Fig. 254.Fig. 254. In the Pasture
Wool is valuable in proportion to the length and evenness of the fiber and the density of the fleece.
EXERCISE1. How many pounds ought a fleece of wool to weigh?2. Which makes the better clothing, coarse or fine wool?3. Why are sheep washed before being sheared?4. Does cold weather trouble sheep? wet weather?
EXERCISE
1. How many pounds ought a fleece of wool to weigh?2. Which makes the better clothing, coarse or fine wool?3. Why are sheep washed before being sheared?4. Does cold weather trouble sheep? wet weather?
The wild boar is a native of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The wild hogs are the parents from which all our domestic breeds have sprung. In many parts of the world the wild boar is still found. These animals are active and powerful, and as they grow older are fierce and dangerous. In their wild state they seek moist, sandy, and well-wooded places, close to streams of water. Their favorite foods are fruits, grass, and roots, but when pressed by hunger they will eat snakes, worms, and even higher animals, like birds, fowls, and fish.
Fig. 255.Fig. 255. Which Will You Raise?
Man captured some of these wild animals, fed them abundant and nutritious food, accustomed them to domestic life,selected the best of them to raise from, and in the course of generations developed our present breeds of hogs. The main changes brought about in hogs were these: the legs became shorter, the snout and neck likewise shortened, the shoulders and hams increased their power to take on flesh, and the frame was strengthened to carry the added burden of flesh. As the animal grew heavier it roamed less widely, and as it grew accustomed to man its temper became less fierce.
Fig. 256.Fig. 256. A Pair of Porkers
Meat can be more cheaply obtained from hogs than from any other animal. When a hog is properly fed and cared for it will make the farmer more money in proportion to cost than any other animal on the farm.
Fig. 257.Fig. 257. A Good Type
The most profitable type of hog has short legs, small bones, straight back and under line, heavy hams, small well-dished head, and heavy shoulders. The scrub and "razorback" hogs are very unprofitable, and require an undue amount of food to produce a pound of gain. It requires two years to getthe scrub to weigh what a well-bred pig will weigh when nine months old. Scrub hogs can be quickly changed in form and type by the use of a pure-bred sire.
A boy whose parents were too poor to send him to college once decided to make his own money and get an education. He bought a sow and began to raise pigs. He earned the food for the mother and her pigs. His hogs increased so rapidly that he had to work hard to keep them in food. By saving the money he received from the sale of his hogs he had enough to keep him two years in college. Suppose you try his plan, and let the hog show you how fast it can make money.
We have several breeds of swine. The important ones are:
I.Large Breeds1. Chester White.2. Improved Yorkshire.3. Tamworth.II.Medium Breeds1. Berkshire.2. Poland-China.3. Duroc-Jersey.4. Cheshire.III.Small Breeds1. Victoria.2. Suffolk.3. Essex.4. Small Yorkshire.
Hogs will be most successfully raised when kept as little as possible in pens. They like the fields and the pasture grass, the open air and the sunshine. Almost any kind of food can be given them. Unlike other stock, they will devour greedily and tirelessly the richest feeding-stuffs.
The most desirable hog to raise is one that will produce a more or less even mixture of fat and lean. Where only corn is fed, the body becomes very fat and is not so desirable for food as when middlings, tankage, cowpeas, or soy beans are added as a part of the ration.
Fig. 258.Fig. 258. Dinner is over
When hogs are kept in pens, cleanliness is most important, for only by cleanliness can disease be avoided.
Our geese, ducks, turkeys, and domestic hens are all descendants of wild fowls, and are more or less similar to them in appearance.
The earliest recorded uses of fowls were for food, for fighting, and for sacrifice. To-day the domestic fowl has four well-defined uses—egg-production, meat-production, feather-production, and pest-destruction.
