DAIRY. Milk, either in its natural state, or in the form of butter and cheese, is an article of diet so useful, wholesome, and palatable, that dairy management, which includes all that concerns its production and treatment, constitutes a most important branch of husbandry. The physical conditions of the different countries of the world have determined in each case the most suitable animal for dairy purposes. The Laplander obtains his supplies of milk from hi3 rein-deer, the roving Tartar from his mares, and the Bedouin of the desert from his camels. In the temperate regions of the earth many pastoral tribes subsist mainly upon the milk of the sheep. In some rocky regions the goat is invaluable as a milk-yielder; and the buffalo is equally so amid the swamps and jungles of tropical climates. The milking of ewes was once a common practice in Great Britain; but it has fallen into disuse because of its hurtful effects upon the flock. A few milch asses and goats are here and there kept for the benefit of infants or invalids; but with these exceptions the Cow is the only animal now used for dairy purposes in this country....
Breeds.— Cows of every kind are used for the dairy; but there are several of our native breeds of cattle which are called par excellence “the dairy breeds.” An account of these has already been given in the article Agriculture, vol. i. page 388. Whatever the breed, the quality is much influenced both by the age of the cow and by the way in which she is fed. So clearly is it ascertained that the milk of cows not exceeding four years of age yields a larger proportion and richer quality of curd than the milk of older animals, that it is customary in some of the cheese-making districts of England to draft off the cows to the grazier after they have borne two or at most three calves each. Cows that are prized for their pedigree, however, are of course kept for longer periods, and few will part with a good cow so long as she continues to yield abundance of milk. In large well-conducted dairies, especially where, as in a yearly increasing number of cases, shorthorns are kept, the cows are fed so well that they are sold to the butcher at very nearly their original cost as milch cows.
Food.— The influence which the food of the cow exerts upon the amount and qualities of her milk has always been recognized; but at one time a large yield of milk, free from any unpleasant taste, was made the chief object of regard. It was accordingly the practice in new-milk dairies to feed the cows principally with soft sloppy food, such as boiled turnips, brewers’ grains, and distillery wash. The milk produced from such food contains an undue proportion of serum, and is deficient in butter, caseine, sugar, and phosphates—the very elements which give to milk its value as an article of food, and fit it so peculiarly for building up the frame of young animals. When these elements are wanting in the cow’s food they are to a certain extent supplied to her milk from her own system; and hence it is that cows which give a very large quantity of milk generally lose the fat and flesh which they had accumulated before calving. In order, therefore, to maintain the condition of the cow, and enable her to give milk of the best quality, it is necessary that her food contain an adequate supply of the requisites for good milk. Her food, in short, must be substantially the same as that found most useful in feeding cattle for the butcher. It is now pretty well ascertained that the fattening process is accomplished most economically by giving a moderate allowance of linseed or other cake, and of the meal of beans, Indian corn, and other grains in addition to the pasturage, green forage, roots, and loader, which constitute the bulk of the food of such animals. The following approved dietary for milch cows is taken from a Report on Harvey’s Dairy Company, Glasgow, by H. M. Jenkins, F.G.S., published in the Journal of the 'Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1871.
“During the seven winter months, when the cows remain entirely in the byre, the daily food commences with draff (distillery refuse) about four or five o'clock in the morning, mixed with bean, pea, or Indian meal, preferably the first-named, unless beans are too dear, when mixed kinds of meal are substituted. Linseed cake is occasionally given at this time to cows beginning to run dry, and also in spring to those that require a little laxative. After the first milking, viz., about seven in the morning, as much distillery refuse as they can take is freely given, and at eight o’clock either oat-straw or hay (if possible). The latter is generally rye-grass hay of the irrigated fields which are held by the Company. The next feed consists of raw turnips or cabbages, given about ten o’clock, and at eleven the cows are milked for the second time. The afternoon meal is given at two o’clock, and consists of steamed meal, turnips, and draff. At four o’clock some fodder, generally straw, is placed in the mangers, and between four and five more draff is run in. Some turnips are always put in the steamed food. At five o’clock the cows are milked for the third time, and are afterwards made up for the night.
