SANITARY MILK PRODUCTION 



159 



washing was a trifle higher than the 60 taken before but the difference 

 is not great and as a whole they show that whitewashing the stable 

 neither raises nor lowers the bacterial count of the milk. 



Clipping the Cow's Udders and Flanks. The effect of clipping the 

 cow's udders and flanks was studied and the results obtained are presented 

 in Table 46. 



TABLE 46. SUMMARY OF BACTERIAL COUNTS, EXPRESSED IN NUMBER PER c.c. 

 OF MILK DRAWN FROM UNCLIPPED AS COMPARED WITH CLIPPED Cows 



The grand average of all the samples shows that the undipped cows 

 had 204 bacteria per cubic centimeter in the whole milk, 71 in the strip- 

 pings and as difference 133 whereas the clipped cows had 320 in the whole 

 milk, 112 in the strippings and as difference 208, thus showing higher 

 counts in the milk of the clipped cows. Moreover, Table 46 shows that 

 in every instance the count of the milk of the four cows was higher when 

 they were clipped than when they were undipped. In explanation of 

 this unlooked for result the experimenters suggest that the long hairs 

 retain the scurf at their base while the short ones do so less effectively 

 so that it falls into the milk and increases the bacterial count. 



Hand- vs. Machine -cleaning of Cows. The same authors compared 

 the cleaning of cows by hand with cleaning them by a vacuum cleaner 

 and found that the latter method was less efficient than the former 

 when the vacuum was less than 15 in., and in any case is more expensive 

 since it takes about twice as long. 



Interpretation of the New York Station Experiments. These studies 

 of Harding and his confreres are important because long periods of con- 

 tinuous sampling were employed so that every series of tests is a fair 

 measure of the process under investigation under the conditions that 

 obtained. Nevertheless, it seems likely that those who read the bulletin 

 which contains the results may draw differing conclusions from them. 

 To the writer it seems that these experimenters have shown that in a 

 barn of fair construction where the help is accustomed to pay decent 

 regard to cleanliness, clean milk may be drawn even when the barn is 

 dirty and when the construction is such as would not be recommended 

 were the owners building anew. They also show that plastering, paint- 

 ing and whitewashing do not directly influence the bacterial count. 

 The results are confirmatory of what has long been suspected. Many 

 dairy men are known to produce excellent milk in barns that seem un- 