STANDARD-BRED FOWLSSTANDARD-BRED FOWLSBarred Plymouth Rocks, male and female; White Wyandottes, female and male
Hens of course produce most of our eggs. Some duck eggs are sold for table use. Goose and duck body-feathers bring good prices. As pest-destroyers turkeys and chickens are most useful. They eat large numbers of bugs and wormsthat are harmful to crops. A little proper attention would very largely increase the already handsome sum derived from our fowls. They need dry, warm, well-lighted, and tidily kept houses. They must have, if we want the best returns, an abundant supply of pure water and a variety of nutritious foods. In cold, rainy, or snowy weather they should have a sheltered yard, and in good weather should be allowed a range wide enough to give them exercise. Their bodies and their nests must be protected from every form of vermin.
Fig. 259.Fig. 259. Cock
For eggs, the Leghorn varieties are popular. Some hens of this breed have been known to lay more than two hundred eggs in a year. Specially cared-for flocks have averaged eleven or even twelve dozen eggs a year. Farm flocks of ordinary breeds average less than eight dozen. Other excellent egg breeds are the Spanish, Andalusian, and Minorca.
The principal so-called meat breeds are the Brahma, Cochin, and Langshan. These are very large, but rather slow-growing fowls, and are not noted as layers. They are far less popular in America, even as meat-producers, than the general-purpose breeds.
Fig. 260.Fig. 260. Brooder
The Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, and Orpington are the leading general-purpose breeds. They are favorites because they are at once good-sized, good layers, tame, and good mothers. The chicks of these breeds arehardy and thrifty. In addition to these breeds, there are many so-called fancy breeds that are prized for their looks rather than for their value. Among these are the Hamburg, Polish, Sultan, Silkie, and the many Bantam breeds.
The leading duck breeds are the Pekin, Aylesbury, Indian Runner, Muscovy, Rouen, and Cayuga. The principal varieties of geese are the Toulouse, Emden, Chinese, and African.
Among the best breeds of turkeys are the Bronze, White Holland, Narragansett, Bourbon, Slate, and Buff.
Geese, ducks, and turkeys are not so generally raised as hens, but there is a constant demand at good prices for these fowls.
The varieties of the domestic hen are as follows:
I.Egg Breeds1. Leghorn.2. Minorca.3. Spanish.4. Blue Andalusian.5. Anconas.II.Meat Breeds1. Brahma.2. Cochin.3. Langshan.4. Dorking.5. Cornish.III.General-Purpose Breeds1. Plymouth Rock.2. Wyandotte.3. Rhode Island Red.4. Orpington.IV.Fancy Breeds1. Polish.2. Game.3. Sultan.4. Bantam.
Fig. 261.Fig. 261. Breeding Yards
Fig. 262.Fig. 262. Incubator
As the price of both eggs and fowls is steadily advancing, a great many people are now raising fowls by means of an incubator for hatching, and a brooder as a substitute for the mother hen.
The use of the incubator is extending each year and is now almost universal where any considerable number of chicks are to be hatched. Doubtless it will continue to be used wherever poultry-production is engaged in on a large scale.
The brooder is employed to take care of the chickens as soon as they leave the incubator.
Stock-raisers select breeds that are best adapted to their needs. Plant-growers exercise great care in their choice of plants, selecting for each planting those best suited to the conditions under which they are to be grown. Undoubtedly a larger yield of honey could be had each year if similar care were exercised in the selection of the breed of bees.
Fig. 263.Fig. 263. A Carniolan Worker
To prove this, one has only to compare the yield of two different kinds. The common East Indian honey bee rarely produces more than ten or twelve pounds to a hive, while the Cyprian bee, which is a most industrious worker, has a record of one thousand pounds in one season from a single colony. This bee, besides being industrious when honey material is plentiful, is also very persevering when such material is hard to find. The Cyprians have two other very desirable qualities. Theystand the cold of winter well and stoutly defend their hives against robber bees and other enemies.
The Italian is another good bee. This variety was brought into the United States in 1860. While the yield from the Italian is somewhat less than from the Cyprian, the Italian bees produce a whiter comb and are a trifle more easily managed.
The common black or brown bee is found wild and domesticated throughout the country. When honey material is abundant, these bees equal the Italians in honey-production, but when the season is poor, they fall far short in the amount of honey produced.
