sold. Vegetable butter colors are now used 

 almost exclusively, as most of the pure food laws of the various 

 states forbid the use of aniline or coal tar colors. 



Butter color should be fresh and have no rancid odor as well 

 as no sediment in the bottom of the bottle. 



BUTTER COLOR. 



387. A uniform color is one of the desired qualities of com- 

 mercial butter. The natural color of milk fat from which butter 

 is made varies considerably during different seasons of the year. 

 Some of the causes of these variations are the feed, the breed, 

 and the period of lactation of the cows giving the milk. Butter 

 made when cows are on full pasture feed is of a deeper yellow 

 color than when the cows are given dry feed in the stable. The 

 milk of fresh cows often makes a more highly colored butter 

 than that of strippers, and the characteristic yellow color of the 

 butter of Guernsey cows is well known to most dairymen. 



388. All these factors influence the natural color of butter 

 fat to such an extent that a collection of samples of butter from 

 different herds of cows may show as many shades of yellow as 

 there are packages of butter. Some markets prefer a more highly 

 colored butter than others, but all demand that the particular 

 standard preferred shall be a uniform color. These peculiarities 

 of the markets and of the cows have led to a nearly universal 



