32 



Handling Milk. 



Before milking the udder and belly of the cow should be well brushed. 

 This takes but a few minutes and is a valuable preventive of impure 

 milk. 



The milke?' should wash his hands before milking, and wear a light 

 inexpensive suit, consisting of overalls and jumper, which should be fre- 

 quently washed and kept outside the stable. This suit should be removed 

 and well aired immediately after milking. Some producers of so-called 

 " fancy milk " compel their employes to wear white duck suits, but 

 while this makes a better appearance, it is not at all necessary. 



The vessels in which the milk is drawn and kept must be thoroughly 

 clean. All milk vessels should first be rinsed with cold water, then 

 thoroughly scalded with hot water, drained and well aired. Unless 

 one is very particular, milk will accumulate in the seams of milk pails 

 and harbor enormous quantities of bacteria, producing the most objec- 

 tionable results and completely puzzling the producers as to the cause 

 of the trouble. 



As soon as the milk is drawn in any quantity it should be removed 

 from the barn to the dairy house. It is a great mistake to have a dairy 

 room opening directly out of the cow stable, for it soon becomes thor- 

 oughly impregnated with the barn odor. The dairy house should be 

 sufficiently far I'emoved from the stable to allow a good circulation ot 

 air between it and the stable. The milk should here be thoroughly 

 strained, aerated and cooled. 



Aeration consists in allowing the milk to run in a thin layer for a dis- 

 tance, exposed to the action of pure air. This is not absolutely neces- 

 sary, but it most certainly aids in removing the slight animal odor, as 

 well as the various gases the milk contains. It at the same time cools 

 the milk to a temperature of .50" F. The two most common forms of 

 aerators and coolers in use for this purpose are the Star and Champion 

 coolers These simple contrivances can be found at all dairy warehouses. 

 The Champion has the advantage of allowing a piece of ice to be placed 

 in the water used in the cooler, and but very little water is actually 

 needed. In case of the Star cooler, a current of water must constantly 

 run through the cooler to secure the best results. Milk as it comes from 

 the cooler is drawn into cans or other vessels, and still further cooled by 

 being immersed in vessels containing ice water as near the temperature 

 of 38- F. as possible, and held there till marketed. 



It will thus be seen that the secret of having clean, pure milk consists 

 in keeping out all of the bacteria possible, by observing the most rigid 

 rules of cleanliness, and in preventing those that unavoidably gain ac- 

 cess from becoming active by holding the milk at as low a temperature 

 as possible. Bacteria being plants, it is impossible for them to grow 

 when the temperature is within six or eight degrees of freezing. 



