Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-09-13
Dairy Farming at the East.

A correspondent of the New Yorl
World gives an exceedingly readable &C
count of visit to large and successful
dairy farm in Pennsylvania, with des
criptiOn of the nsod,ts operandi of butter
making in vogue at the establishment
Although rather long, it gives in detail
the approved method of butter-makine
at the East. The proprietor has in one
piece about seven hundred acres; he
keeps one hundred cows, and his wife and
daughter not only personally superin.
tend the butter-making, but do large
share Of the work themselves. Only
eighty-four cows are MIXED now, and ev.
cry milking yields between two hundred
and fifty and three hundred gallons Of
milk, or between sixty and seventy
pounds of butter. When we first drove
up we saw the calves, forty-five in mum.
Der, being put i'm position to have their
evening meal placed before them. They
stood in one lot, and their heads were put
between the stanchions, Just outside OF
which, in another lot was placed the
trough into which the food was poured.
The troughs for the feed are followed
out of log, and each calf has its own
separate trough which no other calf can
reach. The calves are taken from the
cows as soon as they come into the world,
and are taught to feed in this manner.
Milk only is given them at first, and after
while, when they grow older, mush
made of corn meal is stirred in.
The butter is churned by horse, who
stands on . circular platform, somewhat
inclined, and by constant stepping causes
the platform to revolve and a wheel in the
center to turn, by means of which q
crank is worked communicating with
beam in the milk room, to
whose arms the dashers of the churn
are affixed. The beam is horizontal.
and turns from side to side when worked
by the crank, thus raising the dasher up
and down. The beam has six arms and
can work six churns, but generally only
four are used. Between the room where
the machinery Is used and the milk room
is shed over stone pavement. On a
table here the pans and pals not In use are
aired, after being thoroughly cleansed
with brush, soap, and hot water. Wa
ter plays as important q part in butter
making as milk itself, and must be most
plentifully supplied. Beneath the same
shed above mentioned is the penstock, or
hydrant, where the water, brought from
a well-supplied spring 100 yards distant,
overfiows into a half-hogshead. The
eighty-four cows are MIXED by about
seven men, who bring in two pals at q
time attached to a yoke worn by the
bearer. The milk is strained and divided
out into pans which hold about four gal
Ions each. The room where the milk is
kept is q spotless place. The floor, the
etc., are painted in buff; the
beam which works the churns and the
churns themselves are blue. The furni-
ture of the room consists Of two rows of
mill-racks, on which between sixty and
seventy pans are set, twelve on a tier, and
there are five tiers, or six, counting the
top tier. There is a passage-way between
the racks. Each rack represents milk.
ing, and is duly labeled as, for instance,
one bears card, Monday q. m, another
Sunday p. m. The milk is used rs the
weather directs. In warm weather it is
necessary to churn often In cold the re-
verse is necessary. The cream Is skinned
from an inch to an inch and half below
the surface, is thick and leathery when
ready for churning. and should be at the
of sixty-four degrees. Every
effort is made to keep the milk-room at
IN equal temperature and thoroughly well
ventilated. 1t occupies building by itself,
raised about two feet from the ground.