The purchase of a good Cyprian or Italian hive will richly repay the buyer. Such a colony will cost more at the outset than an ordinary colony, but will soon pay for its higher cost by greater production.
Fig. 264.Fig. 264. A Carniolan Drone
A beehive in the spring contains one queen, several hundred drones, and from thirty-five to forty thousand workers. The duty of the queen is to lay all the eggs that are to hatch the future bees. This she does with untiring industry, often laying as many as four thousand in twenty-four hours.
The worker bees do all the work. Some of them visit the flowers, take up the nectar into the honey-sac, located in their abdomens, and carry it to the hive. They also gather pollen in basketlike cavities in their hind legs. Pollen and nectar are needed to prepare food for the young bees. Inthe hive other workers create a breeze by buzzing with their wings and produce heat by their activity—all to cause the water to evaporate from the nectar and to convert it into honey before it is sealed up in the comb. After a successful day's gathering you may often hear these tireless workers buzzing till late into the night or even all through the night.
Fig. 265.Fig. 265. A Carniolan Queen
You know that the bees get nectar from the flowers of various plants. Some of the chief honey plants are alfalfa, buckwheat, horsemint, sourwood, white sage, wild pennyroyal, black gum, holly, chestnut, magnolia, and the tulip tree. The yield of honey may often be increased by providing special pasturage for the bees. The linden tree, for example, besides being ornamental and valuable for timber, produces a most bee-inviting flower. Vetch, clover, and most of the legumes and mints are valuable plants to furnish pasture for bees. Catnip may be cultivated for the bees and sold as an herb as well.
In spraying fruit trees to prevent disease you should always avoid spraying when the trees are in bloom, since the poison of the spray seriously endangers the lives of bees.
The eggs laid by the queen, if they are to produce workers, require about twenty-one days to bring forth the perfect bee. The newly hatched bee commences life as a nurse. When about ten days old it begins to try its wings in short flights, and a few days later it begins active work. The life of a worker bee in the busy season is only about six weeks. You may distinguish young exercising bees from real workers by the fact that they do not fly directly away on emergingfrom the hive, but circle around a bit in order to make sure that they can recognize home again, since they would receive no cordial welcome if they should attempt to enter another hive. They hesitate upon returning from even these short flights, to make sure that they are in front of their own door.
Fig. 266.Fig. 266. Good Form of Hive
There are several kinds of enemies of the bee which all beekeepers should know. One of these is the robber bee, that is, a bee from another colony attempting to steal honey from the rightful owners, an attempt often resulting in frightful slaughter. Much robbery can be avoided by clean handling; that is, by leaving no honey about to cultivate a taste for stolen sweets. The bee moth is another serious enemy. The larva of the moth feeds on the wax. Keep the colonies of bees strong so that they may be able to overcome this moth.
Fig. 267.Fig. 267. Anti-Robbing Entrancest, stationary piece;s, slide;p, pin, or stop
Queenless or otherwise weak colonies should be protected by a narrow entrance that admits only one bee at a time, for such a pass may be easily guarded. Fig. 267 shows a good anti-robbery entrance which may be readily provided for every weak colony. Mice may be kept out by tin-lined entrances. The widespread fear of the kingbird seems unfounded. He rarely eats anything but drones, and few of them. This is also true of the swallow. Toads, lizards, and spiders are, however, true enemies of the honeybee.
EXERCISECan you recognize drones, workers, and queens? Do bees usually limit their visits to one kind of blossom on any one trip? What effect has the kind of flower on the flavor of the honey produced? What kinds of flowers should the beekeeper provide for his bees? Is the kingbird really an enemy to the bee?
EXERCISE
Can you recognize drones, workers, and queens? Do bees usually limit their visits to one kind of blossom on any one trip? What effect has the kind of flower on the flavor of the honey produced? What kinds of flowers should the beekeeper provide for his bees? Is the kingbird really an enemy to the bee?
In the first place, we give various kinds of feed stuffs to our animals that they may live. The heart beats all the time, the lungs contract and expand, digestion is taking place, the blood circulates through the body—something must supply force for these acts or the animal dies. This force is derived from food.
