CHAPTER VIII. 



MILK AND ITS CARE. 



C. H. ECKLES, 

 Dairy Husbandry, Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station, 



A. MILK. 



I. Secretion of Milk. 



Milk is a fluid secreted by the mammary 

 glands of all animals that suckle their young. 

 It contains all the elements of nutrition neces- 

 sary for the nourishment of the young animal 

 in a palatable and easily digested form. 



The material forming milk is all taken from 

 the blood, but changed in nature by the secret- 

 ing cells so that no constituent of milk, except 

 water, is found in the blood in the same form. 



In the wild state the cow only gave milk 

 enough to nourish the calf until it could subsist 

 on other food. Under domestication of the 

 cow the secretion of the milk has been greatly 

 increased by careful selection and liberal feeding. 



II. Care of Milk. 



The conditions under which milk is handled 

 are of the greatest importance, whether it be 

 used as food or manufactured into butter or 

 cheese. 



i. Sources of Abnormal Gdors. Milk begins 

 to decompose and possesses abnormal odors 



