Milk pail

“ A wire strainer through which the milk has to pass, and where the milk is often stirred by the finger of the milker to make it pass through more rapidly, is in no sense as satisfactory as cheesecloth.
The straining should be performed as soon as each pail is filled with milk, and pails of milk should never be allowed to stand around in the barn back of the cows, but rather should be taken at once to the milk-room, where it can be strained before any further contamination takes place. ”

“ The cow must be kept carefully cleaned, particularly the udder, and so must the hands of the milker, and the pail which holds the milk. "The habit of some milkers of wetting their hands with milk just as they begin is a filthy practice and the cause of much bad milk and poor butter." There must be no hidden, inaccessible places in the pails, nor must rusty tinware be used, because it imparts a metallic flavor to the milk. ”

“ The Barn must be clean, light and well ventilated and the cows should be milked with clean hands into a clean pail which is covered as far as possible so as to prevent dust from falling into the milk, or with one of the excellent milking machines which are now frequently used in large dairies. The milk is strained and cooled immediately after milking. ”

“ The practice of taking the milk register, as followed in a well-known dairy, may be briefly described. The cows are always milked in the stalls, and during summer they are brought in twice a day for this purpose. After each cow is milked, the pail containing the whole of her milk is hung on a spring balance suspended in a convenient position, and from the gross weight indicated there is deducted the already known weight of the pail. ”

“ The reader will also perceive the impatient wife standing with milking pail and stool in hand, waiting for the result, which becomes apparent in the freely flowing milk, and one can almost imagine that he hears her saying to her husband that it is scarcely necessary now to milk the cow, for the simple method adopted has caused a spontaneous flow of milk, and nothing now is needed but to set the pail under her and view with wonder and delight the pleasing effect produced! ”

“ Many are too rough and many do not seem to be able to get all the milk from the udder. To get all the milk from one quarter of the udder the milker should use both hands, using one hand above the teat to squeeze the milk into the teat and with the other hand milk it into the pail. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In Devonshire, celebrated for its dairy system, the milk is always scalded. The milk-pans, which are of tin, and contain from 10 to 12 quarts, after standing 10 or 12 hours, are placed on a hot plate of iron, over a stove, until the cream has formed on the surface, which is indicated by the air-bubbles rising through the milk, and producing blisters on the surface-coating of cream. ”

“ Cows fed on turnips in the stall always produce butter inferior to that of cows living upon the fresh and aromatic grasses of the pastures.
Succulent food in which water abounds—the green grass of irrigated meadows, green clover, brewers’ refuse, distillers’ refuse, etc.—increases the quantity, rather than the quality, of the milk; and by feeding these substances the milk-dairyman studies his own interest, and makes thin milk, without diluting it with water, though, in the opinion of some, this may be no more legitimate than watering the milk. ”

“ The cows are milked throughout the country twice daily, once in the morning at sunrise, and again in the evening, but they yield very little milk, which in an hour’s time turns sour and thick. The baskets made of rushes, into which the cows are milked, can never be washed thoroughly clean, and are probably the chief cause of the deterioration of the milk; it is consequently impossible to keep it for any length of time. Butter is quickly made, and without any difficulty. ”

“ The mode of transportation depends much on the distance from the dairy-house and the quantity to be carried.
In winter, when the cows are in the barn, they are likewise milked twice a day, and the milk is at once strained through the hair strainer into casks made for the purpose. These implements differ according to the object pursued in the dairy; yet pans and pots are mostly used for raising the cream to be made into butter, since but few dairymen make cheese in winter. ”

“ As examples of beef-cows look at the Shorthorns or the Herefords or the Polled Angus at the next State Fair you visit and notice the square, deep, smooth body with muscles and fat strongly developed in contrast to the loosely built, bony milk-cow with its tendency to turn all its food into milk at the expense of the body. There are, however, also among the Shorthorns, strains of good milkers, but as a rule these beef-breeds are not selected for the dairy farm, and “dual purpose” cows are not usually profitable. ”

“ The farmer and some of his family went home with the dairy-man, and found the milk like it often is in summer when the buck (spittle-fly) is on the grass, that, so it is believed, makes milk curdle then without becoming sour. The farmer and his wife couldn't tell what to think of milk being in that state early in spring; he took home the cow, however, and let the dairy-man have another, and when she was milked by Jemmy her milk 'runned' too, like that of the former one, which was then all right in the master's dairy. ”

“ It is then ready to strain through two thicknesses of cheese-cloth and care must be taken to squeeze well so as to obtain as much of the whey as possible, which is very important. Add one tablespoonful of sugar to sweeten. Pour into nursing bottles, the amount being according to the age of the baby. A sufficient number of bottles are prepared for 24 hours’ feeding. Care should be taken to keep the milk in a cool place as it will sour the same as fresh milk. Every time the baby is fed the milk must be warmed by placing the bottle in a pan of water and heating to the right temperature. ”

“ Some feed their calves reared for stock partly with meal mixed in the milk after the third or fourth week. Others introduce gradually some new whey among the milk, first mixed with meal; and, when the calf gets older, they withdraw the milk, and feed it on whey and porridge. Hay-tea, juices of peas and beans, or pea or bean straw, linseed beaten into powder, treacle, &c., have all been sometimes used to advantage in feeding calves; but milk, when it can be spared, is by far their most natural food. ”

“ The calf is left to suck once or twice, which it will do as soon as it is able to stand. It should, in all cases, be permitted to have the first milk that comes from the cow, which is of a turbid, yellowish color, unfit for any of the purposes of the dairy, but somewhat purgative or medicinal, and admirably and wisely designed by nature to free the bowels and intestines of the new-born animal from the mucous, excrementitious matter always existing in them after birth. ”

