From Farm to Factory

SECTIO N 1. BU TTER M A KIN G – A D O M ESTIC IN D U STRY

The process of making is thought to be over tw o thousand years old and has not changed, in essence, from that day to this. The , w hich forms approximately 12% (1/8) of the , is separated from the milk. The cream is then beaten, shaken or agitated in some w ay, creating small lumps of butter and a milk liquid residue, called .

The first section of this w orksheet relates to the ground floor of the M useum – a plan of each part of the M useum is included at the back of this w orksheet.

1. Look at the Information Panel “Butter M aking on the Farm”.

(i)

(ii) Can you give som e reasons w hy you can tell this is an old photograph?

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2. In the photograph at the bottom of the panel, the w om an is using im plem ents to shape the butter. Exam ples of these tools are on display in the M useum .

(i) Locate the display case in w hich these tools are and w rite dow n w hat they are called

(ii) Draw one of them

There is a butter print in the bottom photograph on the panel and there are butter prints on display in this M useum .

3. Locate the display case m arked X on the m useum w ith the butter prints

(i) H ow m any butter prints are on display?

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M ove to the display of traditional butter m aking equipm ent in the M useum - a plan of each part of the M useum is included at the back of this w orksheet

Much of the information you will need is on the small panels beside the objects, indicated by the symbol

4. Count the different types of churn on display in the M useum ? H ow m any different types are there?

5. The Plate Iron M ilk Churn

The Plate Iron M ilk Churn is different from the other churns on display in that it w as not used to churn butter – it w as used to store and transport m ilk.

(i) W hy do you think that the m ilk churn could not be used for m aking butter?

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6. The Barrel Churn

(i) W hat is the capacity of the large barrel churn?

(ii) If you w ere to fill the barrel Churn w ith 20 gallons of cream and that cream failed to churn into butter, how m uch m ilk w ould have been w asted. (N .B. – you have already been told, on the first page of this w orksheet, how m uch cream is in m ilk.)

(iii) Approxim ately w hat proportion of the year’s m ilk yield from the cow w ould be lost if the cream in the barrel churn w ere to fail?

H ome butter makers did not understand the science of butter making; yet they knew w ell the difficulty of the task and the cost of failure. As a result, there w ere many superstitions or piseogs attached to making. Ash, salt or a horseshoe w as placed near the churn as good luck. Churns w ere never lent to others. Fire could not be taken from the house w hen the milk w as being churned.

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5. The Butter W orking Table

(i) W hat do you think the table w as used for?

(ii) Can you suggest w hy the table surface is sloped?

6. The M etal Skimming Pan

(i) H ow m any hours did it take for the cream in the m ilk to rise to the top of the pan

(ii) Can you suggest w hy cream rises to the top of the m ilk?

(H int –W hy does anything rise to the top of a liquid?)

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(iii) There is a lim it to how w ide a hand skim m ing pan can be. W hy do you think this m ight be?

SECTIO N 2. BRIN G IN G TH E BU TTER TO M A RKET – TH E BU TTER EXCH A N G E

The Cork Butter Market, also called the Cork Butter Exchange, was Cork’s greatest commercial achievement. Starting in 1769 and continuing through the following century, the Butter Exchange created a system of quality control which was without comparison in Europe. The result was that the Cork Butter Exchange became the largest butter market in the world and the centre of a trade that stretched from West

Kerry to Australia.

G o upstairs to the G allery m arked “Cork and the Butter Exchange” - a plan of each part of the M useum is included at the back of this w orksheet

7. Look at the Information Panel “The Butter Roads”

(i) H ow long did the journey from Cork to Killarney take one hundred and fifty years ago?

(ii) W hat dangers did the traveller face?

8. Look at the model of the “Butter Roads”

The “Butter Roads” is the name given to the roads which served the Butter Exchange, stories of which survived in the memory of people – the folk memory

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(i) N am e one of the rivers show n on the m odel.

(ii) H ow m any tim es does the road from Cahirciveen to Cork clim b over the m ountains?

(iii) H ow m any rivers does the road from Cahirciveen to Cork cross?

(iv) H ow m any tim es does the road from Cahirciveen to Cork cross a river?

9. Look at the panel “The O rigins of the Cork Butter M useum”

(i) N am e the counties from w hich butter w as brought to Cork.

(

(iii) The Cork Butter Exchange w as established in 1769. W hich of the follow ing w as true at that date?

TRU E FALSE

The U nited States had been established

The Act of U nion had been passed.

N apoleon w as ruler of France

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(iv) The system in the Cork Butter Exchange w as unique at the tim e Look at panel and w rite dow n w hat it w as that m ade the Cork Butter Exchange unique?

(v) Copy the Inspector’s m arks.

(vi) Describe the system the Exchange had in place to ensure that Inspectors could not be bribed.

(vii) At w hat tim e of the day w as the price of butter set?

10. Look at the documents in the display case

(i) W ho w as the Secretary of the Butter M arket in O ctober 1886?

(ii) O n the N otice dated 1st O ctober, 1886, w hat are the staff being instructed to do?

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(iii) By w hat tim e m ust butter be in the m arket for sale on the sam e day?

(iv) W hy do you think they chose this tim e and not a later one?

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SECTIO N 3. IN D U STRIA LISATIO N & TH E FA CTO RY

This section of this w orksheet relates to the ground floor of the M useum - go back dow n to the ground floor.

11. The M echanical Separator

In 1878 Alfred Laval invented the m echanical separator, one of w hich is in the m useum . This m achine separated the cream from the m ilk.

The m achine on display is a household version of a m echanical separator – like the exam ple in the photograph here.

This technology changed the process of butter m aking in tw o w ays

Can you identify tw o w ays in w hich the process of butter m aking w as changed by the m echanical separator?

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By the beginning of the 1900s farmers brought their milk to the in plate iron milk churns. The then made and sold their ow n butter.

12. Look at the Information Panel “M echanisation”

(v) The story of butter m aking as show n in the panel “M echanisation” is different from the story of butter m aking show n in the panel “Butter M aking on the Farm ”

List three of those differences

The large cylinders in the photographs are butter churns in a cream ery;

(i) Can you identify tw o differences betw een these churns and the churns you have seen in the M useum ?

Look at the bottom picture of the scene outside the creamery;

(ii) W hat is happening in this picture?

(iii) Identify one item in the picture that is on display in the M useum ?

(iv) W hat im pact do you think the farm ers bringing m ilk to the cream ery had on the business of the Cork Butter Exchange?

.

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CO RK BU TTER M U SEU M – G RO U N D FLO O R LA YO U T

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CO RK BU TTER M U SEU M – FIRST FLO O R LA YO U T

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