The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1893-05-03
Special Adaptability of Jersey Milk
for Making Butter.
PRIZE ESSAY, BY MRS. $. X. JACKSON.

Since the general introduction of the
Jersey COW into the butter dairy, the art
of making butter has become greatly
simplifed, and is rendered easier in all
its stages. Not only has this change
taken place, but the article itself has inn
proved beyond comparison.
1t would seem egotistical, in this en-
lightenod age of dairy information, reap
ing the benefits, as we are, of the many
years of intelligent thought and skill
devoted by men Of brains and judgment
to the development of the various races
of cattle for dairy uses, and whose sue
cesses are famed the world over, TO assert
that good butter cannot be made from
other milk than that of the Jersey.
Proficiency in butter-making, the de-
gree of excellence attainable, depends
very largely upon the care and attention
bestowed in the dairy room, keeping the
milk and cream, and the manner in
which the butter is manipulated A
good butter-maker, diligent and careful
at every turn, will produce good butter
from any good milk; while one negli-
gent and careless will fail, no matter to
what breed the cows belong that pro-
duce the milk and in exact proportion
to the skill and brains employed will the
quality of the manufactured product
prove to be, governed by the POSSIBLE
tiles contained in the milk.
By the term good milk" is meant
milk produced by liberal and proper
| feeding without regard to the breed
cleanliness in handling, atmosphere in
| huences and other surroundings at their
best. say from such milk, the careful
and intelligent butter-maker will make
reputable article of butter invariably
that will attract the eye and be pleasing
to the taste and while this is true, and
that good butter was made and eaten by
our grandmothers and their mothers
ong before Jersey cows were known or
thought of in this country, it by no
means follows that great improvement
and vastly finer production is not pos
sible from an improved material better
suited to the purpose.
The butter-maker of the present day
has that improved material in the form
of milk from the Jersey COW. Apply the
same methods and the equal amount of
care in the preparation of butter from
Jersey milk as to that of other breeds,
the degree of iineness will be far higher
and results much more satisfactory and
encouraging.
The cream itself, deeply tinged with
orange hue, begins separating from the
milk almost the instant it is set at rest,
and long before the natural heat has es-
capped, leaving the milk in forlorn blue
condition, not at all inviting as a bever-
age; when at proper stage for churn-
ing, the same promptitude is observed in
the separation of the butter particles,
which leaves the buttermilk altogether
barren of the fats that constitute value
in the butter. Conditions being favor
able, the labor of churning is lessened,
and the butter arrives in the best posi-
BILE form for handling--firm and dry
requiring only an amount of working
sufficient to shape it for market or the
table Aside from its superior qualities,
lovely color, deliciousness of flavor, an
aroma peculiar to itself, Jersey butter
is much easier to prepare than that
made from other kinds of milks; at every
step OF the process-from the warm milk
freshly drawn from the udder, in the
care OF the cream, the churning, to the
working and packing of the butter-the
strongest evidence is always present Of
the special adaptability of the Jersey
cow for buttef-making purposes, and the
conviction becomes firmly fixed in the
mind that the aims OF the people of the
Island of Jersey, who for centuries have
devoted so much energy toward produc-
ing the butter COW par excellence, have
been royalty rewarded.
The foregoing testimony is not the out
growth OF a one-sided experience, nor is
it prejudiced view, but is the conclu-
sion arrived at after long practical ia
miliarity with the butter-making business
in which various breeds of dairy animals
have figured. The differences, as noted,
are so striking, the superiority of the
Jersey so evident, that but one conclu-
sion is possible, and an honest, impartial
trial of her resources cannot but be con