392 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cows and under the bottom of the slanting rock which is a characteristic 

 feature of the Hoard model. I shall not worry you with a description of 

 the stall farther than to note these improvements. 



IMPROVEMENTS. 



In the first place the stall was open between the feeding alley and 

 the manger, below the bottom of the feed rack. This allowed circulation 

 of air and the entry or sunlight. Next there was a board hung on hinges 

 just above the bottom of the feed rack and on the side next the alley, 

 allowing easy cleaning of the racks. Next, a continuous galvanized 

 iron watering trough, re-inforced by inch boards on the sides and with 

 a w'ooden cover which the cows had learned to lift when desiring a 

 drink, extended in front of each row of cows. This trough was just back 

 of the slanting rack and a couple of inches below it. 



Behind the cows a two by four was spiked to the partitions rather 

 than to the floor and served to keep the cow clean. I am glad to report 

 that not only was the majority of the cows clean as to flank and udder 

 but that they all were so. 



These stalls are cheap. They are easily made. Is it wrong then to 

 claim that men have no right to use milk in their own families or to sell 

 milk drawn from cows standing on a level floor tied about the neck or 

 in any other way but kept under conditions which make cleanliness 

 impossible? Have we not a right to demand that not a few dairjmaen but 

 that all dairymen shall keep their cows clean by keeping them in stalls in 

 wbi'i'h it is impossible for them to befoul themselves? Again, I call atten- 

 tion to the fact that the bulk of the milk and cream furnished our cream- 

 eries is impure and that the filth comes right at this point. You and I are 

 not blameless in the matter unless we macie our protests heard by the men 

 who use it. Is is not enough to give an academic assent to the proposition 

 that cows must be kept clean. It is your business and mine to see that 

 our less fortunate neighbors do keep their cows clean. It cannot be done 

 without proper stalls. 



When it comes to the milking, the method to be adopted depends on 

 the size of the herd. Where possible a man should precede the regular 

 milkers and, with a wet sponge preceded by a brush, so dampen the 

 udders as to prevent the falling of hair and bacteria. The efficacy of this 

 method has been well established. It goes without saying that the hands 

 of the milker should be clean and that the pail should be clean in the 

 becteriological sense. At my own creamery we try to insist that the pails 

 and cans and tinware generally shall be first rinsed in tepid water, then 

 v/?.shed will! a brush in water containing some cleansing powder, water 

 so hot, too. that the hand cannot remain in it. A brush is used instead 

 of a cloth and immediately after washing the article is rinsed in boiling 

 hot water. Emphasize the boiling. If it be in summer the tinware is 

 not viiped but SPt out in the direct rays of the sun and out of the dust. 

 Notwithstanding our warnings, in spite of our injunctions, in defiance of 

 our rules and the rights of other patrons milk does come to the creamery 

 in dirty cans innocent of any scrubbing or rinsing whatever and with 

 seams filled with yellow sci'm weak in texture but strong in smelL The 



