Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

Treatment of Milk for Butter.

—To get good butter it is quite necessary that the fresh milk be properly cooled before it is set for cream. In the great dairies of North and South Holland, which not only possess the best cattle, but may be given as models in dairy husbandry, they manage as follows:

The milk, as it is brought from the pasture, is poured from the buckets, cans, and casks, through a hair strainer, into one vessel, the milk-kettle. These milk-kettles are not everywhere of the same size, or of similar form, but are always riveted together with strong brass or copper bands, and lined with tin inside. The most common milk-kettles hold sixteen cans; yet they are found so large as to hold three barrels, or about six hundred quarts. The peculiar kettle form is very rarely found, but more frequently the cylindrical, or vase-shaped. They are held either by two handles or one. The number required depends on the number of cows and the quantity of milk expected.

Fig. 96. Cool-bath.

The milk-kettles, when filled, are set into a basin with cold water, called the cool-bath, for the purpose of cooling the milk. The cool-bath is frequently in the kitchen, sometimes in the bauer-house, so called, or directly before the cow-room, near the spring. The latter is the most common and the most convenient place. The water reservoir is dug in the ground, and an oblong four-cornered form is preferred for it; the sides of the excavation being walled up with hard-burnt building-stones and cement, but the bottom is laid in tiles, either red, hard-burnt, or white glazed. Richer dairymen take finely-hewn blue stone or white marble for it. The size of the reservoir is governed by the number of milk-kettles to be put into it, and so is its depth by their height, so that the rim of the kettle is on a level with the top of the cool-bath, [Fig. 96]. The sides of the cool-bath in the kitchen project some feet over the floor, yet are not so high that the setting in and taking out the milk-kettle will be attended with great inconvenience and trouble. Where it is desired to make the work of setting in or raising up the milk-kettles from the cool-bath as easy as possible, a beam is fixed along the side of the trough, and iron props are firmly fixed, which extend out a little over the edge of the trough, half-way down from the beam. On these the operator can support himself in lowering or raising heavy vessels. These stays, or props, are sometimes fixed directly into the wall, along which the cool-bath stands. Under the bottom of the reservoir, on the other side from where the water comes in, is an outlet, stopped with a tap or faucet, to let off the water.

The cool-baths in the kitchen are, for the most part, on the floor, and extend up a convenient height; whilst those in the cow-barns, as a general rule, are dug down and walled up, and their top is fastened to the floor of the barn. They are deep enough to allow the water for cooling the milk to come up to the rim of the milk-kettle; but, in order to prevent men and cattle from falling in, it is covered with a strong wooden lid to shut down, as in [Fig. 97].

Fig. 97. Cool-bath.

Such a cool-bath is used in the cow-room only in summer, when the heat is so great that it is difficult to keep the milk cool in the kitchen. The cool-bath in the cow-room is considered as only an auxiliary to that in the kitchen, and to be used only in case of necessity. The milk-kettles are hung by their handles, and let down by means of a crank. When the platform is not in use it is taken away from the cool-bath, and the cover is let down and kept closed.

The milk is allowed to remain in the cool-bath until the froth has disappeared, and there is no difference in temperature between the water and the milk. The milk of one milking must give place for the next, so that it will be changed twice daily, morning and evening. A very great importance is, everywhere in the Dutch dairies, attached to this rapid cooling of the milk, because it is known by experience that it is thus greatly protected from turning sour.[3]

[3] It will be perceived that the arrangement for cooling the milk before setting in the pans, in the Dutch dairies, is very elaborate. I have followed the original in translating the above, though the practice in Holland differs widely from our own in this respect, and from that recommended in the preceding pages. The point may be worthy of careful experiment.—Translator.

The milk, when properly cooled, is brought to the milk-cellar, where it is immediately poured out of the milk-kettles into vessels designed to receive it. Wooden bowls or pans, or high earthen pots, are used for holding it. The pans and pots are set on the table, and a small ladder, or hand-barrow, is laid on there, on which is placed the strainer, when the milk is poured from the kettles. The wooden milk-pans are of several forms, generally made of ash or of linden, and oval. They are, on an average, three and a half feet long, and half a foot broad, more or less; but their dimensions vary.