“ If you have no cellar that can be kept warm and free from the smell of vegetables, set your milk on a shelf, in a warm closet, where, of course, you will keep no vegetables or meats, as nothing is so easily impregnated with odors of all kinds as milk. Cover the pans or bowls with a fine net, to exclude dust or motes of any kind.
Thirty-six hours is as long as milk should remain unskimmed, summer or winter. Every hour longer, even though the milk may taste sweet, is insuring bitter butter. As you skim off the cream, stir it well each time. ”

“ This last mode of milking is always practised when it is intended that a cow should be rendered dry.
Additional quantity of Milk to be gained by keeping Milch Cows in the house.—In the management of cows, a warm stable is highly necessary; and currying them like horses, not only affords them pleasure, but makes them give their milk more freely. They ought always to be kept clean, laid dry, and have plenty of good sweet water to drink. Cows treated in this manner, have given ten gallons of milk at a time, when within ten days of calving. ”

“ I have no doubt from what you say, that your cows are kept in the cow-house during the night, and only turned out during the day, as this would account for the difference in the quantity of milk. But such a mode of management, though it saves trouble to the dairy-maid, who finds it much easier to milk the cows in the cow-house than in the open field, is bad for both the cows and the dairy; as the cows, after feeding on grass all day, cannot of course relish dry food at night, and [Pg 310] whenever they fast unnaturally very little milk is secreted. ”

“ It has been found—it may be stated—in the practice of the most successful dairymen, that, in order to encourage the largest secretion of milk in stalled cows, one of the best courses is, to feed in the morning, either at the time of milking—which is preferred by many—or immediately after, with cut feed, consisting of hay, oats, millet, or cornstalks, mixed with shorts, and Indian [102] linseed, or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly moistened with water. If in winter, hot or warm water is far better than cold. If given at milking-time, the cows will generally give down their milk more readily. ”

“ Awful stories are told about the London milkmen, who are said to manufacture a fearful kind of medicine to be sold as milk, the cream being made of a quantity of calf’s brain beaten to a slime. Stories are told around New York, too, of a mysteri [154] ous powder sold by druggists, which with water makes milk; but it is milk that must be used quickly, or it turns into a curious mess. But the worst adulteration of milk is to adulterate the old cow herself; as is done in the swill-milk establishments which received such an exposure a few years ago in a city paper. ”

“ Among our dairymen the thing of special sanctity was milk. A man in our neighborhood might almost better be accused of forgery or bigamy outright, than to fall under the dreadful suspicion of putting water into his cans.
Whether it was mere stupid prejudice or malignant invention I know not—who started the story was never to be learned—but of a sudden everybody seemed to have heard that Abner Beech’s milk had been refused at the cheese-factory. ”

“ Animals, or children, never thrive so well on boiled as on raw milk. Professor Behring, of Marburg, [293] has shown that animals fed on milk heated to a high temperature never thrive well. Calves have been reared in Marburg, or on Bohemian or Hungarian farms, on boiled milk, and others on raw milk. Experiments with hundreds of such calves have shown that boiled milk is not a suitable food for them. ”

“ The use of camel’s milk is confined chiefly to Africa and to China, that of mares to Tartary and Siberia, and that of goats to Italy and Spain. The milk of the cow is universally esteemed.
Milk is an opaque fluid, generally white in color, having a sweet and agreeable taste, and is composed of a fatty substance, which forms butter, a caseous substance, which forms cheese, and a watery residuum, known as serum, or whey, in cheese-making. The fatty or butyraceous matter in pure milk varies usually from two and a half to six and a half per cent. ”

“ In the hospital or in the home it serves as a substitute for milk when a mild diet of easily digested food is temporarily required for a weak stomach. For such purposes it must not be allowed to become acid as in cheesemaking, but should be prepared as the chief product from sweet new milk or freshly separated skim milk. The sweet milk is set with rennet—one Junket Tablet, dissolved in cold water, to a quart of milk—at a temperature of 90° to 100° F. As soon as a firm curd is formed it is carefully broken up and transferred to a strainer of cheese-cloth. ”

“ Cream contains about 40 per cent. of fat and 55 per cent. of water; SKIMMED MILK is water, with sugar and caseine. Whey is merely a solution of milk sugar with a little albumen. Milk is best and most plentiful in spring, and richer but less abundant in dry seasons. The last milk drawn from the cow contains most cream. Koumiss, the use of which is rapidly increasing, is well skimmed milk, treated with a lactic ferment for 30 or 40 hours. It is very easy of digestion. Condensed milk is ordinary milk evaporated so that three pints are reduced to one. It soon spoils unless the air is excluded. ”

“ Many of the rude, wandering tribes of the East employ them as beasts of burden. The uncivilized—and, to some extent, the refined—inhabitants of Europe use their milk, not only as a beverage, but for making into cheese, butter, and curds—an appropriation of it which is also noticed by Job, Isaiah, and other Old Testament writers, as well as most of the Greek and Roman authors. The ewe’s milk scarcely differs in appearance from that of the cow, though it is generally thicker, and yields a pale, yellowish butter, which is always soft and soon becomes rancid. ”

“ They usually wear a smock frock, and have the cans and yoke used by the regular milk-sellers; they are not itinerant. The skim milk—for they sell none else—is purchased at the dairies at 11⁄2d. a quart, and even the skim milk is also further watered by the street-sellers. Their cry is “Half-penny half-pint! Milk!” The tin measure however in which the milk-and-water is served is generally a “slang,” and contains but half of the quantity proclaimed. The purchasers are chiefly boys and children; rarely men, and never costermongers, I was told, “for they reckon milk sickly.” ”