THE DAIRY COW 161 



The objection is at once raised that one cannot afford-to 



keep two bulls. But with the practice of community breed- 

 ing this is easily possible. 



MANURE 



The manure from the dairy herd is one of the sources of 

 profit from the dairy farm. It is by saving this and putting 

 it back on the land that the fertility and productiveness of 

 soil is maintained. 



Manure should be handled with the least expenditure of 

 labor. Perhaps the best way is to haul the wagon or manure 

 spreader into the barn, load the manure and take it directly 

 to the fields. It should be spread evenly and not too thick. 

 In hilly regions it is thought this leads to the loss of too much 

 of the fertilizing constituents through washing. But these 

 are made soluble only by warm weather. So when the snow 

 melts in the spring or the early spring rains come little harm 

 is done. Even if some of the fertilizer did wash away, the 

 loss would not equal the cost of an extra handling if the 

 manure were left till summer. Besides, there would be loss 

 in strength in exposing the manure to the weather in the yard. 



TUBERCULOSIS 



Cattle and especially dairy cows are subject to tuberculosis, 

 a disease similar to tuberculosis in the human family. It is 

 thought by many that the disease may be transmitted from 

 cattle to the human and especially to children. If this is so, 

 it is most likely to happen by drinking milk from infected 

 cattle. 



All cows that have tuberculosis do not have the disease in 

 the udder but when they do get it in the udder there is danger 

 in using the milk. Milk from such cows should either not be 

 used at all or should be pasteurized or sterilized before it is 

 used. Pigs also are subject to the disease and get it very 

 easily by drinking tuberculous milk. 



Tuberculosis is a germ disease. The germs (tubercle bacilli) 



may be inhaled or may be ingested (taken with the food). 



If the resistance of the body is not strong enough to withstand 



these germs, they will lodge in the lungs or the intestinal wall, 



11 



