32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



milked with gentleness and quiet, for excitement is not only 

 injurious to them, and liable to reduce their yield, but it 

 also affects the keeping quality of the milk. Never allow a 

 milker to wet his hand with milk, even if his hands are 

 clean ; it will damage the milk. 



The cow is an animal of regular habits. She expects to 

 be milked at a certain time, and becomes more or less 

 uneasy if she is not milked at the same time each day. A 

 change of milkers may result, for a few niilkings, in a 

 reduced yield or in milk of poor quality. Milk is of course 

 subject to the laws of density before it leaves the cow ; and 

 we accordingly find that the "fore milk" (first drawn) and 

 the " strippings " (last drawn) difl'er greatly in the propor- 

 tions of fat ; the latter having most, because the globules 

 have remained nearest to the surface of the stored milk. 

 The globules of the fore milk are mainly small ones, the 

 laro;est beinsf found in increasing numbers as the removal 

 approaches completion. The strippings has five or six times 

 more fat in it than the first pint of fore milk, so it is very 

 essential to have the milkers strip the cows thoroughly ; too 

 many milkers are not careful enough on this point. 



Cooling Milk 



No dairy is complete unless it has a room apart from the 

 stable and barn where the milk can be cared for. As soon 

 as it is drawn from the cow it should be removed from the 

 stable to the milkhouse, and then aerated and cooled to 

 50° F., or below, if possible ; the best process is to run it 

 over a cooler. All milk should be aerated, no matter hoAv 

 small the dairy is ; it will pay the producer, for it makes the 

 product much more palatable, and gives it a clean, sweet 

 taste. 



From the cooler the milk should run into a mixing can, 

 so that every can in the dair}^ will be of the same quality ; 

 and constant uniformity of the milk makes it much better 

 for infant feeding than the milk from a single cow, as the 

 milk from one cow frequently varies greatly from milking 

 to milkino-. Where an aerator is used, it must be done in a 

 pure atmosphere, free from dust. The sooner the milk is 



