The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-04-28
W''.he E'arm
Valuable Facts About Mich Cows.


it is commencing to be a recognized truth
with farmers, that to possess good mich
COWS, they must be maintained in good
condition. Some do not hesitate to recon-
mend rations as liberal as are given to fat
stock. 1t is known that the yield of milk
and butter increases with the opening OF
the season for green fodder. and when The
secretion of the mammary glands becomes
augmented. The green food does produce
more milk, but not any action on the
glands. The difference resides in the azo-
tized, or albuminous matters, being more
digestible in the form of green clover,
lucern, etc, than in that of hay, straw,
husks and roots. The Winter rations are
relatively poor in lood forming materials,
that is to say nutritive matters. A large
quantity also of the albuminous matters OF
hay and straw are not utilized by the organ
ism, not being dissolved by the digestive
tAbe as the nutritive substances are con
tanned in cells, whose coats are rebellious
to the action of the digestive juices. The
more the forage is tender and young, the
more the albumen is soluble and assimiable,
the more blood is formed and consequently
the greater the secretion of milk. In
Winter it is evident that if the yield of
milk is to be increased an augmentation
must take place in the food calculated to
form it, and the animal maintained in a
satisfactory condition without being fat.
Having secured a superior supply OF milk,
the next question is, how the latter can be
turned commercially to the most advantage.
Denmark has furnished the information.
For a long time continental agriculturists
were puzzled as to how Danish butter was
able to be shipped to China, Japan and
other warm climates, while Normand but
ter ever melted on the route. The mystery
lay in the process of preparation. Den
mark churns the cream at degree above
freezing point, and scientifically, as well
as practically, her plan is sound. In milk
the caseine constitutes the cheese. and the
fatty particles the butter. When the milk
contains more butter than cheese, it is said
to be rich; when these matters are equal it
is of average quality; and when the cheese
predominates, the milk is poor. The but
ter can vary in proportions from l to 4, and
the cheese from l to 2. AS a general re-
mark, the last milk, the "strippings, y
taken from a COW is twice as rich in butter
as that contained in the first milkings. A
drop of milk consists of 45 millions of
81.
floating therein may be imagined. Ordi-
narily the temperature of the cream is
raised before being churned; in Denmark
it is uniformly kept at the temperature
where ice commences to melt. Cold con-
tracts bodies, and under the same volume
augments their weight; heat expands them,
but their volume is less dense. A low tenn
perature must promote the rising of the
creamy particles, since the serum in which
they float becomes much heavier. Place
the milk taken from the same cow, in two
different vessels; that one exposed to the
lower temperature will throw up more
cream in a given time.
Thrust metal rod into the fire, the heat
will gradually progress, till the rod becomes
too hot for further holding; try the same
experiment with a morsel of earthenware;
the heat will require longer time to creep
before paining the hand. Hence, milk will
cool more rapidly in metal pans, because
conducted away more rapidly than in por-
celain ones, and explains at the same time
why, in Danish diaries, tin plate dishes are
employed, narrow and deep-20 inches
high by Is wide-to afford greater metallic
surface for cooling down. Iron makes a
bad pan, as it rusts; zinc is acted upon by
the sugar of the milk; copper produces
verdigris; tin is expensive; so tin-plate is
selected. When the farmer makes no pro-
vision of ice, he can cool the cream by
means of well water. Cold conserves til e
milk, Just as in Siberia, where the remains
of antediluvian animals, fur elephants for
example, are found still fresh in blocks of
ice. Heat turns the milk by changing the
sugar of the milk into the vinegar prepar-
ing thus a medium for the existence of
those anmalcules ever floating in warm air.
Hence, why dairies cannot be kept too
cool and proper, away from manure pits
and cattle sheds; in word, sweet. By
churning at the Denmark temperature, the
time is reduced by one third, and less
butter remains in the milk.
american Farmer