Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-08-16
VALUABLE THINGS TO KNOW
Farm, Dairy, Stock and Creamery
Notes

c. o. Smith, Guy Williams and j.
Gibbs, Kickapoo town farmers, have
material or the ground for erection Of
silOs. A larger number Of these stock
food preservers are being built in Yer
non county this season than any prev
ious year.
Il is said that some Illinois farmers
are wearing potatoes for watch charms
the potato crop being practical ly fail
ure in that state. Think of that with
$3.50 and $500 an acre land too.
A South Dakota gentleman made a
call at the CENSos Office and visited a
number Of progressive farmers prem
Uses in this section. He stated that he
had been commissioned by neighbor-
hood of South Dakota farmers to look
up the matter of silo construction. He
said that short crops and drought
had forced the conclusion that they
must change methods While grain
crops were a failure in South Dakota
they have fair stand of dent corn and
the best way to preserve this for feed
ing is the concern of farmers. Hence
the visit of their representative here.
Twenty-one thousand young people
will compete at forty-five of the coun-
ty fairs to be held in Wisconsin this
season for $4,000 offered as prize
money for the best exhibits of grain
grown by boys and girls under Is. The
state experiment station furni he S
literature and carefully selects pure
bred seed grain to the lunty superin-
tendent of schools 10 distributes
them among the school children Of the
county. Ii is the int .on after this
year to abolish the lash prizes and
substitute scholarship at the young
peoples course conducted by the State
Agricultural College.
"Why cream tests vary" is a sub
ject that interests dairymen and cream
cry patrons. The VirOqua creamery
recently received an official letter from
the United States Department of Ag-
riculture treating specifically on the
subject. The CENSOR is permitted to
make the following quotation from the
same:
WHY CREAM TESTS VARY
One of the most common complaints
made by creamery patrons is regard
The success or failure of any creamery,
whether large or small, depends to
grear extent upon the testing of the
cream. 1t is from the tests of the
cream samples that the amount of but
terfat is calculated and paid for and the
per cent of overrun determined. 1t is
practically impossible, and not to be
expected, for any one to operate
cream separator from day TO day with
out having variation in the ties. of the
cream produced. There are a great
many different causes for such varia-
tions. For convenience, they are d.
vided into two classes: those which may
be traced to the farm, and those which
may have their origin at the creamery.
The conditions affecting the efficiency
of Swimming and the relative amounts
of cream and skimmilk which may cause
variations in the test of cream are as
follows: The breed of cattle, period of
lactation, length of intervals between
milkings, change of feed, change of
mixers, exposure of cattle to bad
weather, rough treatment, unusual ex
element or sickness, change in the
temperature of milk, variations in rich
ness of milk, scidity of milk, variation
Of the speed Of the separator, variation
in the steadiness of the bowl, rate of
flow into the machine, adjustment of
the cream screw and the amount of
flush water used.
Errors may be made at the creamery
due to careless sampling and the inn
proper handling of the samples which
will cause variations in tests, but such
errors are not common in well orgaui-
zed plants. The causes may be enum-
Grated as follows; Improper sampling,
poor sample jars, improper care of
samples, use Of the pipette in measur-
ing samples, incorrect reading of the
test, reading tests at too high or too
low a temperature, improper types and
sizes of test bottles. amount an d
strength of acid used, and variation
in the speed of the tester.
A variation in cream tests should be
expected and patrons should not be
alarmed at such results but creameriss
must see to it that care is exercised IN
every detail in order that good results
may be always secured Careful test
ing will give accurate results and what
variations then occur may be consider
due to one or more of TIE causes enum-
Grated in the first group.