CHAPTER XII. 

 SKIM-MILK, BUTTERMILK, AND WHEY. 



THE growing importance of the bacon industry 

 makes the proper feeding of dairy by-products a very 

 profitable study for dairy farmers. The value of 

 sweet skim-milk for young pigs and young calves is 

 well known. For pigs weighing over fifty pounds, 

 sour skim-milk and buttermilk are equally valuable. 

 Whey has a feeding value equal to about one third 

 that of skim-milk for growing pigs. It may not be 

 fed to very young pigs or to calves, unless it is sweet, 

 which is not practicable in ordinary factory districts. 



The best quality of skim-milk is got from the hand 

 centrifuge by separating immediately after milking. 

 At creameries the skim-milk should be heated to 

 about i8oF. before it is returned to^the farm.* On 

 its return to the farm it should be cooled at once to 

 below 60 degrees. The tanks for holding the skim- 

 milk at the creamery, and also the pipes through 

 which the milk passes, should be cleaned thoroughly 

 every day. The pipes should be filled with a solution 

 of soda, which should be allowed to stand in them 

 over night, at least once a week. Galvanized steel 

 tanks are more easily kept clean than wooden tanks. 



Buttermilk should not be allowed to stand for any 



* This heating may be done with exhaust steam from the engine. 



93 



