Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 216, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1917 — EQUIPMENT NECESSARY FOR THE BABCOCK TEST. [ARTICLE]

EQUIPMENT NECESSARY FOR THE BABCOCK TEST.

able. The Babcock test, Invented In 1890, by Dr. S. M. Babcock of Wlseon*. sin, Is now the most satisfactory and practical method by which the dairyman can determine the quality of butterfat produced by his cows. The equipment necessary for the Babcock test will depend somewhat on the size of the herd. For a small herd the following is satisfactory: A Babcock tester—four or eight-bot-tle capacity. One dozen whole-milk test bottles, 8 per cent. Two pipettes, graduated at 17.6 cubic centimeters. An acid measure, graduated at 17.5 cubic centimeters. A pair of dividers. One dozen sample bottles, or halfpint glass Jars. One hot-water bath, or a gallon pall. One bottle sulphuric add, spedfic gravity 1-82- - Making the Testa. If the samples are cold, they should be warmed to 60 degrees or 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The milk Is then mired by pouring it several times from one sample bottle to another so as .to get a uniform mixture and to dissolve all the cream particles. The pipette Is put into the milk Immediately and sacked nearly full of milk. The fore finger, which should be dry, Is placed qnlckly on the npper end of the pipette before the milk runs down to the 17.6 cubic centimeter mark. A slight release ,in the pressure of the finger allows the milk to flow from the pipette until the milk stands at the graduation mark. Next, place \ the point of the pipette in the mouth of the test bottle, holding both pipette and bottle at an angle so as to allow the milk to run down the side of the neck, thus * allowing att exit for the air in the bottle. Write the number of the sample with a common black lead pencil on the roughened spot on the side of the test bottle. Adding the Acid. Commercial sulphuric add, specific

to the neck between 0 and the 8 per .cent graduation mark on the scale and to wash any Impurities from the butterfat. The bottles are whirled again for a minute and then removed and jilaced in a hoi-water bath at 130 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, for a period of five minutes. This insures the fat being at the proper temperature for reading. In cold weather it may be necessary to remove the bottles from the machine between runs and place them In hot water to warm the fat. Reading ths Test. The readings are made from the extreme bottom of the lower meniscus of the fat column to the extreme top of the upper meniscus, reading from the point D to the point A at the top of the meniscus, as indicated in the illustration. When care is taken to read to the extreme top of the meniscus the readings agree with those obtained by gravimetric analysis. If 2.5 per cent were the lower reading and 7.9 per cent the top reading, the correct reading of the test would be 5.4 per cent butterfat. better way is to use a pair of dividers, placing at the top and bottom of the fat, and then, placing one point on the zero mark on the scale, read off the percentage indicated on the scale by the upper point. The percentage of butterfat then is written on the record sheet. The butterfat column should be yellowish or amber color. ~ Blackened fat Indicates that too much, too strong, or too warm add ■was used, while light, curdy material indicates that a part of the curd was not dissolved by the acid, owing to too little, too wefil, or too cold milk or , ncld, or to insuffident mixing. Empty the test bottles while still hot, shaking the bottles so that the hot add will rinse out the whitish Pediment or ash at the bottom of the bottles. First rinse out the bottles with warm water, then Wash with hot water and washing powder, and rinse again with hot *wgter.