The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1878-03-29

day. In feeding of COWS we should be
as liberal as we would with Il friend al
our table, and still be careful not to
overdo. No feed makes better butter
than corn meal. AT a regular hour in
the morning | feed hay, and feed until
the cows have eaten enough; then clean
their hangers clean, wafer them in the
barn, so that each may quietly have
what she wants at the proper time, then
give them their meal and bran, with a
little salt; | then card and brush them
thoroughly. This they enjoy and will
call for it with unmistakablc signs.
They then enjoy perfect quiet until half
past three T.. NJ, when they are again
watcred, fed meal and bran, then hay
until they have had enough; their man
gers are then cleaned for the night. /
feed them but twice per day. If the
weather is pleasant and warm | turn
the cows into the yard in the middle OF
the day; but if cold or stormy, | keep
them in. The more you add to the
quiet and comfort of the COW, the better
the results at the pail and churn. The
nervous condition of the cow affects the
quantity and quality of the butter.
MILKING.-We come again to the
starting-point, or fundamental principle
viz: pure milk. THIS is as essential as
anything heretofore named. Without
this, good and pure butter cannot be OBJ
tanned. | make it a rule TO milk regu-
larly at five o'clock during the summer,
and but little later than that during
winter. ! first clean the stable, then
brush the cows with q short-handled
broom kept for the purpose, so as to re-
move all dust that might otherwise find
its way into the milk-pail. The milk is
then carried into the dairy-room and
strained, first through a fine wire cloth,
then through a knit cloth prepared for
the purpose. A knit cloth will catch all
dust more readily and at the same time
let through the milk quite rs freely as
cloth that is woven. Those that wish
may discuss the necessity of escape of
animal odor from such milk | am salts
fed with it just as it is, as a basis for
butter-making. This milk is now
placed exclusively and entirely in the
hands of the dairywoman, and on her
care and intelligence depends the char
acter of the production. The milk is
skinned before changing to sour. Use
tin ms for cream, with tin cream-stick
for stirring. Churn twice a week.
Temperature siXty-two to siXty-fivc de-
grees. Wash until water runs clear.
Work and salt on butter-worker. Use
three-fOurths of an ounce of salt on but
ter. Churn and work slowly and care
fully. After working, the butter is pre-
pared in the manner desired for market.
The butter is sent to market every week
1nIinn fIa N.nap. u+n,,I1 ,1,,-n all
who sell butter to do the same.
AMOUNT OF BUTTER.-Until within a
years, the average of butter sold
per COW each year was not over two
hundred pounds. With this we were
not perfectly satisfied, as some were do
much better. Professor Spaulding.
of Barre, was making one thousand
pounds from three COWS; some others
reporting similar results. This seemed
beyond my reach, but / determined at
least to have the satisfaction Of trial.
In order for this, it was necessary care
to study for every available chan
mel for improvement. The result was
in IL favor, and from May /, 1875, to
May l, 1876, we sold an average of
hundred and thirty-five and a half
pCuiNtS VI DuttCi W tutl CON. llllOu0II
this the best could ever do, but there
is pleasure in trying to improve, and q
when the trial is crowned
with success. From May /, 1876 to
May l, 1877, we sold an average of four
hundred and thirteen pounds of butter
for each COW, besides supplying our
of three persons and hired help
about half of the time with dairy pro-
duce. | now think | ought to, and can,
do better than this, when | have learn
ed what is lacking in care or selection.
Others have done much better. Mr..
Amasa Scott, of Craftsbury, reports (f
recollection serves me right over six
hundred pounds of butter produced
from n COW in one year. 1t is report
ed, l think, by one of the honorable
members Of this board, that Mr.. Will
liam Thorp of Underhill, produced from
Onc cow four hundred and siXtv-one
pounds of butter, as the summer pro-
duct. This COW was wintercd on hay
alone. From March % to June Is, she
was fed two quarts corn meal per day
IN the fall was fed five or six bushels of
She is one-half blood Alder
ley, eight years old. This must be an
extra COW; the care as reported certain
Iy was not extra. think with the best
Of care and feed, she would have added
10 her product at least seventy-five
pounds. Nathan Skinner, ofPlainfield.
a brother of mine, has a fine herd of
Jersey cows, n OF which has produced
in one year five hundred and three and
one-half pounds of butter. could
name many others equally suggestive,
but | name these only because they are
here among us in Vermont. Two of
these cases l have named, | suppose, are
the parties own but one COW each.
The question then arises, would either
Of my cows if separated from the others,
and kept alone, with the same care and
feed they now have, produce any better
than they now do? | think not.
there is ample space for improve
.ent, and l am here TO learn. | am
often asked, as it safe and profitable
to feed meal in hot weather." Ianswer
both safe and profitable, when judicious-
ly done. The COW needs it more in the
hot weather ofJuly and August, to keep
up her flesh and the quality of her milk
than perhaps at any other time of the
year; and 1t insures a uniform quality
of butter. 1t is a sad sight to see COWS
in very warm weather driven to pasture
the morning, appearing l%istless and
faint, the bars shut upon them, and they
obliged to seek a living upon some bar
rem hillside. The demands of nature
stimulate them to seek for food; but
about nine O'Clock they are forced to re-
tire to some friendly shade for protec-
ton, and there even fight their adver-
in the shape of flies, through the
day. In this condition they are driven
at night to the farm-yard, and MIXED,
yes, MIXED! drawing hard upon their
life-blood. OF curse they lose in
flesh every day, and shrink in quantity
of milk, until hut one pail is necessary
to carry the milk of four or five cows TO
the dairy-room, and this milk has but
very little in it. What next? When
the d%airywoman skins this milk, she
gets a little soft, oily cream; feels dis
couraged, but lays it all to the hot
weather. Then comes the churning;
this is almost ne~ver-ending. The far
mer labors hard and long. finally takes