It has been found, by experience, that the flatter and shallower the pans, the quicker and better the cream rises. The milk-pots are pretty large, but are rather shallow than deep, glazed inside, of different forms, and different capacities; but they are always broader on the top than at the bottom, though they stand firmly on a round, broad foot-piece. Milk pans and pots are rinsed with cold water before the milk is poured into them. When properly cleaned and filled, they are placed on shelves made for the purpose, in regular rows. These shelves are only a few feet high above the floor of the cellar, and of suitable width; but, if there is not space enough for the milk, the pans are placed on the bottom of the cellar. The pots are also set along the walls, on firm board shelves.

The milk-cellar, or rather the milk-room, [Fig. 98], in the North and South Dutch dairies, is placed on the north side of the house, next to the kitchen, but a little lower than the latter, so that there are usually three steps down. The longer side, facing towards the north, has one window, whilst the gable end, with its two windows, faces towards the west. The windows are generally kept shut, and are open only nights in summer. The cellar is either arched or covered with strongly boarded rafters, over which the so-called cellar-chamber is situated. The floor of this room is laid in lime or cement, with red or blue burnt tiles, so that nothing can pass down through into the milk-cellar. In the cellar itself are the above-mentioned shelves and platforms for the milk-vessels along the walls, while outside, in front of the cellar, linden and juniper trees are planted, to prevent as much as possible the heat of the sun from striking upon the walls. Cleanliness, the fundamental principle of Dutch dairy husbandry, is carried to its utmost extent in the cellar. Barrels of meat, bacon, vegetables of every kind, and everything which could possibly create a strong odor and infect the air, or impart a flavor to the milk, butter, or cheese, are carefully excluded.

Fig. 98. Dutch dairy-room.

The vessels in which the milk is set remain standing undisturbed in their places, that the formation of cream may go on without interruption. Twenty-four hours, on an average, are thought to be necessary for the milk to stand, during which time the cream is twice taken off, once at the end of each twelve hours. The morning’s milk is skimmed in the evening, and the evening’s on the next morning. But the milk always remains quite still till the dairymaid thinks it time to skim, which she decides by the taste. Long practice enables her to judge with great certainty by this mode of trial.

Fig. 99.

When the cream is ripe it is taken off by the dairymaid with a shallow wooden skimmer, [Fig. 99], in the form of a deep plate, and carefully placed in a particular vessel—a bucket or cream-pot. The cream-pot is generally washed very clean, the staves very finely polished, striped with blue or white outside, and held together by broad brass or copper hoops, kept very bright. For closing the jar they use an ashen cover, which is either simply laid on by a common handle, or sometimes held on by brass or copper hinges. Both cream-pot and cover are always scoured quite white and clean. The cream remains there till enough is got for churning, or till it becomes of itself thick enough for butter. It is known to be of the proper consistence for butter when a long, slender, wooden spoon, thrust down into it, will stand erect. When in summer the cream does not get thick enough in season, they seek to hasten it by putting in a little butter-milk; but in winter the ripening of the cream is hastened by warming, either by holding the cream-pot over a coal-pan, or on a hearth-plate.

The remainder, the skim-milk from the milk bowls or pans, sour milk, or butter-milk, is poured into a particular vessel, and made into spice-cheese.

Besides the methods here described for keeping milk for butter, milk is used for other purposes. Sweet milk cheese is made of the unskimmed milk; cream is used in the house for coffee. Rennet is also added to fresh milk, and the product is immediately sold, being greatly relished by many. From skim-milk and butter-milk put together is made an article called kramery by cooking the mixture, putting it into a linen bag, and hanging it in a cool part of the milk-cellar, or elsewhere, when the liquid drops out and leaves a mass of considerable consistence, called Hangebast.

As soon as the milk is taken from the vessels, they are taken out of the cellar and carefully cleansed and dried before being used again.