DAIRY CATTLE 



477 



cleanly methods of milking and han- 

 dling the milk, and when starters are 

 used which are known to produce a de- 

 sirable flavor in the butter. 



Practical methods of handling milk — 

 In dairying as conducted at present, 

 the farmer is primarily interested in the 



Fig. 306 — CHAMPION MILK COOLER 

 AERATOR 



production of fine milk. The technical 

 operations by which butter, cheese or 

 condensed milk and other milk products 

 are manufactured, are chiefly of interest 

 to expert butter or cheese makers in the 

 factories to which the farmer delivers 

 his milk. It is still true, however, that 

 far more than half of the butter pro- 

 duced in the United States is made on 

 farms. The price obtained for farm 

 butter is altogether too low, and this is 

 due to the poor quality of such butter, 

 and the many complaints which are 

 made concerning it. It is of much im- 

 portance to the farmer, therefore, to 

 adopt improved methods in handling 

 milk and making butter, since otherwise, 

 he cannot obtain remunerative prices 

 for these products. Thus, at present, in 

 the southern states, well made creamery 

 butter readily sells for 30 cents a pound, 

 while average farm butter will bring but 

 10 to 12 cents. The cost of producing 

 10-cent butter is about the same as thai 

 for 30-cent butter, and the desirability 

 of giving more attention to^ modern 

 methods in producing butter is, there- 

 fore, apparent. 



Aerating milk — Mention has already 

 been made of the desirability of aerat- 



ing the milk as soon as it has been 

 drawn. This is practiced extensively by 

 dairymen and milk dealers throughout 

 the country. It is only recently, however, 

 that particular attention has been called 

 to this matter in the United States. 

 The immediate purpose of aerating the 

 milk is to remove the animal odor which 

 is present in warm milk, and which is 

 disagreeable to many persons. As a 

 matter of fact, the animal odor of milk 

 will disappear in the ordinary course of 

 events if the milk is allowed to stand 

 for some time under sanitary conditions, 

 but the process is much hastened by the 

 use of an aerator. The aerators in com- 

 mon use are very simple in construction. 

 In fact, the milk may be fairly well 

 aerated by simply dipping it up from the 

 can and pouring it back from some 

 height above the can. Most of the 

 aerators in general use consist essen- 

 tially of a tin reservoir supported by 

 legs and perforated with small holes. 

 The milk is poured into the reservoir 

 above and passes out through the small 

 holes into the can below. The milk may 

 also be made to run in a tin sheet over 

 a metal surface which is cooled from be- 

 hind with cold water. The milk is thus 

 aerated and cooled off at the same time. 

 Aeration of milk not only removes the 

 animal odor but improves the keeping 

 quality of the milk. In some compara- 

 tive tests, it has been found that un- 

 aerated milk keeps as long as that which 

 has been aerated, but this, as a rule, is 

 the case only when the milk is obtained 

 in an unusually clean condition. The 



vcfjTiL^TiNio fuse 



Fig. 



PEfyofvtfiONj 



BOTTOM PlTCHCD f<(0M TOR WATER 



CENTER TO <\BO STRENGTH % ^ ^ 



307 — SECTIONAL VIEW OF MILK 

 COOLER AERATOR 



use of an aerator appears to have little 

 effect upon the quality of butter or 

 cheese made from the milk. Its chief 

 value consists in the fact that aeration 

 may be accomplished by a cheap appara- 

 tus which cools the milk rapidly at the 

 same time. 



