No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 363 



Plain stalls should be provided for the cattle to stand in while being 

 milked. Stall floors should be so constructed that they may be kept 

 clean. The walls should be disinfected and whitewashed as often 

 as required to insure cleanliness. 



In the production of sanitary milk great care must be exercised 

 when the milk is drawn, otherwise it may be infected with bacteria. 

 If a separate milking room is used the cows which have been pre- 

 viously curried are taken to this room as needed. Here a man is 

 kept who proceeds each milker and wipes off the cow's udder, flanks 

 and teats with a damp cloth or sponge, the cow having been pre- 

 viously groomed in the stable. This treatment reduces the bacterial 

 contamination greatly. After the cows have been groomed^ they 

 should be kept from lying down by fastening a chain or rope under 

 the throat. The milkers, who are clothed in white suits, use pails 

 with covered tops. These pails have openings for the admission of 

 the milk. Over these openings may be placed strainers of various 

 kinds. If cotton is used, the cotton must be destroyed after each 

 milking and fresh material used for the next. The milk when drawn 

 is taken to the milk room where it is cooled and bottled, either with 

 or without previous treatment. Such milk should not contain more 

 than 1,000 to 10,000 bacteria per c. c. 



Milk Room: Conveniently near the milking room and stable should 

 be the milk room or rooms. These may contain the scales, separator 

 and bottling machine. The floor should be of cement and the walls 

 tiled to a height of six feet, and where possible, they should also con- 

 tain a sterilizer and a sink, the latter for washing the milk utensils 

 and bottles. There should be no direct communication between the 

 stable and the milk room. 



A first class arrangement would consist of three rooms — a weigh 

 room, a bottling room and a wash room. After weighing, the milk 

 is poured into a receiver, from which it runs through the partition 

 into the bottling room. In the bottling room it may be aerated, clari- 

 fied, standarized or pasteurized and bottled. Beyond the bottling 

 room is the wash room. Persons passing from the weigh room to the 

 wash room, or vice versa, should not pass through the bottling room. 

 The sterilizer should be situated in the partition between the wash 

 room and the bottling room, and should have two doors, one opening 

 into each room. With this arrangement the bottles may be placed 

 in the sterilizer from the wash room and taken out in the bottling 

 room. If three rooms are out of the question, one or two may be 

 used. The milk should at least be removed from the stable as soon 

 as drawn. 



It seems hardly necessary to mention the thorough cleaning and 

 sterilization of the milk bottles, pails, cans, strainers, etc. The 

 sterilization can best be done by exposing the vessels to live steam. 



