DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. 343 



time grooming and cleaning the horses which draw the manure 

 and the garbage wagon. Yet custom demands that the horse 

 be kept clean. Feeding dry feeds and grain after milking 

 instead of during or before milking adds nothing to the cost 

 of production but vastly improves the keeping qualities of the 

 milk. The removal of manure each day to the field or proper 

 pit adds to the expense, it is but true, but our experiment sta- 

 tions tell us that by so doing we save plant food, so this is 

 actual economy. The immediate cooling of milk is not added 

 expense, for if it be cooled at all the price is the same one 

 time or another. 



Investigators tell us that about 4 per cent of the bacteria 

 found in milk after it has been produced in the ordinary stable 

 is from the udder of the cow; that about 26 per cent is from 

 the stable air, the milker, and the milking utensils ; that the rest 

 of the total number, 70 per cent, is from the body of the cow. 

 With these facts in mind we may readily see that 4 per cent we 

 have with us always, while 96 per cent can in a large measure be 

 prevented from gaining access to milk. 



Many interesting experiments have been conducted showing 

 the effect of the various common dairy practices on the bacteria 

 count of milk. These prove that if we use a covered pail instead 

 of an open pail in milking, it is possible to reduce the bacteria 

 count 97 per cent in a poor stable, and in a well-kept stable 86 

 per cent ; that if we milk before feeding dry feeds, we may 

 lower it 30 per cent; if we milk before feeding dry stover, 66 

 per cent; that if we wipe the udder and flanks with a damp 

 cloth just before milking, we may diminish the count ']'] per 

 cent ; and even that different men milking the same cows under 

 the same conditions may give us a difference of 90 per cent in 

 the total number of bacteria present. 



All the above practices have an important bearing on the 

 quality of milk, but in seeing to it that they are carried out let 

 us not lose sight of the fact that after all of these precautionary 

 measures have been taken, we may, by allowing the milk to 

 remain warm, undo all our careful work in keeping the number 

 of bacteria present to as few as possible. We are forced to the 

 conclusion that temperature plays a most important part in 

 controlling the number of these organisms a milk may eventually 

 contain. One thing which we dairymen desiring a low bacteria 



