t'/VTRY H Oj4 
* PHOTO E 
Vol. LVIII. No. 2554 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 7, 1899 
SI PER YEAR 
TESTING MILK FOR CHEESE. 
■WHY THE BABCOCK TEST ANSWERS. 
The Fat Is a Fair Gauge of Value. 
Should milk be taken at a cheese factory by the Babcock test? 
How often should it be tested ? How many pounds of cheese are 
there in 100 pounds of milk testing four per cent butter fat? 
McDonough, N. Y. a. b. 
Fair Plan for Butter. —Buying milk by the Bab¬ 
cock test is only another way of expressing the idea 
of paying according to the per cent of fat in milk. In 
the Babcock test, we have an easy and accurate method 
of determining the amount of butter fat which a given 
sample of milk contains, and since the introduction of 
this test, there has been a growing tendency to pur¬ 
chase milk for factories on the butter-fat basis. 
For making butter, there is little or no contention 
that this method is not correct. One pound of pure 
fat will make 
about 1.16 pound 
of butter, whether 
it come from milk 
containing three 
per cent fat or 
from milk con¬ 
taining six per 
cent fat. If two 
patrons bring milk 
to the creamery, 
one of whose tests 
three per cent, and 
the other’s six per 
cent, twice as 
much butter can 
be made from 100 
pounds of the lat¬ 
ter’s milk as from 
100 pounds of the 
former’s. Thus it 
would be very un¬ 
just to pay a cer¬ 
tain price for 100 
pounds of milk 
without regard to 
the per cent of fat, 
and it can be read¬ 
ily seen that the 
only true way is to 
pay a certain price 
for every pound of 
fat which the milk 
contains. 
Why Not for 
Cheese ?—For 
making cheese, 
there are many 
who still hold that 
the fat basis is not 
the right way to 
pay for milk, notwithstanding that all experiments 
along this line show it to be the most perfect method 
yet devised. The two constituents of milk which 
form the valuable part of cheese are fat and casein. 
Thus the most perfect basis on which to purchase milk 
for cheesemaking would be according to its content of 
both fat and casein. But since we have no quick and 
accurate method of determining the amount of casein, 
we are forced to look to the fat as the basis for calcu¬ 
lating the cheesemaking value of milk. The question 
then arises, Does the fat bear such a relation to the 
casein that the amount of fat present is a true measure 
of the cheesemaking value of milk ? 
In the process of manufacturing milk into cheese, 
there is more or less loss of fat in the whey, and the 
richer the milk, the more the possibility of losing a 
larger proportion of fat, unless there be something to 
hold it, and the cheesemaker be careful in handling 
the milk and eurfi, The fat is held in the curd by the 
casein ; thus it will be seen that, unless in case of milk 
rich in fat, the casein increases in the same propor¬ 
tion as the fat, there is likely to be an unusual loss of 
fat. In order to determine the relation of fat to casein, 
the Geneva Experiment Station conducted a series of 
experiments extending over a term of several years, 
and including the milk of, at least 1,500 cows, and it 
was found that the fat and casein increase in approx¬ 
imately the same ratio. The following table gives a 
summary of the results as obtained and published in 
Bulletin 68 ; samples varying in number from 7 to 112 : 
Per cent of fat 
Gr0UPl in milk. 
--Average per cent of-. 
fat in each casein in each casein for each 
group. 
group. 
pound of fat. 
I . 3.0 to 3.5 
3 35 
2 20 
0 66 
II. 3,5 to 4.0 
3 72 
2.46 
0 66 
III. 4.0 to 4 5 
4 15 
2 70 
0 65 
IV. 4.5 to 5 0 
4.74 
3 05 
0 64 
V. 5.0 to 5.25 
5.13 
3 12 
0.61 
Another table which is 
taken from 
the sime bul- 
. 
PRIZE ENGLISH SHROPSHIRE YEARLING. Fig. 1. See Page 5 
Reengraved from the Mark Lane Express. 
letin shows the relation of fat in milk to the yield of 
cheese. 
p„r (.pnt Of f-Lt '-Pounds of green cheese-. 
Group. in min. made from 100 made from one pound 
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V.. 
in milk. 
3 0 to 3 5 
3 5 to 4 0 
4 0 to 4 5 
4 5 to 5.0 
5 0 to 5 25 
pounds milk. 
9.14 
10 04 
11 34 
12 85 
13 62 
of fat in milk. 
2.73 
2 70 
2 73 
2.71 
2 66 
What Figures Show. —From these tables, it will 
be seen that milk ranging from 3 to 4.5 per cent of fat 
contains practically two-thirds of one pound of casein 
for every pound of fat; that milk containing an aver¬ 
age of 5.13 per cent fat, also contains casein in very 
nearly the same proportion ; that the yield of cheese 
from 100 pounds of milk increases in proportion as the 
per cent of fat increases, up to a certain limit, and 
that the number of pounds of green cheese made for 
every pound of fat are practically the same in all 
cases. These results show that, in milk containing 
not more than five per cent fat, the fat bears such a 
constant ratio to the casein as to be a true measure of 
the milk’s cheesemaking value. 
While conducting some dairy schools in various 
parts of the State during the past Summer, repre¬ 
sentatives of the Cornell Experiment Station took 
occasion to make some investigations along the same 
line. On the first day, the milk of each patron was 
tested separately; the second day the milk was 
divided so as to place the richer milk in one vat and 
the poorer milk in another ; the third day, the cheese 
was weighed as it came from the hoops, and calcula¬ 
tions were made. There was so little difference in 
the richness of the milk in each of the two cases where 
the experiment was carried on, that only one-quarter 
of one per cent difference was obtained between the 
two vats. However, owing to the careful work done, 
the results bear out the principle that, the richer the 
milk, the more 
cheese will it 
make. The results 
are as follows: 
In factory No. 1, 
the rich vat gave 
3.8 per cent of fat 
in the milk, one 
pound of fat made 
2 75 pounds of 
cheese, and 9.57 
pounds of milk 
were required to 
make one pound of 
cheese. The poor 
vat gave 3.55 per 
cent of fat, 2.77 
pounds of cheese, 
requiring 10.17 
pounds of milk. 
In factory No. 2, 
the rich vat gave 
3 85 per cent of 
fat, 2 78 pounds of 
cheese, and 9 35 
pounds of milk to 
one pound of 
cheese. The poor 
vat gave 3 6 per 
cent of fat, 2.81 
pounds of cheese, 
and 9 88 pounds of 
milk to one pound 
of cheese. 
How It Works. 
—The above are 
the results of only 
a few of the many 
experiments, all 
of which go to 
show that the way 
to buy milk for cheesemaking so as to give the most 
just returns to all concerned is according to the per 
cent of fat it contains. Let us see how the plan works 
in practice. A brings to the factory 400 pounds of 
milk testing three per cent fat. B brings 400 pounds 
testing four per cent fat. Then A furnishes 12 pounds 
of fat and B 16 pounds. From the above tables, it is 
seen that, for every pound of fat, about 2.75 pounds of 
cheese are made. Then A’s milk will make 33 pounds 
of cheese, while B’s will make 44 pounds. With cheese 
at eight cents per pound, net, A’s milk will bring him 
&2 64, or 66 cents per 100 pounds, and B’s milk will 
bring $3 52, or 88 cents per 100 pounds. Suppose that 
A and B had put their milk into the factory on the 
pooling system, i. e., to receive pay for it according to 
the weight of milk with no regard to its fat content, 
or in other words, with no regard to its cheesemaking 
value. The 800 pounds of milk would make the same 
amount of cheese as given above, or 77 pounds, which 