In the next place, food is required to keep the body warm. Food in this respect is fuel, and acts in the same way that wood or coal does in the stove. Our bodies are warm all the time, and they are kept warm by the food we eat at mealtime.
Then, in the third place, food is required to enable the body to enlarge—to grow. If you feed a colt just enough to keep it alive and warm, there will be no material present to enable it to grow; hence you must add enough food to form bone and flesh and muscle and hair and fat.
In the fourth place, we feed to produce strength for work. An animal poorly fed cannot do so much work at the plow or on the road as one that receives all the food needed.
Both food and the force produced by it result from the activity of plants. By means of sunlight and moisture a sprouting seed, taking out of the air and soil different elements, grows into a plant. Then, just as the plant feeds on the air and soil to get its growth, so the animal feedson the plant, to get its growth. Hence, since our animals feed upon plants, we must find out what is in plants in order to know what animal food consists of.
Plants contain protein, carbohydrates, fat, mineral matter, water, and vitamins. You have seen protein compounds like the white of an egg, lean meat, or the gluten of wheat. The bodies of plants do not contain very much protein. On the other hand, all plant seeds contain a good deal of this substance. Animals make use of protein to form new blood, muscles, and organs. Because of the quality of protein, milk is the best food for children and young animals.
The protein in some foods is of poor quality. To insure a well-balanced supply of protein a variety in foods is desirable. Do not rely on a single kind of mill feed, but combine several kinds, such as cotton-seed meal, linseed meal, wheat bran and middlings, gluten, and similar grain by-products. Tankage for young pigs and meat scraps for chickens are high-grade proteins and are of animal origin.
It is no less important to get the necessary vitamins—those mysterious substances that keep the body healthy and promote growth and well-being. Scientists claim that many diseases are food-deficiency diseases—the body gets out of order because these peculiar vitamins are lacking in the food. Children require about one or two quarts of milk a day, fresh fruits, cereal breakfast foods, leafy vegetables as salads, and cooked vegetables.
Farm animals require the vitamins also. The legume pasture or hay, milk, grain concentrates when supplied in variety, pasture grass, and green forage crops are basic foods for farm animals. Very young animals should have milk also.
Let us next consider the carbohydrates. Sometimes the wordsstarchy foodsare used to describe the carbohydrates.You have long known forms of these in the white material of corn and of potatoes. The carbohydrates are formed of three elements—carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. The use of these carbohydrates is to furnish to animal bodies either heat or energy or to enable them to store fat.
In the next place, let us look at the fat in plant food. This consists of the oil stored up in the seeds and other parts of the plant. The grains contain most of the oil. Fat is used by the animal to make heat and energy or to be stored away in the body.
The next animal food in the plant that we are to think about is the mineral matter. The ashes of a burnt plant furnish a common example of this mineral matter. The animal uses this material of the plant to make bone, teeth, and tissue.
The last thing that the plant furnishes the animal is water—just common water. Young plants contain comparatively large quantities of water. This is one reason why they are soft, juicy, and palatable. But, since animals get their water chiefly in another way, the water in feed stuffs is not important.
Protein1. Forms flesh, bone, blood, internal organs, hair, and milk.2. May be used to make fat.3. May be used for heat.4. May be used to produce energy.Carbohydrates1. Furnish body heat.2. Furnish energy.3. Make fat.Fat1. Furnishes body heat.2. Furnishes energy.3. Furnishes body fat.Mineral MatterFurnishes mineral matter for the bones in the body.WaterSupplies water in the body.
Success in dairy farming depends largely upon the proper feeding of stock. There are two questions that the dairy farmer should always ask himself: Am I feeding as cheaply as I can? and, Am I feeding the best rations for milk and butter production? Of course cows can be kept alive and in fairly good milk flow on many different kinds of food, but in feeding, as in everything else, there is an ideal to be sought.