“During the summer the cows get nothing in the byres but a little draff in the morning, when they come in to be milked, except towards the fall of the year. They are then allowed some fodder at mid-day; and in a bad season they get a little meal with their draff in the morning. They are kept on the pastures all day, but are brought up to the steading to be milked about eleven o’clock, as well as at night.”
The ordinary management of cows in the cheese manufacturing districts is of a much more simple and less expensive nature than the above. In Ayrshire the cows generally begin to calve early in March, and they are all giving milk by the time when the pasture is ready for them. That time varies in ordinary seasons from the middle of April on fine early land to the middle of May on the colder soils of the uplands. The female calves from the best cows are reared on most farms. The calved cows get two meals of cooked food daily. The cooked food consists of chaff and turnips or mangold, boiled together, with bean and Indian com meal added. The other food consists of hay or straw produced on the farm. The chaff and meal are frequently given, especially in backward seasons, for some time after the cows are on the pasture. On bare inland farms good managers use meal of some kind during a considerable part of the summer. In hot days, or cold boisterous nights, the cows are sometimes kept in the house and supplied with a little food. In August, when young grasses are failing, the cows are fed partly on second clover, or on vetches, and later in autumn cabbages and soft turnips come in to supplement the pastures. When the weather becomes inclement the cows are kept in at night, and get hay or straw with good supplies of turnips. The turnips are reduced in quantity when the cows are put dry, which may be from one to two months before the expected time of calving, and the dietary is improved again when that time approaches. Where butter is made, mangold or turnips have to be given in a judicious manner, on account of the flavour. With the turnips given soon after milking, and a little nitre put into the shallow vessels in which the milk is cooled, there is little danger of unpleasant flavour. Mangold is most valuable in the latter part of spring. Its feeding quality is then at the best, and turnips are not so good. But for quality of milk, carrots are the best food of all the so-called root crops.
Gorse, bruised and chopped, has been found a suitable kind of green winter forage for milch cows. On the large dairy farm of F. Leser <fc Co., near St Louis, Missouri, the daily winter food of a cow consists of about half a bushel of brewers’grains, 6 gallons of distillery slop, mixed with from 2 to 5 K> of ship stuff, malt sprouts, bran, and Indian or cotton-seed meal, and 6 to 10 lb of good hay, chiefly Hungarian. On another American farm, at Cumberland, Rhode Island, each cow receives in summer 2 quarts of cotton-seed meal daily in addition to pasturage, and in winter 4 quarts of cotton-seed meal, and from 2 to 4 quarts of Indian meal, with English and swale hay; neither Indian meal nor wheat shorts can be substituted for the cotton-seed meal without lessening the produce of a cow by a quart per diem.
