The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1901-06-14
DAIRY AND. 10 U J /
y T7EEREsTiNo CHAPTERS FOR
Il til - oORNRuRAL READERS. .;s
How l'e. 's g Farmers Operate rhl.
u: DspaFstnens OF tho Farm IL q Few
Hints e e y t'ss Car. OF Liv. stock
and Poultry.

Aahr>Corn W. Good Butter.
Prof. D. n. Otis, of the Kansas Agri-
Y cultural College, communicates the fol-
lowing: ii .5s
The Kansas Experiment Station has
received numerous letters from farm
ers and dairymen asking If Kafir corn
VIII produce q poor quality Of butter.
+ The cause Of these inquiries has been
the reading Of the following dispatch
IN our daily papers:
Lyndon, Kan. March 26.-It has cost
the Overlook creamery of this place
$4OV 70 learn that the milk from cows
Ted ON Kaaar corn will not produce good
BUTTER. For the past three months the
manager ut the creamery has been un-
able to make high-grade butter, and
has lost about $500 on a reduction in
the price. He had experts at work to
locate the trouble, but they failed.
FINALLY one of the common laborers at
she creamery did some experimenting
on his own account. He kept the milk
separate and churned some of each.
she soon found out that the milk from
Ine COWS fed on Kafir corn was what
Drought down the grade of butter"
II kaf1r corn, which has been such
good Sylelder and drought-resister,
snouid be excluded from the ration
81 the dairy COW many farmers in cen
tral and western Kansas would be
'obiiged to quit the dairy business This
would result in a loss of thousands of
collars annually. Fortunately. other
experiences do not tally with the re-
port. The Kansas Experiment Station
mas led the grain and fodder of Kafir
corn for months at time and has
never experienced particle of trouble
IRON Its producing poor quality of
butter. During the months of Febru-
airy and March, 1898, the station herd
was fed almost exclusively on Kafir
corn meal for the grain ration. At that
eme the dairy school was in session
ana we We're making butter from the
MIX OF this herd without the addition
"o1 any milk from outside sources. The
outer was tested by competent judges
: and pronounced excellent in quality.
since THIS time both the grain and the
Aouoer OF kaflr corn has been used as
the whole or part of the ration, the
milk being sent to the Manhattan
, creamery, where it has been saved to
use IN the making of starters. The
milk has also been used each year at
the dairy school, both with and with
out milk from other sources; it has
oeen specially sought for by our cheese
boys IN their effort to make a first
class quality of cheese and in no in
stance have we heard single COM
pant from the use st the uss 3h1ks fed on
Kanr corn.
When the season is a poor one for
the curing of the crop and the grain
has been left on the fodder, consider
able penetrating dust arises from the
crop when handled at feeding time. II
the feeding is done just before or at
milking time particles of this dust,
with all the germs that they carry
with them, will undoubtedly find their
way to the milk-pail and may cause a
poor quality of butter. In the instance
of the Overlook creamery, the man
ager states that the Kaflr corn in that
part of the country had all been dam
aged by rains, and where the feed was
the poorest the milk from that farm
made the poorest butter. Indications
point to slight decomposition of the
feed. Hay anu folders of any kind
contain large numbers of offensive
germs which if allowed an entrance
into the milk-pail and permitted to
multilly rapidly, will cause very un-
desirable quality Of hutter This eX-
periense, together with others with
which we are familiar, points to the
necessity of feeding after rather than
before milking. In this way, Kafir
corn, properly balanced, is one of our
best feds for a dairy cow and should
,be grown extensively where corn is
,uncertin.