Fig. 268.Fig. 268. Milking-Time
What, then, is an ideal ration for a dairy cow? Before trying to answer this question the wordrationneeds to be explained. By ration is meant a sufficient quantity of food to support properly an animal for one day. If the animal is to have a proper ration, we must bear in mind what the animal needs in order to be best nourished. To get material for muscle, for blood, for milk, and for some other things, the animal needs, in the first place, food that contains protein. To keep warm and fat, the animal must, in the second place, have food containing carbohydrates and fats. These foods must be mixed in right proportions.
Fig. 269.Fig. 269. A Dairy
With these facts in mind we are prepared for an answer to the question, What is an ideal ration?
First, it is a ration that, without waste, furnishes both in weight and bulk of dry matter a sufficient amount of digestible, nutritious food.
Second, it is a ration that is comparatively cheap.
Third, it is a ration in which the milk-forming food (protein) is rightly proportioned to the heat-making and fat-making food (carbohydrates and fat). Any ration in which this proportion is neglected is badly balanced.
Now test one or two commonly used rations by these rules. Would a ration of cotton-seed meal and cotton-seed hulls be a model ration? No. Such a ration, since the seeds are grown at home, would be cheap enough. However, it is badly balanced, for it is too rich in protein; hence it is a wasteful ration. Would a ration of corn meal and corn stover be a desirable ration? This, too, since the corn is home-grown, would be cheap for the farmer; but, like the other, it is badly balanced, for it contains too much carbohydrate food and is therefore a wasteful ration.
A badly balanced ration does harm in two ways: first, the milk flow of the cow is lessened by such a ration; second, the cow does not profitably use the food that she eats.
The following table gives an excellent dairy ration for the farmer who has a silo. If he does not have a silo, some other food can be used in place of the ensilage. The table also shows what each food contains. As you grow older, it will pay you to study such tables most carefully.
Digestible MatterFeed StuffsDry matterProteinCarbohydratesFatCowpea hay = 15 pounds[2]13.501.625.79.16Corn stover = 10 pounds5.95.173.24.07Corn ensilage = 30 pounds6.27.273.39.21Cotton-seed meal = 2 pounds1.83.74.33.24————————Total = 57 pounds27.552.8012.75.68
[2]Alfalfa or clover hay may take the place of cowpea hay.
[2]Alfalfa or clover hay may take the place of cowpea hay.
Care of the Cow.As the cow is one of the best money-makers on the farm, she should, for this reason, if for no other, be comfortably housed, well fed and watered, and most kindly treated. In your thoughts for her well-being, bear the following directions in mind:
1. If you are not following a balanced ration, feed each day several different kinds of food. In this way you will be least likely to waste food.
2. Feed at regular hours. Cows, like people, thrive best when their lives are orderly.
3. Milk at regular hours.
4. Brush the udder carefully with a moist cloth before you begin to milk. Cleanliness in handling makes the milk keep longer.
5. Always milk in buckets or cups that have been scalded since the last using. The hot water kills the bacteria that collect in the dents or cracks of the utensil.
6. Never let the milk pail remain in the stable. Milk rapidly absorbs impurities. These spoil the flavor and cause the milk to sour.
7. Never scold or strike the cow. She is a nervous animal, and rough usage checks the milk flow.
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THREE GENERATIONS OF HIGH-BRED COWSTHREE GENERATIONS OF HIGH-BRED COWS
Milk.Milk is, as you know, nature's first food for mammals. This is because milk is a model food—it contains water to slake thirst, ash to make bone, protein to make flesh and muscle, and fat and sugar to keep the body warm and to furnish energy.
The Different Kinds of Milk.Whole, or unskimmed, milk, skimmed milk, and buttermilk are too familiar to need description. When a cow is just fresh, her milk is calledcolostrum. Colostrum is rich in the very food that the baby calf needs. After the calf is a few days old, colostrum changes to what is commonly known as milk.
