Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-08-13
aaVMaD1MA
%&s@@'|'''1
@@
DIsFLAvORED MILK.
Some Of the Causes Which Lead to
Bad Flavor I'm Dairy Products.

Some of the Causes Which Lead to
Bad Flavor I'm Dairy Products.
Bad flavor in milk is chiefly derived
from weeds, musty fodder, decayed
leaves. decayed mushrooms and unripe
roots; also from feeding too much cake
or meal of various kinds, and from
water and sometimes from the want
Of water. There Is often complaint
heard of the unsavory condition of the
dairy products, that there is an unac-
countable bitterness or bad flavor In
the milk, butter or cheese, or some
thing of the kind. The chief causes Of
this mischief arise from the food of the
cows or the water given them to drink.
II these are sweet and pure tie milk
products will also be sweet and pure.
There Is no sweeter food for cows
than good grass or hay, but many pas
lures whence these come are full OF
noxious weeds, of which it takes but
little to make the milk of cows eating
them bitter or otherwise disagreeably
favored. In such cases the bad favor
follows into the butter or cheese. The
milk and butter of Straw-fed cows Is
whittier than when fed on grass or hay;
and the straw. if good, has no injuri-
Gus effect upon the milk, yet If musty
or otherwise injured is liable to give
q bad flavor to the butter if fed to the
cows in large quantities.
The leaves of turnips are AFFECTION
able for mich cows, unless fed in
small quantities when quite fresh, free
from decayed matter and along with n
sufficient quantity of ground food. In
deed, many dairymen contend that
nothing will insure against turnips, es-
pecially Swedes, giving some taste to
the butter.
Many expedients are resOrted to to
prevent this Objectionable flavor being
transmitted to the butter by turnips,
and, for the benefit of those who de-
sire 1t, we will here insert some of the
means used by some dairymen for this
purpose: Add a small portion Of boil
ing water, in which a bit of ~saltpetre
has been dissolved, TO the milk when
it is first set out in the old-fashioned
shallow pans; scald the cream before
churning; give the cows their rations
of turnips only Immediately after the
milking; take care that whilst milking
is going on there be no strong odor OF
turnips in the cow house; remove all
decayed leaves; indeed. If food is plen-
tiful, all the leaves and crowns Of the
turnips.
OF all the leguminous m~eals-that is,
meal made Of beans, peas, etc.-bean
meal is, perhaps, the least injurious to
butter; pea meal a little more harm
full; while vetch meal, which is in
clined to arrest the milk secretioDs, Is
said to produce a hard, bitter butter.
With reference to cereal meals, that is,
meal made of grain, as wheat, oats,
rye, etc, there is little to be said and
that more of a favorable nature.
Wheat bran seems to produce neither
a favorable nor an unfavorable effect
upon milk or butter, while oat meal
produces n favorable effect upon the
secretions of milk and aroma OF the
butter. Cotton seed cake, when fresh
and in good condition, has no injurious
effect on the milk nor its productions.
Linseed cake gives a good flavor, but
somewhat hard butter; but rape cake
produces some bitterness both in the
milk and butter, and also causes the
butter to be of soft quality james |.
Baird in Agricultural Epitomist.