Farm Butter Making. 5 
brushed from the cow before starting to milk and it is often ad¬ 
visable to wipe the udder with a damp cloth. The milker should 
be clean. The cows should not be fed before milking as it will 
raise a dust which will help carry bacteria into the milk. The 
milk should not be allowed to stand in the stable any longer than 
is absolutely necessary, it should be removed to the dairy room as 
soon as possible and there strained for the creaming process. 
Poor feed, such as musty hay, damaged grain, rotten silage, 
fermented feeds, etc., will give the milk and butter a bad flavor. 
Again, certain weeds in the pasture, such as wild onions, rag¬ 
weeds, etc., will produce bad flavors. Poor water for the cows 
also has its effect. 
THE DAIRY UTENSILS. 
All pails and cans should be made of a good grade of tin. 
They should be made of pressed tin or should have the seams 
smoothly soldered over, so there will be no places for dirt to lodge. 
Galvanized and wooden pails are not advisable. The tinware 
should not be allowed to rust and, above all, it should not be used 
for any other purpose. 
All dairy utensils, including pails, cans, separators, churns, 
etc., should be thoroughly washed every time after using. They 
should be first washed or rinsed in cold or luke warm water, not 
hot, as it will cook the milk onto the tin. After rinsing, wash them 
in hot water, then thoroughly scald with boiling water or steam 
and place in the direct rays of the sun. It is not advisable to dry 
them with a cloth, as they will remain cleaner, if scalded and 
allowed to drain in the sunlight. Do not use laundry soap in 
washing the dairy utensils but rather a good washing powder or 
sal-soda which contains no grease. 
SKIMMING THE MILK. 
There are two general systems of separating the cream from 
the skim milk: The centrifugal or hand separator method and 
the gravity or setting method. The gravity method being again 
divided into three divisions; namely, deep setting, shallow pan and 
water dilution. Taking these all together there are four general 
methods. 
Briefly summarized we give the following statements con¬ 
cerning each method: 
Hand Separator .—This method is, by far, the best. The 
relative skimming efficiency of the hand separator and gravity 
systems as determined by experiments at the Purdue Agricultural 
Experiment Station showing the per cent, of butter fat in the 
skim milk are as follows: 
Hand separator .02%. 
Deep setting .17%, times the hand separator. 
