Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-07-16
Differences in Quality of Milk.
NEW METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE vALU
OF MILK FOR CHEESE MAKING.

NEW METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE VALUE
OF MILK FOR CHEESE MAKING.
In the spring of 1856, made difference
of 20 per cent in the value of the milk of
my own dairy, for cheese making, in a sim
gle weeks time, by a change in the quality
of feed, and thought | had been doing pretty
well by my cows all the Lime because gave
them all they would eat of early cut hay
but the hay had beeu wet in curing, aud was
two years old. by feeding with green hay,
aud some oil meal and shorts the milk
which had before made 100 pounds Of cheese,
now made 100. In the summer and fall Of
1871, | had occasion to make some exact
tests Of the value of the milk of the different
patrons of cheese factories. will let one
of these tests speak for itself. took a per
cent glass, holding just half pound to the
top of the graduated scale, and a two-ounce
graduated measuring glass, and lot Of
common tin basins, aud with this "kit" went
to a neighboring factory early on q Septem-
Der morning. From the milk Of each pat
tron, as it arrived, l took milk and filled the
percent glass to the top Of the scale, and
turned the milk of each into separate tin
basins, which set in q vat Of water warm
ed to o. degrees, where they foated till the
milk was all in. The samples were then all
OF the same temperature. The little grad
uated glass was then brought into use, and
an exect quantity of rennet was applied to
each. 1t occasioned little disappointment
to see that they did not all coagulate exactly
at the same time but need not trace the
cause of that here. After they had all
become perfectly curdled, the curd was bro
ken and carefully stirred, and raised to SO
degrees by turning steam into the water in
which the basins floate1. When the whey
had all been separated aud turned of, aud
squeezed out, that could be, the steam was
turned on, aud the water raised to boiling
heat, and the basins kept floating on it till
the curd was thoroughly dried This dried
curd was taken as the standard Of value for
the milk of each patron. To be perfectly
exact, it required that each sample should be
weighed. Not having anything at hand
with which to weigh with sufficient exact
ness, the relative values were determined
by measure in the following way The per-
cent glass was filled up to 30 degrees with
water, and then the dried curd OF the sam
Piles was dropped in one after another, noting
every time just how many degrees each
sample raised the water. This was u very
convenient way of estimating, and was sufi-
cieutly exact for practical purposes. The
dried samples of eleven patrons raised the
water as follows Two, 81 one 81 two I
four, ; two, 81 degrees.
Taking the extremes, the best gave %. 80
per cent more Of dried curd than the poor
est, yet they shared alike in the dis
tribution of the proceeds. Adding to these
dried specimens the usual amount of water
go per csnt) contained in cured cheese,
and it would require 932 pounds of the best
milk to make one of cured cheese, and H.
y of the poorest. The difference in these
extremes was made by feeding. The cows
in one case had short pasture and sowed
corn; the others short pasture only. 1t was
unfair for the latter to take half the benefit
of his neighbor's sowed corn; but such in
stances are common. 1t is very easy to
make the division according to the actual
quality Of milk, and when the difference is
appreciated, it will be so made Some of
your Yankee customers will be just the ones
to start an equal mode of dividing.
IL. b. Arnold, in N. Il. Dairyman.