The best pasturage for cows is that afforded by good old grass land, in sheltered inclosures of moderate size, where there is a constant supply of pure water. To have dairy produce of the best quality, the grass must be so stocked as to keep it always fresh grown and sweet. This is most easily secured by frequently changing the cows from one field to another; and hence the advantage of having small inclosures, one of which can be rested, while another is keeping the stock. When soiling is resorted to, Italian rye-grass is at once the cheapest and best forage that can be used; but it can be varied, as circumstances dictate, with clover, sainfoin, vetches, or green rape. When cows are kept entirely at pasture during the summer, from 1| to 2 acres of grass land is required for each animal; and if hay alone is given in winter (as is the practice in Gloucestershire), the produce of another acre of meadow is required to supply their winter keep. As from 1 to 1| cwt. of green forage is an ample daily allowance for a cow, and as two cuttings of clover or Italian rye-grass, averaging 8 tons each per acre, can with suitable manuring be easily obtained, it is obvious that by soiling in summer and feeding on roots and cooked food in winter, half as much land will suffice to maintain a cow on the latter system as on the former. And, above all, the produce in milk, besides being of richer quality, is greater in quantity by fully one-fourth. The average yield per annum of milk of a cow in Gloucestershire is estimated at 525 gallons, and in Ayrshire at about 425 gallons. Under a generous house-feeding system an average of 680 gallons may be obtained. Salt ought always to be a constituent of the food of the dairy cow; to cows at grass it should be given daily, and in May and June it may be advantageously supplied twice per diem. Withholding it for five days has been found to occasion a loss of 2 per cent, in the quantity and 7 per cent, in the quality of the milk. All changes of diet must be made with caution. The utmost vigilance must also be used to insure regularity in the times of feeding and milking, in seeing that the latter process is thoroughly performed, and in guarding the cows from exposure to extremes of heat or cold. Through inattention to these particulars the flow of milk may easily be so diminished as to render the keeping of a dairy a profitless business.
Buildings.— The accompanying plan shows the general arrangement and dimensions of the different portions of a modern dairy farm steading for fifty cows. It has been drawn by Mr James Cowie, of Sundridge Hall, after the model introduced by him and approved of by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, an engraving of which was given in the last edition of this work. The interior of the steading is intended to have two roofs, and is so constructed as to facilitate with the least possible labour the supplying of the cattle with straw and roots, which latter are wheeled on a tramway. The dung, which is also removed by tramway, is deposited in an adjacent covered yard, where, if need be, cattle and pigs can be kept for treading down the dung. Sufficient ventilation can be obtained by very simple methods, and must be provided for in the course of erection. It is necessary only to add, that the principle on which the steading is constructed can be applied to either larger or smaller establishments as required.
Dairies are of three kinds, viz.—new-milk, butter, and cheese dairies.
1. New-Milk Dairies.— These, in or near towns, or amidst the dense population of mining and manufacturing districts, are to a large extent kept by persons who, with the aid of their families, undertake the management of from one to a dozen cows, and the delivery of the milk to customers. In our large towns there are also to be found gigantic establishments, in some of which as many as a thousand cows may be seen at one time. In these town dairies the cows are usually purchased when they have newly calved, or are at the point of calving, and they are retained till they cease to give a remunerative quantity of milk. The cows are commonly milked twice a-day, but sometimes thrice, as in the case of those owned by Harvey’s Dairy Company, Glasgow. To ensure successful milking, quietness, comfort, and kindly treatment are essential to the animals. The udders and teats should be thoroughly cleansed before the commencement of the operation. The more expeditious the milker, the better the result. The left arm should be kept firmly pressed against the cow’s right leg, in order to protect the pail. Towards the close of the process the hand should reach a little above the teat, and pull down gently upon it at each delivery of the milk, so as completely to empty the udder. The milk is conveyed at once to the milk-room, where it is strained, measured, and delivered •over to retailers, or to servants of the establishment, by whom it is distributed to the customers. A portion, in some cases half, of the new milk is, however, retained in the dairy for twelve hours. It is then skimmed, and the cream either retailed or made into butter. This business requires the employment of a large capital, and is attended with much risk; but when well managed, is a remunerative one to those engaged in it.
Railways have occasioned the introduction of important changes in this branch of dairy business. Instead of the cows being kept in or near cities, where housing, food, and litter are costly, it has become a common practice to keep them on farms near railway stations, and to forward the new milk in suitable vessels twice a-day to retail tradesmen. It is obviously easier to carry the milk to the place where it is consumed, than first to convey thither the cows and their litter and food, and then to remove to the country the manure which they produce. There can be no doubt, also, that the air and pasturage of the country are of advantage to the cows.
