Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-06-21
Warming to Butter Makers.

current
Warming to Butter Makers.
The following article, entitled, warn
ing to Butter Makers" we extract from
the Nep England Farmer, and we COM
mend the practical suggestions to the
careful consideration Of Western butter
makers:
Three years ago, no merchant in
New York city would touch western
butter, except, perhaps, as very low
priced article. Now, he wants all that
he can obtain Of it's choice grades, to
the exclusion Of the best butter made in
St. Lawrence, or Delaware, or Orange,
or any other locality in this State
There must be some prominent reasons
for such a sudden and complete rever-
sion of the trade, and we need not 20
far to find them. The first is this:
Most Of the western butter is made at
creameries, to each of which from 500
to 800 cows contribute This gives
large quantity of milk to handle, and
there is no delay in using it when it is
in the most favorable condition. The
most successful makers use only one
milking at each churnlng, which enables
them to obtain the greatest possible I'M
iformity. Their cream is never bitter
or otherwise imperfect. They work up
on the principle that, in order to pro-
duce the best possible article, your ma
terials must be the best obtainable, and
made use of at the precise time when
all the conditions are most favorable
The large quantity of milk which they
receive enables them to carry out this
principle, since each setting gives them
enough cream to make profitable
churning, There is no loss of time, du-
ring which the cream is undergoing
chemical changes that will deteriOrate
the quality of the butter made from it.
There are fair differences of opinion as
to the question, when is cream at it's
best for the purpose of butter making?"
Prof. Arnold will tell you that perfectly
sweet cream will produce the most ex-
cellent butter, and that the keeping
qualities of the product are superior.
And Mr.. Burrell will produce evidence
to sustain this assertion, from his cream
cry below Little Falls. On the other
hand, most butter makers believe that
cream should be more or less sour, in
order to secure the best results. But
all will agree that there is a point be-
yond which it cannot go without ser
iously impairing the quality of the but
ter made from It. Now this is one great
advantage of the creamery, and of the
West. In New York, you find here and
there a single establishment of this
kind, and in the summer season their
product compares favorably with the
best. But much the larger share of
butter made in central New York is
made at the home of the farmer, from a
small dairy of twenty to thirty cows.
The quantity of cream obtained does not
make it profitable to churn oftener than
twice or three times week, and the
consequence is that the cream becomes
stale and perhaps bitter, an article from
which it is wholly impossible to manu-
facture choice quality of butter
There are other advantages which the
creamery has over the dairy. Every
thing is systemized to the finest degree.
The matter of temperatures is looked
after with the closest exactness, and
never for single time neglected Each
churning is sufficient to make a pack
age by itself, and thus still greater uni
formity is obtained. In fact, it forms
the entire business of those employed
in it, ond there are never any side issues
to cause delay, or to interrupt the regu-
lar routine of work. The remedy there
fore for New York dairymen is plain
and simple. Give up making dairy but
ter. Combine your forces, form COM
panies, and build creameries This
must be your first step. Just as, years
ago, you found it necessity to build
cheese factories in order to compete
successfully with your neighbors, you
will now find it necessary to build
creameries to rival the butter makers of
the West And just as you then found
that these cheese factories was not only
a necessity, a blessing, saver Of hard
labor and an increaser of your profits,
so you will now find the same to be true
of the creameries which you will con-
struct. Your wives will be emancipat-
ed from a vast amount of most tiresOme
druggery, and they will bless the west
ern farmers for driving you into the
new system"
The article then suggests that the
system of making the butter for winter
use is rapidly becoming obsolete. That
butter is never so good as within the
first thirty days after it is manufactur-
ed. People are tired of eating rank, or
stale, OF rancid butter in the winter
The time has come when the flow of
milk must be divided between summer
and winter, so that the high quality of
butter which the cultivated taste de-
demands. can be furnished constantly
in fresh supply Common family but
ter is lower in the west than for many
years. In many portions of Iowa it was
sold during the month of May for eight
cents per pound, while Iowa creamery
butter brought 35 and 40 cents per
pound The difference is so great that
it must lead to an abandonment of the
old family system of butter making at a
very early period.
If winter butter making is to be one
OF the established features of the trade,
there is no country in the world that
can so successfully enter upon that
work as the west. The low price of hay
and grain must give to the West an ad-
vantage over the East, in winter pro-
duction greater than in summer Let
us take a ttmley uggestion.-W Western
Stock Journal
As cure for hard times, it is propos-