Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1914-04-01
Do You Guess, or DO You Know

| The following article from the Sci.
entific American tells of remarkable
and absolutely authentic test, which
will be of general interest to dairv-
men:
There! If you've been turning your
separator at that speed all the time,
then with your twenty cows you've
lost $524.10 worth of butter in one
year,"
! The above is the astounding state
ment made by a dairying authority to
a farmer who he had been watching
operating his cream separator.
When you buy cream separator.
you will find on the crank handle ia
large raised letters, instructions some
thing like this-"55 revolutions per
minute" Or it may read As, or so, or
so; it varies on the different makes
OF separators.
Suppose, for example, that yours
reads "55 revolutions per minute"
What does that mean? 1t means.
whenever you operate that cream sep
arator you should turn the crank han
die precisely SIS turns to the minute.
The manufacturer has tested his Sc
parator under every possible condi-
! ton in order to know the exact meth
Cd Of operation at which it gives the
greatest degree of efficiency.
But how does the dairyman know
how many times he turns it? 1t is
just as impossible to guess accurately
the speed Of his cream separator, as
| it is to guess accurately at other
| things.
At a first class dairy farm the sup
| erintendent said he always guessed"
the proper speed When asked how
his helpers operated the separator, he
replied that, after he had broken new
men in, they also could operate it at
approximately correct speed. In or
der to prove his statement ,one of his
helpers was asked to turn the separa-
tor at the speed he usually operated
it. The number on the crank handle
read as revolutions per minute" But
the helper made only % turns to the
minute.
This proved how absolutely wrong
the superintendent was in supposing
that he, or any Of his helpers. could
tell when they were turning the crank
handle exactly right, or anywhere
near, what the manufacturer told
them it should be turned. Here were
pounds Of butter fat going to the hogs
daily, just because he guessed" And
if he will feed calves and hogs with
butterfat worth 80 cents a pound,
when he can feed them better on two
and one-half pounds of corn meal and
skim milk, then that shows how much
the dairymen have to learn tot get all
the profits out of dairying and farm.
ing.
At the Purdue Experiment Station.
Indiana, very exhaustive tests were
carried on to show the trem endous
losses through wrong operation OF
cream separators A separator was
|
the crank handle per minute. Fifty
pounds of milk were run through tie
separator At this speed it delivered
IS pounds of skim milk and pounds
of cream. This cream tested I'll lib
of butter fat. When the speed was in
creased to Is turns per minute. the
skim milk discharged was 46 i
pounds, reducing the cream to 3 Is
pounds. And the amount of butter
fat was slightly less than when the
separator was turned at norma
speed.
Next, test was made by letting
the speed of the machine drop dowr
to that at which it has been found thu
average dairyman operates cream
separator, with the astonishing result
that the discharge from the cream
spout went UP to 9 IL pounds, but j
tested only Ii per cent Of butter-fat-
only 1.04 pounds of fat out of 81
pounds of milk, as against FL pounds
when the separator was operated col
rectly
Dairymen are losing from 20 to s.
per cent of their butter4fat with ever
operation. This is matter of vast
that is simply appalling when the al
gregate figures of all the dairymen i
this country are considered. It prc
baIbly runs into thousands Of dollar
with each daily milking.
Now a speed indicator has been d
vented to be applied to cream separs
tors, mounted on the crank shaft I
the separator. AS the separate
handle is turned, the exact number q
revolutions per minute that the cram
handle is making is shown in defl1
lite figure, so that it may be read at
glance. There is no calculating to /
done; 1t Is only necessary to keep O
turning the crank handle until I'll
proper speed is reached, and the
continue at that exact speed through
j na1k Hho oorsn 40 $ix,,, 81 !.