Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-05-20
MIX OR BUTTER ;


cultural editor of the ~ Y. Tribune
makes the following calculations. He
takes Franklin county, one of the most
northern counties in the State, as being
the only locality so exclusively devoted
TO butter dairying as to afford statistics
on scale sufficiently large to supply a
fair basis for general results:
According to our last State census there
were in 1874, twenty-three butter and
cheese factories in the county. Three of
these, as we are informed, make only
cheese, the other twenty only butter.
They are small factories, averaging 200
cows each. and are run but a short season
Isl days on the average-while the
cheese factories of the State average 200
DAYS each. Their dimensions are gener-
ally about S0x50 feet; they are snugly
built, with double walls, and set over good
cellars; several of them are made of
stone Their average cost, including site,
water supply and apparatus, is $4,000,
or at the rate of $40 per COW, and they
are generally owned by one or few
men, while part are built on JOINT stock
account.
During the season Of 1874 these TWEEN
" factories received ll,5ll, 300 pounds
of milk and made 5OO,0l0 pounds of
butter. This gave them for the l54 days,
l25 pounds of butter to the COW, or thir-
teen ounces a day per COW, and averaged
pound of butter from 20.S pounds OF
milk. The daily yield Of butter per COW
is rather moderate, as the cows are gen
orally fed grass only, but the quantity OF
milk for one pound of butter is unusually
small; il is the fr.t record we have seen
in which the requirement has not been
over twenty-one pounds Of milk for a
pound Of butter; It has some years been
- >, and in 1873 a number of factories
averaged 2S.75 of milk for one of but
ter. But owing 70 the fact that improved
modern appliances for setting milk are
used in all the factories, the butter Is
very thoroughly extracted from the milk.
making the quantity necessary for turning
out a pound of butter very small. The
labor for making the butter, the census
shows, costs S2.ll per 100 pounds. The
cost for furnishing packages, salt, etc,
viii bring this sum up TO 50 as the act
ual cost of fitting the butter for market.
The skim-milk and buttermilk are re-
turned 10 the patrons, and when fed IN
connection with other food to thrifty calves
or pigs, are worth Just about as much as
it cost to make and pack the butter. To
be equal 10 marketing milk, the butter
should sell at the factory for the same
price the milk OF which 1t Is made would
be worth delivered at the depot for ship
ping. plus the interest on the capital in
vested in the factory and its appurte-
nanceS. II cheese was made, the case
would be a little different. Il takes
nearly ten pounds Of milk for posnd Of
cured cheese, and the actual cost Of max
ing and boxing ready for market Is 81 a
hundred The whey from 100 pounds OF
cheese is worth but so cents, and It must
be economically fed to get that out Of it
at the present low price Of pork. Cheese
should, therefore, sell at the factory for
as much as the milk il is made Of, and !
cent pound more to make up what the
whey lacks of paying for its manufacture.
\ quart Of average milk, which at 60 :
has a specific gravity Of l.O32 weighs .. Is
pounds. Eleven quarts OF milk would
weigh 23.6j pounds. Out Of that weight
OF milk the Franklin county butter makers,
taking one year with another, can safely
rely on making pound Of butter. At this
rate il would take ninety-nine quarts OF
milk 20 make nine pounds OF butter. For
the sake OF convenience in reckoning we
viii assume that 100 quarts would make
nine pounds Of butter; or, at the rate Of
ten pounds or milk for one pound OF cheese,
the 100 quarts would make 2l.5 pounds OF
cheese. Having thus nom large averages
Of actual results fixed upon trustworthy
relation between quarts OF milk and pounds
Of butter and cheese, which fair skill may
depend upon making nom q given weight
OF milk, we can fix upon prices which will
give an equal net return. To begin with,
We should keep in mind this equation: 100
quarts mike pounds OF butter=2l -
pounds cheese. Then a given quantity OF
milk would bring the same net return if
sold by the quart delivered at the shipping
depot, or made into butter or cheese and
sold at the factory, al the following prices,
II cent per pound being added 10 the
cheese, 10 balance what the value of whey
lacks Of paying for manufacture:
MIX per qt. Butter per 10. Cheese per 10.
cents . - Q cents 6SNso cents.