158 GUIDE TO DAIRYING IN SOUTH AFRICA 



difficulty in summing up. Therefore we cannot do 

 better than quote Mr. E. O. Challis, Superintendent 

 of Dairying to the Union Government. He says : 



" Undoubtedly dry milking is the cleanest and 

 best method to adopt, but I have still to find, at any 

 rate, the native milker who can milk with dry hands. 

 He usually, to begin with, milks a little milk in 

 each hand, and afterwards, when his hands again 

 feel dry, dips them in the bucket itself. This of 

 course is a most objectionable practice, but never- 

 theless it is a daily occurrence which from personal 

 experience I know only too well. Nearly all 

 owners of dairy stock are quite aware how it is 

 almost impossible to get native milkers to milk in 

 the correct way, and it is equally impossible to get 

 them to milk with dry hands. Such being the case, 

 many years ago I carried out numerous experiments 

 by substituting, in place of the necessity of wetting 

 of the teats, the use of a small quantity of vaseline 

 on each teat. This method I found to work ad- 

 mirably with native milkers, for, besides reducing 

 the friction on the cow's teats, which is pretty 

 severe owing to the finger and thumb process of 

 milking employed by the natives, it also removes 

 one of the chief causes of cracked teats, viz. turning 

 cows out with wet teats when a cold wind is 

 blowing." 



Manner of Milking. 



The boys should be made to move among the 

 cows quietly, not whistling at them or beating them 



