FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 333 



Changing Temperature of the Milk Separated. If for any 

 reason the milk is not separated immediately after milking but 

 after standing is separated without reheating, the test of the 

 cream will be changed. The colder the milk the more slowly the 

 cream will flow from the cream opening, resulting in a higher- 

 testing cream. Separating the milk at a temperature below 80 

 degrees is also likely to cause more loss of butterfat in the skim- 

 milk. Alilk should not be separated at a temperature below 85' 

 degrees F. and 90 degrees to 95 degrees will give the best re- 

 sults. Every dairyman should keep a dairy thermometer (which 

 is inexpensive) and see that the milk is properly warmed before 

 separating. He can also use it to good advantage in properly 

 cooling the cream. The milk should be separated immediately 

 after milking, so that it will not be necessary to warm it again 

 before separating. 



Varying the Amount of Skimmilk and Water Used in Flush- 

 ing out Separator Bozvl. If different amiounts of skimmilk and 

 water are used at different times in flushing the separator bowl, 

 each time the test of the cream will be different. The more the 

 separator bowl is flushed out the thinner the cream will be if i«5 

 is all mixed with the cream. Likewise when the quality of milk 

 separated is small, the flushing of the separator will thin t he 

 cream to a greater extent tihan when there is a larger quantity 

 of cream separated. Therefore, the normal effect of richer milk 

 from stripper cows in producing a richer cream may be largely if 

 not wholly offset by this thinning of the cream in flushing out 

 the separator. In such a case the creamery patron's cream test 

 may actually be lower than when the milk contains less fat, and 

 a larger quantity is separated. 



Clogging of the Cream Screw. The writer has known of a 

 case in which a dairyman neglected to clean his separator prop- 

 erly and the cream screw became partly closed. With this smal- 

 ler outlet the amount of cream was decreased and the test in- 

 creased. One day the separator was overhauled and the cream 

 screw thoroughly cleaned. This farmer's cream for the next two 

 weeks dropped 12 percent in butterfat. To have uniform and 



