34 MODERN DAIEY PRACTICE. 



partly covered with clay. At the front feet of the cows 

 this was usually dry as powder and dustlike, while in the 

 back of the stall it was solid and moist. At milking the 

 cows often stamp their front feet, and it is highly probable 

 that the milk in this way became filled with soil particles. 



Cow Stalls. A too long stall may indirectly be the 

 cause of infection of the milk. The hindquarters of the 

 cow will, under this condition, be soiled by the manure 

 when she lies down. This is especially the case with the 

 tail, to which particular attention must always be paid in 

 cleaning the cows. The cow will often swing her tail dur- 

 ing the milking, and if it is soiled, filth will of course be 

 spread to all sides. I have found that the milk may in 

 this manner be mixed with dirt of the most offensive kind. 

 At a farm where the stalls were too short, and where there 

 was no litter in the liquid-manure gutter, the cows 7 tails 

 were always wet and dirty; when the cows lay down their 

 tails lay in the gutters, which did not thoroughly drain 

 off the liquid manure. Although the gutters were new 

 holes and recesses had already formed in them, in which 

 the urine and liquid manure remained and formed pools. 

 By applying wooden shavings in the gutters the difficul- 

 ties mentioned were later on avoided. The cows could 

 then be kept clean, and the milk became as a consequence 

 cleaner, and kept better than was previously the case. I 

 have met with liquid-manure gutters of even worse defects 

 than the ones described in a large number of stables in our 

 country. 



On another farm, considered a dairy-farm par excellence, 

 all the stalls were too short for the large fine cows, so 

 that the hind quarters and the tails always lay in the low 