The following table shows the composition of each of the different forms of milk:
Composition of MilkDigestible Matter in 100 PoundsDry matterProteinCarbohydratesFatColostrum25.417.62.73.6Milk (unskimmed)12.83.64.93.7Skimmed milk9.42.95.21.3Buttermilk9.93.94.01.1
A noticeable fact in this table is that skimmed milk differs from unskimmed mainly in the withdrawal of the fat. Hence, if calves are fed on skimmed milk, they should have in addition some food like corn meal to take the place of the fat withdrawn. A calf cannot thrive on skimmed milk alone. The amount of nourishing fat that a calf gets out of enough milk to make a pound of butter can be bought, in the form of linseed or corn meal, for a very small amount, while thebutter-fat costs, for table use, a much larger sum. Of course, then, it is not economical to allow calves to use unskimmed milk. Some people undervalue skimmed milk; with the addition of some fatty food it makes an excellent ration for calves, pigs, and fowls.
Fig. 270.Fig. 270. Airing the Cans
Along with its dry matter, its protein, its carbohydrates, and its fats, milk and its products possess another most important property. This property is hard to describe, for its elements and its powers are not yet fully understood. We do, however, know certainly this much: milk and the foods made from it have power to promote health and favor growth in a more marked degree than any other foods. It is generally agreed that this is due to the health-promoting and health-preserving substances which are called vitamines. Men of science are working with much care to try to add to our knowledge of these vitamines, which have so marvelous an influence on the health of all animals. Unless food, no matter how good otherwise, contains these vitamines, it does not nourish the body nor preserve bodily health as it should. A complete lack of vitamines in our food would cause death. Since, then, milk and its products—butter, cheese, curds—are rich in vitamines, these health-giving and health-preserving foods should form a regular part of each person's diet.
Fig. 271.Fig. 271. A Hand Separator
Cream.Cream is simply a mixture of butter-fat and milk. The butter-fat floats in the milk in little globe-shaped bodies, or globules. Since these globules are lighter than milk, they rise to the surface. Skimming the milk is a mere gathering together of these butter-fat globules. As most of the butter-fat is contained in the cream, pains should be taken to get all the cream from the milk at skimming time.
After the cream has been collected, it must be allowed to "ripen" or to "sour" in order that it may be more easily churned. Churning is only a second step to collect in a compact shape the fat globules. It often happens that at churning-time the cream is too warm for successful separation of the globules. Whenever this is the case the cream must be cooled.
The Churn.Revolving churns without inside fixtures are best. Hence, in buying, select a barrel or a square box churn. This kind of churn "brings the butter" by the falling of the cream from side to side as the churn is revolved. Never fill the churn more than one-third or one-half full of cream. A small churn is always to be avoided.
Fig. 272.Fig. 272. A Power Churn
Churning.The proper temperature for churning ranges from 58° to 62° Fahrenheit. Test the cream when it is putinto the churn. If it be too cold, add warm water until the proper temperature is reached; if too warm, add cold water or ice until the temperature is brought down to 62°. Do not churn too long, for this spoils butter. As soon as the granules of butter are somewhat smaller than grains of wheat, stop the churn. Then draw off the buttermilk and at a temperature as low as 50° wash the butter in the churn. This washing with cold water so hardens the granules that they do not mass too solidly and thus destroy the grain.
Butter.The butter so churned is now ready to be salted. Use good fine dairy salt. Coarse barrel salt is not fit for butter. The salt can be added while the butter is still in the churn or after it is put upon the butter-worker. Never work by hand. The object of working is to get the salt evenly distributed and to drive out some of the brine. It is usually best to work butter twice. The two workings bring about a more even mixture of the salt with the butter and drive off more water. But one cannot be too particular not to overwork butter. Delicate coloring, attractive stamping with the dairy owner's special stamp, and proper covering with paper cost little and of course add to the ready and profitable sale of butter.
Stable and Cows
1. Whitewash the stable once or twice each year; use land plaster, muck, or loam daily in the manure-gutters.
2. On their way to pasture or milking-place, do not allow the cows to be driven at a faster gait than a comfortable walk.
