198 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



From what has been said above it may clearly be seen that, if 

 cows are allowed to wade in swamps covered with stagnant water, or 

 lie down on dirty, filthy stable floors which are covered with excreta, 

 etc., the chances are that a comparatively large number of bacteria 

 will be able to enter the udder through the teats, a fact which is espe- 

 cially true in the case of cows that leak their milk. It is obvious, 

 therefore, that the discarding of animals which suffer from disease 

 and of cows that have leaky udders, the use of drained pastures, and 

 of clean bedding on the stall floor, constitute the first step towards 

 improving the hygienic and keeping-quality of milk. 



Contamination During the Operation of Milking. Since dead 

 organic matter such as dust, dirt, excreta, etc., is charged with enor- 

 mous numbers of bacteria, large numbers of these microorganisms 

 gain access to the milk during the operation of milking by the fall- 

 ing into the milk pail dust from the atmosphere, of hair and dirt 

 from the animal body, from the unclean hands and clothing of the 

 milker and by the use of nonsterile utensils. Bacteriological exam- 

 inations of the stable air and of the air under the udder during milk- 

 ing have shown that thousands of these germs will fall into the open 

 milk pail while the milk is being drawn. There is also unquestion- 

 able experimental evidence of the fact that, where the teats, the 

 udder and the portions immediately surrounding the latter are care? 

 fully washed before milking, where the stable has plenty of light, is 

 well cleaned, ventilated and the floors sprinkled with water to lay 

 the dust before milking, where the milker has clean hands, wears 

 clean clothing and uses sterile utensils, the number of bacteria in 

 milk is reduced to a minimum. (N. Y. Cornell B. 203.) 



THE MILKER. 



The kinds of bacteria that the milker is likely to introduce into 

 the milk include nearly the whole list. It seldom occurs to the 

 average milker that it is as necessary to wash the hands before 

 milking as before eating a meal of victuals. The numbers that 

 come from soiled clothes and dirty hands which get into milk are 

 large. The hands of a milker working around the farm during the 

 afternoon were tested, just before milking time, for the numbers 

 of bacteria that could be washed off in a quart of sterile water. The 

 number was found to be 45,000,000. This washing did not remove 

 all the bacteria, but did remove all those that might have dropped 

 off during the milking. Another experiment was tried to deter- 

 mine how many bacteria were left on the hands after thorough 

 washing with soap and warm water. The number that could be 

 washed off then in sterile water was found to be 900,000. These 

 two experiments show that 98 per cent of bacteria can be washed 

 from the hands. 



The clothes of the ordinary dairyman carry immense numbers 

 of organisms with dust from all sorts of contaminations. The 

 milker has a much wider range for the collection of a larger num- 

 ber and a greater variety of organisms than the cow. The only 

 proper attire for a milker is a white suit and cap to be worn only at 

 milking time. A white suit shows dirt very readily, and when 



