After the cream has been collected

After the cream has been collected

After the cream has been collected

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. A Power Churn

Cream is simply a mixture of butter-fat and milk

Cream is simply a mixture of butter-fat and milk

Cream is simply a mixture of butter-fat and milk

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.

Milk and its products possess another most important property

Milk and its products possess another most important property

Milk and its products possess another most important property

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. A Hand Separator

If calves are fed on skimmed milk

If calves are fed on skimmed milk

If calves are fed on skimmed milk

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 the butter-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. Airing the Cans

The following table shows the composition of each

The following table shows the composition of each

The following table shows the composition of each

The following table shows the composition of each of the different forms of milk:

Composition of Milk	Digestible Matter in 100 Pounds
	Dry matter	Protein	Carbohydrates	Fat
Colostrum	25.4	17.6	2.7	3.6
Milk (unskimmed)	12.8	3.6	4.9	3.7
Skimmed milk	9.4	2.9	5.2	1.3
Buttermilk	9.9	3.9	4.0	1.1

Milk, Cream, Churning, And Butter

Milk, Cream, Churning, And Butter

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 called colostrum. 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.

5 Always milk in buckets or cups

5 Always milk in buckets or cups

5 Always milk in buckets or cups

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.

THREE GENERATIONS OF HIGH-BRED COWS

If you are not following a balanced ration

If you are not following a balanced ration

If you are not following a balanced ration

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.

Alfalfa or clover hay may take the place of cowpea hay

Alfalfa or clover hay may take the place of cowpea hay

Alfalfa or clover hay may take the place of cowpea hay

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:

A badly balanced ration does harm in two ways

A badly balanced ration does harm in two ways

A badly balanced ration does harm in two ways

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 Matter
Feed Stuffs	Dry matter	Protein	Carbohydrates	Fat
Cowpea hay = 15 pounds	13.50	1.62	5.79	.16
Corn stover = 10 pounds	5.95	.17	3.24	.07
Corn ensilage = 30 pounds	6.27	.27	3.39	.21
Cotton-seed meal = 2 pounds	1.83	.74	.33	.24
	——	——	——	——
Total = 57 pounds	27.55	2.80	12.75	.68

Now test one or two commonly used rations by these rules

Now test one or two commonly used rations by these rules

Now test one or two commonly used rations by these rules

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.

With these facts in mind we are prepared

With these facts in mind we are prepared

With these facts in mind we are prepared

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.

Is an ideal ration for a dairy cow

Is an ideal ration for a dairy cow

Is an ideal ration for a dairy cow

What, then, is an ideal ration for a dairy cow? Before trying to answer this question the word ration needs 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. A Dairy

The Dairy Cow

The Dairy Cow

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. Milking-Time

What These Compounds do in The Body

What These Compounds do in The Body

Protein
1. 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.
Carbohydrates
1. Furnish body heat.
2. Furnish energy.
3. Make fat.
Fat
1. Furnishes body heat.
2. Furnishes energy.
3. Furnishes body fat.
Mineral Matter
Furnishes mineral matter for the bones in the body.
Water
Supplies water in the body.

Let us look at the fat in plant food

Let us look at the fat in plant food

Let us look at the fat in plant food

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.

Farm animals require the vitamins also

Farm animals require the vitamins also

Farm animals require the vitamins also

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 words starchy foods are 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.

It is no less important to get the necessary vitamins&

It is no less important to get the necessary vitamins&

It is no less important to get the necessary vitamins&

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.

The protein in some foods is of poor quality

The protein in some foods is of poor quality

The protein in some foods is of poor quality

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.

You have seen protein compounds like the white of an egg

You have seen protein compounds like the white of an egg

You have seen protein compounds like the white of an egg

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.

By means of sunlight and moisture a sprouting seed

By means of sunlight and moisture a sprouting seed

By means of sunlight and moisture a sprouting seed

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 feeds on 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.

Food is required to enable the body to enlarge&

Food is required to enable the body to enlarge&

Food is required to enable the body to enlarge&

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.

Why we Feed Animals

Why we Feed Animals

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.

For such a pass may be easily guarded

For such a pass may be easily guarded

For such a pass may be easily guarded

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.

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?

One of these is the robber bee

One of these is the robber bee

One of these is the robber bee

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. Anti-Robbing Entrance
st, stationary piece;
s, slide;
p, pin, or stop

In spraying fruit trees to prevent disease you

In spraying fruit trees to prevent disease you

In spraying fruit trees to prevent disease you

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 emerging from 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. Good Form of Hive

Some of the chief honey plants are alfalfa

Some of the chief honey plants are alfalfa

Some of the chief honey plants are alfalfa

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.

A beehive in the spring contains one queen

A beehive in the spring contains one queen

A beehive in the spring contains one queen

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. In the 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. A Carniolan Queen

Such a colony will cost more at the outset than an ordinary colony

Such a colony will cost more at the outset than an ordinary colony

Such a colony will cost more at the outset than an ordinary colony

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. A Carniolan Drone

The Italian is another good bee

The Italian is another good bee

The Italian is another good bee

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.

One has only to compare the yield of two different kinds

One has only to compare the yield of two different kinds

One has only to compare the yield of two different kinds

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. They stand the cold of winter well and stoutly defend their hives against robber bees and other enemies.