DAIRY MEETING. 1 67 



The fact that milk tests good in butter fat docs not show that 

 it tests good in absence of dirt. So, too much attention is given 

 to the wide, deep cream Hne on a bottle of milk. In my esti- 

 mation the absence of dirt in the milk is of far greater value 

 than fat above the required standard. The causes of the bad 

 milk that is distributed in different sections of the State should 

 be understood by everybody. I have grouped them under four 

 headings, — the cow, the air, the method and the man. The first, 

 of course, is the cow, and she is the source of an untold num- 

 ber of bacteria, from the floor, from the manure, from the ceil- 

 ing, from the food that is given her. In fact, if the cow is not 

 clean you cannot reasonably expect to get clean milk from that 

 cow. Recently I was called to a small town on request of the 

 local inspector there who had received complaints from several 

 families with regard to children's sickness. The family doctor 

 had reported that the sickness was due to bad milk. Now that 

 may be true, because previously the man had said that the cow 

 herself was sick, and who would not reasonably expect that 

 milk from such a cow would cause the children to be sick. A 

 man who will feed to his children milk from a sick cow should 

 have no cause to complain because of the sickness of the chil- 

 dren. At the same time it should be emphasized that provided 

 the milk is not the cause of the sickness the doctors should be 

 very careful about laying it to the milk. Milk is a very sensi- 

 tive carrier of disease germs and almost anything may be at- 

 tributed to it. But in all those cases the history and the source 

 of any trouble is always looked into. 



The second cause for bad milk is the air, to which the milk 

 becomes exposed. The stable air is given but little thought, 

 and much has been taken for granted by the average farmer 

 along this line. Anything other than a strong ammonia odor 

 and a very strong cow-like smell is unknown on many of our 

 farms, especially in winter when the tie-up is filled and the 

 animals have not been out for exercise since the snow came. 

 A cow stable in which the air is almost stifling to a person can 

 hardly be very healthful for the animals who have to stay there 

 continually. When the milk is exposed in an open pail or 

 poured into a large can and left exposed to the stable air, is it 

 any wonder that it tastes like the cow? Proper stable ventila- 

 tion is given too little attention by the average dairyman. When 

 improper systems are used it is not uncommon to find the air 