2. Butter Dairies.— Wherever cows are kept some portion of the milk is used for the production of butter. The dairies, however, of extensive districts both in England and Scotland, on account of the attention given to this particular product, are appropriately spoken of as “butter dairies.” In the midland and western counties of England, where the breeding of cattle is extensively carried on, the calves, two or three weeks after birth, are fed upon skimmed milk and a gruel of bruised linseed and oatmeal, so that the greater part of the new milk can be converted into butter. When the calves are all weaned, the skim milk is employed in fattening pigs. In many parts of the country buttermilk is much relished by the labouring classes. Wherever churned milk can be readily disposed of, dairy farmers direct their attention chiefly to the production of butter.
When new milk is allowed to settle, the fat globules, being lighter than the general mass, gradually rise to the surface in the form of cream. In the process of churning, these globules are broken by the mechanical agitation, aided by the action of the lactic acid which is formed from the sugar of the milk, and the contents cohere to form butter. The usual practice is to allow the cream, whether separated from the milk or not, to stand until it begins to become acid.
Butter is made either from cream onlv or from milk and cream together. The best butter is obtained from the cream which rises during the first twelve hours after milking, and the next best by churning the whole milk. In the former case the new milk, after being carefully strained, is poured jnto shallow vessels of glazed earthenware, glass, tinned iron, wood, lead, or zinc, of which the three first-named sorts are the best. Wooden vessels are objectionable from the difficulty of cleaning them thoroughly, and lead and zinc on account of the noxious salts produced by the action of the acid of the milk on the metal. Pans of about 10 quarts capacity, made, without seams, of well-tinned sheet iron, are in common use. Where milk is cooled by means of water the pails are made round, and about 18 inches in depth, or shallow and rectangular, with an exterior pan for containing the water. The deeper vessels are found to be most suitable in a cold, the shallower in a warm atmosphere. To obtain as much butter from the milk as possible, the first skimming takes place at the end of twenty-four hours, and one or more skimmings are made at further intervals. The cream is stored in jars, which should be kept in a place separate from the milk-room, that the milk in the coolers may not be too early acidulated by the proximity of the sour cream. The latter is either stirred repeatedly, or poured from one vessel to another, to prevent the formation of a tough coat upon it before enough is accumulated for a churning. In large dairies it is usual to churn daily. Three days is as long as the cream can ordinarily be kept for butter of good quality. In the New York butter factories the milk rooms are thoroughly ventilated, and are provided with tanks sunk in the ground, and having a depth of 18 inches of flowing water for cooling the milk whilst it is throwing up its cream. The temperature of the water should be between the limits of 48° and 56 n Fahr. The uniform temperature of the cream is said to have a favourable effect on the churning. When a cow has recently calved, her milk is comparatively rich in butter and poor in curd; but by and by the relative proportions of these constituents are reversed, the cream diminishing and the milk becoming thicker. A very sensible change in the quality usually takes place when a cow becomes pregnant, so that in not a few cases double or treble the ordinary length of time is required to churn the cream, and the butter produced is of inferior quality. If cows are flurried and heated, either by gadding in the pasture, or by being overdriven in bringing them home for milking, their milk becomes peculiarly liable to corrupt, the yield of butter is sensibly lessened, and its quality is impaired. The success of the process of churning depends much on the temperature of the cream being nicely regulated. Experiments have shown that a temperature of from 54° to 59° Fahr., both of the air and of the cream, is the best for churning. The temperature of the cream usually rises about 10° during this process. Advantage is derived from rinsing the churn with cold water in summer and with warm water in winter. The addition to the cream of small quantities of cold or hot water, as the case requires, is also found beneficial. Box or barrel churns are preferred when the cream only is churned, the former being best adapted for small dairies, and the latter for large ones. When the whole milk and cream are churned together, it is indispensable that acidulation and coagulation should first take place, and the churnings should not be at longer intervals than every second day. When the milk is gathered for more than two days some of it is past the proper stage of acidulation at the time of churning, or part of it has not reached that stage. The time required...