3. Give abundance of pure water.
4. Do not change feed suddenly.
5. Keep salt always within reach of each cow.
Milking
1. Milk with dry hands.
2. Never allow the milk to touch the milker's hands.
3. Require the milker to be clean in person and dress.
4. Milk quietly, quickly, thoroughly. Never leave a drop of milk in the cow's udder.
5. Do not allow cats, dogs, or other animals around at milking-time.
Utensils
1. Use only tin or metal cans and pails.
2. See that all utensils are thoroughly clean and free from rust.
3. Require all cans and pails to be scalded immediately after they are used.
4. After milking, keep the utensils inverted in pure air, and sun them, if possible, until they are wanted for use.
5. Always sterilize the churn with steam or boiling water before and after churning. This prevents any odors or bad flavors from affecting the butter. All cans, pails, and bottles should also be sterilized daily.
Untitled.
Fig. 273.Fig. 273. Microscopic Appearance of Pure and Impure Milk
At the left, pure milk; at the right, milk after standing in a warm room for a few hours in a dirty dish, showing, besides the fat-globules, many forms of bacteria
On another page you have been told how the yeast plant grows in cider and causes it to sour, and how bacteria sometimes cause disease in animals and plants. Now you must learn what these same living forms have to do with the souring of milk, and maybe you will not forget how you can prevent your milk from souring. In the first place, milk sours because bacteria from the air fall into the milk, begin to grow, and very shortly change the sugar of the milk to an acid. When this acid becomes abundant, the milk begins to curdle. As you know, the bacteria are in air, in water, and in barn dust; they stick on bits of hay and stick to the cow. They are most plentiful, however, in milk that has soured; hence, if we pour a little sour milk into a pail of fresh milk, the fresh milk will sour very quickly, because we have, so to speak, "seeded" or "planted" the fresh milk with the souring germs. No one, of course, ever does this purposely in the dairy, yet people sometimes do what amounts to the same thing—that is, put fresh milk into poorly cleanedpails or pans, the cracks and corners of which are cozy homes for millions of germs left from the last sour milk contained in the vessel. It follows, then, that all utensils used in the dairy should be thoroughly scalded so as to kill all germs present, and particular care should be taken to clean the cracks and crevices, for in them the germs lurk.
In addition to this thorough cleansing with hot water, we should be careful never to stir up the dust of the barn just before milking. Such dusty work as pitching hay or stover or arranging bedding should be done either after or long before milking-time, for more germs fall into the milk if the air be full of dust.
To further avoid germs the milker should wear clean overalls, should have clean hands, and, above all, should never wet his hands with milk. This last habit, in addition to being filthy, lessens the keeping power of the milk. The milker should also moisten the parts of the cow which are nearest him, so that dust from the cow's sides may not fall into the milker's pail. For greater cleanliness and safety many milkmen curry their cows.
The first few streams from each teat should be thrown away, because the teat at its mouth is filled with milk which, having been exposed to the air, is full of germs, and will do much toward souring the other milk in the pail. Barely a gill will be lost by throwing the first drawings away, and this of the poorest milk too. The increase in the keeping quality of the milk will much more than repay the small loss. If these precautions are taken, the milk will keep several hours or even several days longer than milk carelessly handled. By taking these steps to prevent germs from falling into the milk, a can of milk was once kept sweet for thirty-one days.
The work of the germ in the dairy is not, however, confined to souring the milk. Certain kinds of germs give to the different sorts of cheeses their marked flavors and to butter its flavor. If the right germ is present, cheese or butter gets a proper flavor. Sometimes undesirable germs gain entrance and give flavors that we do not like. Such germs produce cheese or butter diseases. "Bitter butter" is one of these diseases. To keep out all unpleasant meddlers, thoroughly cleanse and scald every utensil.
EXERCISEWhat causes milk to sour? Why do unclean utensils affect the milk? How should milk be cared for to prevent its souring? Prepare two samples, one carefully, the other carelessly. Place them side by side. Which keeps longer? Why?
EXERCISE
What causes milk to sour? Why do unclean utensils affect the milk? How should milk be cared for to prevent its souring? Prepare two samples, one carefully, the other carelessly. Place them side by side. Which keeps longer? Why?
