Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1903-05-23
Commercial and Natural Starters.

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Commercial and Natural Starters.
Prof. G. L. Mckay: 1 am asked to
state which 1 like best, the commercial
or natural starter. For the average
maker, believe the commercial start
er will give the better results. But
the intelligent maker who has taste
and smell well cultivated, will be able
to select milk and prepare a starter
that will produce flavor equal or su-
per1or to any culture on the market.
When the good Lord created the earth,
He provided everything that was nee
essary to bring about the best results
without any artificial means. We
usually find that when thorough clean
liness is observed in everything per-
tanning to the milk. that the right spe-
cies of bacteria are present to give
the most perfect flavor to the butter
, and cheese. Milk becomes impure
from an external source. If l were
asked to give a definition of a natural
starter, at the present, 1 would find it
difficult thing to describe. For in
stance, one man has dirty, 1eaky vat
which is loaded with foul bacteria
ready to contaminate the purest
cream. Another man will have i'm
properly cleaned churns and pumps,
filed with undesirable bacteria, and
still another washes his butter with
impure water.
There is the over-ripe hand separa-
tor cream which some makers have to
contend with. These are all starters
of their kind. One man uses butter
milk and calls it a natural starter.
Another uses skimmilk caught from
the average milk as it comes from the
or natural starter. Another will go
| out and get the milk of a fresh COW
| and allow it to sour, which is also a
natural starter. Some will use whole
milk and some will use cream, and
/ they will come under the head of
| natural starters. Most makers would
| get about the same results if they die
not use any starter as to use the kind
| l have just mentioned.
| Milking at Sunny Peak Farm. :
| D. w. Howie thus tells how the
| milking is done on Sunny Peak farm,
near Milwaukee:
| The first thing we do is to wrap
| heavy blanket around the cans which
are to receive the milk. BY so doing
| the milk is enabled to retain it's heat
| for very long time. This prevents
| the separator and calves. The next
! procedure is milking. Each mixer has
his own cows. The poorest mixer, as
a general thing, is given the easiest
| cows to milk and the best mixer gets
| the hardest ones. This may not seem
| fair, but it saves time and also pre-
vents the chance of spelling the hard
milking cows that, though they may
be hard mixers, are nevertheless ex-
| cellent cows in every respect. have
noticed that good mixers are born
| and not made" If man has any con-
| siderable number of cows to milk for
| six months and at the end of that time
| is not good mixer you may rest as
sured that he never will be one. Each
/ man feeds his own cows their grain ra-
| ton as he milks them. The milk be-
| ing weighed by the mixer, he, of
| course, is in the best position to know
| which of his cows should have the
| most feed. Some are fed just before
| they are milked; this takes their at
| tention away from the mixer and they
| give down freely, standing quietly at
the same time. Others. If fed while
being MIXED, become so engrossed
with their eating that they forget
everything and step forward and back,
now stretching their whole bodies to
get a good mouthfu1, now drawing
back to chew it, thus greatly annoying
| the mixer. Such cows are generally
! fed after being milked. We arrange 1t
| SO that when the milking is being done
| the cows all have their grain either
| in front of them or in their stomachs.
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