Contamination of Milk. 37 



are removed by straining or filtering the milk, the source 

 of trouble is eliminated. But in this operation only the 

 visible dirt is taken out. The invisible, and by far the 

 more dangerous material, is the bacterial life that thus be- 

 comes established, there to grow and develop. To remove 

 the dirt after it has once come in contact with the milk 

 only lessens the difficulty, but does not overcome it. 



1. Moistening the udder. If alter brushing and remov- 

 ing the loose hairs and dirt that can be readily dislodged 

 in the milking, the udder and under parts are thoroughly 

 moistened with water, the fine dust-like particles will be 

 held in place. When moistened the surface does not want 

 to be dripping wet. The objection has been raised to 

 washing and cleaning the udder that the yield of milk is 

 reduced, but Eckles 1 concludes from experiments that 

 when the animal becomes accustomed to the treatment, no 

 noticeable effect is produced either in amount of milk or 

 butter-fat. 



The effect of this method on reducing the number of 

 bacteria dislodged is apparent from the following test 

 which was made on a cow kept on pasture and milked out 

 of doors. A sterile gelatin plate was exposed for sixty 

 seconds under the belly in close proximity to the milk 

 pail. Then, the udder, flank, and legs of the cow were thor- 

 oughly cleaned with water, and the milking resumed. A 

 second plate was then exposed in the same place for an 

 equal length of time; a control exposure being made at a 

 distance of ten feet from the animal and six feet from the 

 ground to ascertain the germ content of the surrounding 

 air. 



From this experiment the following instructive data 



Eckles, Hoard's Dairyman, July 8, 1898. 