It is not sufficient for a farmer or a dairyman to know how much milk each of his cows yields. He should also know how rich the milk is in butter-fat. Wide-awake makers of butter and cheese now buy milk, not by the pound or by the gallon, but by the amount of butter-fat contained in each pound or gallon of milk. A gallon of milk containing four and a half per cent of fat will consequently be worth more than a gallon containing only three per cent of fat. So it may happen that a cow giving only two gallons of milk may pay a butter-maker more than a cow giving three gallons of milk. Of course it is easy to weigh or measure the quantity of milk given by a cow, and most milkers keep this record; but until recent years there was no way to find out the amount of fat in a cow's milk except by a slow and costly chemical test. Dairymen could only guess at the richness of milk.
In 1890 Dr. S. M. Babcock of the Wisconsin Experiment Station invented a wonderful little machine that quickly and cheaply measures the fat in milk. Few machines are more useful. So desirous was Dr. Babcock of helping the farmers that he would not add to the cost of his machine by taking out a patent on his invention. His only reward has been the fame won by the invention of the machine, which bears his name. This most useful tester is now made in various sizes so that every handler of milk may buy one suited to his needs and do his own testing at very little cost.
The operation of the machine is very simple. Suppose that the members of the class studying this book have been asked to take a Babcock machine and test the milk of a small herd of cows. They can readily do so by following these directions:
While the milk is still warm from the first cow to be tested, mix it thoroughly by pouring it at least four times from one vessel to another. A few ounces of this mixed milk is then taken for a sample, and carefully marked with the name of the cow. A number is also put on the sample, and both the cow's name and the number entered in a notebook. A small glass instrument, called a pipette, comes with each machine. Put one end of the pipette into the milk sample and the other end into the mouth. Suck milk into the pipette until the milk comes up to the mark on the side of the pipette. As soon as the mark is reached, withdraw the pipette from the mouth and quickly press the forefinger on the mouth end. The pressure of the finger will keep the milk from running out. Then put the lower end of the pipette into one of the small long-necked bottles of the machine, and, lifting the finger, allow the milk to flow gently into the bottle. Expel all the milk by blowing through the pipette.
The next step is to add a strong, biting acid known as sulphuric acid to the test-bottle into which you have just put the milk. A glass marked to show just how much acid to use also comes with the machine. Fill this glass measure to the mark. Then pour the acid carefully into the test-bottle. Be sure not to drop any of the acid on your hands or your clothes. As the acid is heavier than the milk, it will sink to the bottom of the bottle. With a gentle whirling motion, shake the bottle until the two fluids are thoroughly mixed. The mixture will turn a dark brown and become very warm.
Now fill the other bottles in the same way with samples drawn from different cows. Treat all the samples precisely as you did the first. Do not forget to put on each sample the name of the cow giving the milk and on each test-bottle a number corresponding to the name of the cow.
You are now ready to put the test-bottles in the sockets of the machine. Arrange the bottles in the sockets so that the whirling frame of the machine will be balanced. Fit the cover on the machine and turn the handle slowly. Gradually gain in speed until the machine is whirled rapidly. Continue the turning for about seven minutes at the speed stated in the book of directions.
After this first turning is finished, pour enough hot water into each test-bottle to cause the fat to rise to the neck of the bottle. Re-cover the machine and turn for one minute. Again add hot water to each bottle until all the fat rises into the neck of the bottle and again turn one minute.
There remains now only the reading of the record. On the neck of each bottle there are marks to measure the amount of fat. If the fat inside the tube reaches only from the lowest mark to the second mark, then there is only one per cent of fat in this cow's milk. This means that the owner of thecow gets only one pound of butter-fat from each hundred pounds of her milk. Such a cow would not be at all profitable to a butter-seller. If the fat in another test-bottle reaches from the lowest mark to the fourth mark, then you put in your record-book that this cow's milk contains four per cent of butter-fat. This record shows that the second cow's milk yields four pounds of fat to every hundred pounds of milk. This cow is three times more valuable to a butter-maker than the first cow. In the same way add one more per cent for each higher mark reached by the fat. Four and one-half per cent is a good record for a cow to make. Some cows yield as high as five or six per cent but they do not generally keep up this record all the year.