THE CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE DAIRY HERD. 47 



germ free. 1 have kept in my own office at room temperatures, 

 a sample of milk thus drawn, for several weeks without souring 

 or becoming loppered. The aim of the dairyman is therefore 

 directed toward the exclusion of bacteria from the milk after it 

 leaves the cow. 



Where the stables are arranged as many of them are in Maine, 

 the cows standing over the manure cellar, an arrangement clearly 

 objectionable, from the standpoint of a western dairyman, it may 

 be a good practice to clean out the stable the first thing in the 

 morning, at once covering over the wet floor with sawdust. This 

 operation must be done some time before milking that the bad 

 odors may disappear. The cows should then be groomed, brush- 

 ing the udders thoroughly, and the dust allowed to settle for at 

 least a half hour before milking. The udders should then be 

 dampened, just' before the milking begins. The first quarter 

 of a pint or such a matter from each cow should be milked into 

 a pail, the contents of which are afterwards to be fed to pigs or 

 otherwise disposed of, certainly not going into the city milk 

 supply. If then the remainder of the milk is drawn into clean 

 pails, it will not need to be pasteurized to keep, tor any reason- 

 able length of time, nor will it give rise to toxic poisons. 



In carrying forward the method described we found it neces- 

 sary to arrange a strap, fastened to the stanchions, to snap across 

 the stall under the throat of the cow to prevent lying down after 

 the udder has been cleaned. It was demonstrated also that 

 where an hour could not elapse in the morning between cleaning 

 the stable and brushing the cows and the milking, it was better 

 to leave the stable uncleaned, covering the droppings with saw- 

 dust and to leave the cows without grooming other than brush- 

 ing off the flanks and udder, stirring up as little dust as possible. 

 It was found worse than nothing to brush the udders just as the 

 milker sat down to his job, as the brushing simply filled the air 

 with floating dust, each particle of which carried a myriad of 

 germs. It seems unwarrantably complicated to demand that 

 the dairyman shall keep the sides and flanks of his cows free 

 from manure, shall brush the sides and udders, then wait for 

 the dust to settle before milking; but there is no other road to 

 perfect milk. • 



