THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



63 



It would be surprising to many to know 

 that it not infrequently happens that cows 

 are kept tied in their stalls for days at a 

 time during the winter, all feed and water 

 being carried to them. This total lack of 

 exercise is not conducive to good health. 

 The close stabling of the cows makes it 

 impossible to keep them clean without 

 special attention, and they too often suffer 

 neglect of the currying comb and brush. 

 It is more important from a sanitary 

 standpoint that inspection demands clean- 

 liness of the animal, than the tuberculin 

 test for tuberculosis. 



THE FOOD: The teaching at the present 

 time is that food has little effect upon the 

 quality of milk, which is dependent upon 

 the individuality of the animal. It is 

 acknowledged that food has a marked in- 

 fluence upon quantity. It is admitted 

 that some foods will have a prejudicial ef- 

 fect upon the flavor of milk so that onions, 

 turnips and spoiled foods are regarded as 

 detrimental, and milk from cows fed on 

 such food is considered adulterated. There 

 never has been any controversy as to the 

 healthfulness of pasture, the grains and 

 mill feed. There has been much contro- 

 versy as to the propriety af using brewer's 

 grains, and many city ordinances prohibit 

 their use. The dairymen and feeders 

 maintain that the dairymen feeding malt 

 feed can not show the high average per 

 cent of fat in the milk nor wijl it keep so 

 long as where sweet food is used. Taking 

 the feeders of malted grains in a class, the 

 average of the first 25 tests of herd's milk 

 is 3.5 per cent of fat. Taking the larger 

 dairymen who do not use malt grains and 

 the first 34 analyses give 3.95 per cent of 

 butter fat. It is also to be observed that 

 the milk delivered at the creamery by 

 farmers (and only two or three use the 

 malt grains) is nearly one-half per cent 

 higher than the milk delivered in the city. 

 The cattle are too nearly alike to explain 

 this difference. The milk from dairies 

 using the malted grains will sour more 



readily than that from sweet fed cattle. 

 Whether this is due to the increased num- 

 ber of fermentation forms of bacteria to 

 which the milk is exposed, or to a less 

 stable compound of the lactose or some 

 other substance in the milk, has not been 

 determined, It may also be noted here 

 that condensed milk factories stipulate 

 that malt products can not be used as a 

 food. This is because of the fermentative 

 changes that are likely to result They 

 do, however, admit the use of silage. 



THE WATER: The water supply should 

 be even more scrupulously guarded than 

 the food supply. It serves a double pur- 

 pose, that of water for the cow and for the 

 washing of the utensils. The water for 

 both should be equally pure, and it ought 

 to be made an axiom that water unfit to 

 wash the pails or cans is unfit for cattle to 

 drink. The milking cow requires large 

 quantities of water, and whether it be 

 capable of demonstration that impurities 

 may find their way into the milk, it is 

 safest to take the benefit of the doubt and 

 use only pure water. I s;ai not aware that 

 a single dairyman uses pond water, two 

 use part spring water, but several have 

 wells that are very suspicious. A shallow 

 dug well in the corner of the cow lot can 

 not escape contamination at some time. 

 The contamination may not last all the 

 time, and it may be, as is usually the case, 

 that it is of a harmless character. The 

 fact is that any contamination from the 

 surface, no matter what may be its char- 

 acter, marks the well as one that may be- 

 come infected and the cause of an epi- 

 demic. It only remains for the right kind 

 of an infection to enter. It may require 

 one year or forty years. The special 

 forms which are partial to the water sup- 

 ply ar6 the intestinal germs that cause 

 diarrhoea and the typhoid form. Many of 

 the most alarming epidemics of typhoid 

 have been traced to such source. It is 

 not an easy matter to obtain an adequate 

 supply of water at all places about a city. 



