Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-12-12
THE FARM SEPARATOR.

I
The evolution of the dairy business
In this country is hardly less resnark-
able than the evolution Of the steel
rail or the telephone. From condi-
ton thirty years ago, when only tho
very few could make a pound of good
butter, year by year has brought i'm
provements in machinery and methods,
SO that today wherever modern dairy
methods are in operation the pound Of
bad butter is the exception rather thanh
the rule. No one thing contributed !
more toward this result than the in
vention of the separator, the use Of
which in the creamery where the milk
was delivered in good shape made pos
sible the production Of the best butter
ever made or that ever will be made
This method had one serious drawback,
however, and that was the heavy ex-
pense connected with delivering the
milk and the poor quality Of the skim
milk when returned to the farmer. 1t I
further limited the benefits of thlSS
creamery system to those localitieHSSf
where a creamery was located andME
where the dairy Of necessity was muddt
the principal business on all the con s2
tiguous farms. Then appeared thAA
farm separator, which aimed to solver
these troubles, which removed the ne
eessity of large Investment Of money
IN the local creamery plant, which per-
mitted the separation Of the milk on
the farm and the feeding of the skim {
milk while still warm with the animal
heat to the calves In the very best of
condition and which further permits !
any man. no matter how located with
reference to creamery, to go into tho (
dairy business provided he is within
reach of railway station from which
his cream goes by express to some dis
tant creamery to be made into butter,
These are really very great advantages,
and the writer knows Of hundreds Of
men who for want of q local creamery 4
have never taken up the dairy busiyM
ness and who are now by the use OF
the farm. separator making great sucsS
cess OF the business, their cream being
shipped from 20 to $50 miles to somaS
Dig creamery in the city. The objed N
lions to this new plan are that the but O.
ter SO made is not of the highest graddN
the output of such concern selling. .,s
little under the highest market pricelT
but still giving an added value to the
butter product Of territory so COW
cred of from 80 to so per cent more
than 1t ever brought before. Another
objection is that the Introduction Of
the farm separator into any territory
covered by the old system Of creamery
separators makes more or less, usually
more, confusion and trouble with the
patrons of the creamery. A few Of the
old creameries have changed over and.
now encourage all their patrons to use
the farm separator, but the fact re-
mains that the quality Of the butter SO
made Is not quite as good as that made
IN the old way. 1t may be said for the
farm separator that it will make the
best butter in the world If the cream is,
properly cared for and made up right
on the farm. There is needed quite az
campaign Of education among the usersii
OF the machine, mostly In the matteieX
of greater degree Of cleanliness in thenSs
care Of the COW and the handling anda
care Of the cream prior to shipment.s
This will come in time as well as az
better knowledge Of how to feed the
COW. The Introduction Of the farm sep4
arator probably marks the last step I'M.
the evolution Of the dairy business, andS
without doubt it will be the agency
which will become the Anal base Of all
dairying operations of the future. The
machines have been too high priced to
secure their general Introduction until
recently, but this hindrance will soon n
disappear. In a word, the greatest ben \
eft connected with the farm separator &
Is that it permits any one to go int
the dairy business and that it doubl, II
the value of the, skim milk for u
young things on the farm. vi