Purdue University;
<   LIBRARY.
LAFAYETTE, IND;
VOL. LIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 30, 1904.
NO 18.
%xpzxieut& _\&pixxtmi.utt
THE VALUE OF CREAM SEPARATORS.
Increases Amount of Bulter 20 Per Cent.
lst Premium.—The centrifugal separator
is revolutionizing the dairy industry of this
country. Thousands and thousands of
these machines are coming into use each
year, whole train loads leave the fac ories
at a time, and the work they accomplish
is wonderful. Tho separator not only
increases the quantity of butter from the
same amount of milk, but the quality is
much better.       On a practical test made
equivalent, and the object of most machinery is to save labor, and ultimately
to save or secure money. Suppose you
were keeping 10 common cows that would
produce 5 pouuds of butter each per week,
for 40 .weeks in the year, for which you
could get 15 cents per pound. Also a
calf worth five dollars when a week ohl.
You buy a separator, and the same cows
will in all probability produce at least C
pounds per week, for which you could get
from the same dealer at least 18 cents per
pound. The cost of keeping the cows
may be called $30 each per year. You
would then have:
By hand setting:—
"butter fat." There is a good amount of
buttermilk in churning.
Tlie separator has come into very general use in this vicinity. Ours was the
fust for mauy miles around, but the past
few years dozens of farmers have put in
separators.
There are several advantages. First,
the actual cream is taken out of the milk.
It doesn't make any difference whether
the weather is warm or cold. In hot
weather hand-skimming does not get
much more than half the cream, unless
miiw special precaution is taken to keep
the milk cool. Even then, in caso of
thunderstorms, it is frequently soured be-
warm water, wash the milk off in this,
then pour boiling water over it, and be
sure it goes through every tube. It need
not take more than 15 minutes to wash
an entire separator. They need few repairs, if a good machine is bought in the
first place. We were told when we
bought ours that it was not designed for
a child's plaything. This is a fact.
Children should not be allowed to play
with the tin pieces, or turn the handle
when not in actual use. Separators are
expensive, but with care they need very
few repairs, as they are made from the
best aud most durable material. I supposo we havo used ours nearly ten years.
■•»    S__     ."1   ..     -».     V»      _£,.__
u <__..__*_   -_ * , _.... _-___.- _•„__*!. _%«_.._:»_-     __*
Range Cattle, Southern Alberta, Canada.
by us, we found that, under ordinary conditions for the gravitation method, tha
separator would increase the amount of
butter secured from a given quantity of
milk about 20 per cent. The increase
'may be more, or it may be less, owing
to conditions. If the place to keep the
milk is        such •     that        the  milk
will be cooled quickly, and kept at
a low temperature, say from 4 Oto 50 degrees, fair results may be obtained from
setting tho milk.
If you are prepared to cool the milk
quickly to a point not more than 1 or 2
degrees above freezing, and keep this
temperature for 18 to 20 hours, but little
butter fat wil remain in the skim milk.
"With the separator it matters uot whether
the temperature is zero or 100 in the
shade. If you use a good machine, and
.nine good judgment in operating it, you
will get practically all the butter fat, and
your cream will be fresh and free from
foreign substances. The milk is very
good for feeding calves, and the pigs lino
up along' the side of the trough as soon,
as the separator begins to hum. Anil
there is no question but what tho butter
will be of a better quality, and more of
it.
"Should they be in general use," is tho
part of this subject that is most difficult to
answer. When one wants to dodge a
question, he often does so by asking another question, and I will answer this by
asking, "How many good cows do you
milk?"
The primary object with most people,
if they work, is to obtain money or its
10 cows, 200 lbs each, at 15c. .$300
10 calves, at $5 each    50
Total 350
Cost of keeping 10 cows 300
Profit $50
With Separator:—
10 cows, 210 lbs. each, at 18c. .$432
10 calves, at $5 each     50
Total  4S2
Cost of keeping 10 cows 300
Profit $182
Then I would say, if you have 10 or
12 good cows, and want to sell butter or
cream, the separator is all right. But
if you have poor cows, or a less numbi r
than named above, I would advise you to
consult some one who has used a separator with a henl of from 4 to 8 cows, and
hear what he has to say. The machine
will save you no labor if you have but
."! or 4 cows. In deciding these questions,
;ill things should be considered.
Hancock Co. C. C.
Would Di-.,k. To Go Bick to Old Way.
2d Premium.—Having used the cream
separator for mif'ny years, I' can speak
with some assurance concerning it. Wheu
we first began its use we were astonished
at the amount of butter produced by the
amount of cream. It seems to give a
good percentage of increase over the. hand-
skimmed cream. It is a mistake to think
that separated cream is "all cream," as
they say.       It is cream, but it is not all
fore the cream has risen. This fact of
securing more butter fat affects the financial end of the string a good deal during
the year.
Second, the milk is skimmed sweet. The
cream is quickly cooled, and it not soured
until wanted for churning. Then all is
ripeued at once. In this way there is
no stale cream or rancid butter. There
is nothing going to put "bouquet" in but-
ier wheu it has been taken out by rank
and moldy eream. Another point is, that
the milk skimmed fresh from the cows
makes a good food .for calves. We ouce
thought that calves running with the mothers would in the end be worth enough
more to pay, but we have long ago learned that the calves fed on tlie warm separated milk, with a little other feed, are
not discernible in size and quality from
those fed by the mothers, b.v the time they
aie large enough to lie turned off.
I have neve- thought the separator lessened the dairy work much. There are
always just so many cans and pails to
wash, but with milk separated and fed
out, Wie have the advantage of not having
it standing to draw flies aud insects. It
is an easy matter to cleanse the cans and
pails, for they are not sour. The separator itself does not take much time to
cleanse. There is a great difference in
the kinds of machine. Some have many
pieces. I know of one that has some 40
pieces and I know of one that has but
threo pieces in the bowl, and those easily
cleaned. Some inexperienced ones pour
boiling water on a separator to wash, but
this is a mistake.     Rinse well in merely
Even the tin parts to it are good yet, and
cnly one of them has ever had a hole in
it. The separator has an advantage over
the deep setting system, iu that the milk is
attended to and fed out warm; no re-
hea'ing milk for calves. It is out of the
way, the cans are not rusted out by standing in water, and the cream is all taken
out of the milk.
If one has only a small dairy, the separator pays. Probably it would take
some time to pay for one if milking but
three or four cows, but with six it would
pay for itself in the extra butter made or
extra cream produced. I am wholly in
favor of the separator. I should dislike
to go back to the old way. Better butter and cleaner, and more of it, is mado
b.v means of the separator. Even the
cleanest milker will find some dirt collected in the separator bowl, which would
otherwise be retained. R. S. M.
South Dakota.
Adds 5 Cents to Value of Buttert
3il Premium.—My experience with cream
separator began about 10 years ago. At
that time. I was hired help on a farm
where from 15 to 20 cows were milked.
The milk was separated on the farm with
a well known make of separator, and the
cream   was   shipped. The   skim   milk
was fed to hogs that were shipped from
the farm in carload lots. For making
fat hogs in a short time out of 8 weeks
old pigs, there is nothing ahead of fresh
skim milk.        I once heard a farmer say
Continued on Page 10.