154 Milk and Its Products 



Selection of the cows. It is important that none but 

 sound, healthy cows be selected for the production of 

 certified milk. The strongest and most vigorous organ- 

 izations not only produce milk best in quality, but 

 are most certain to stand the strain incident to the 

 trials of heavy dairy feeding. It is also important 

 from a financial standpoint that none but heavy 

 milkers be selected, as the labor of caring for the 

 animals is so great as to make light milkers even 

 more unprofitable in the certified milk stable than on 

 the ordinary farm. Sufficient care should be exercised 

 to select cows that have sound and normal udders. 

 Those that have at some time been affected with gar- 

 get, even though apparently fully recovered, should be 

 regarded with suspicion. It is well understood that 

 some cows, although apparently in a perfectly normal, 

 healthy condition, produce milk having a somewhat 

 high bacterial content. While these cows are not so 

 desirable, yet it is impossible to weed them out with- 

 out making one or more bacterial examinations of the 

 milk of each individual. Cows that show any indica- 

 tion of irritation at milking time are not desirable. 

 Any unnecessary movement tends to produce more or 

 less dust, particularly in the winter time, when the 

 stable floors are partially or wholly covered with 

 litter. 



Provision should be made to remove all cows from 

 the certified milk barn that have reached the period 

 of lactation when they are known as strippers. On 

 the other hand, they should not be placed in the certi- 

 fied herd until they are surely over the trials of par- 



