170 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MILK HYGIENE 



ing on the opposite side from the body. This will protect 

 the milk from contamination by cows switching the tail, 

 splashing of manure or urine, and dirt falling from the 

 clothing of the milker. The milker should wash his hands 

 again before milking another cow and should dry them 

 well on a clean towel. Small, individual towels, about 

 10 x 10 inches, which can be used once and then thrown 

 aside for washing, are much more desirable than a large 

 towel used in common by several milkers. 



Soiled hands are a prolific source of bacteria in milk. 

 As many as 45,000,000 bacteria have been found on one 

 hand of a farm laborer. Washing and drying the hands 

 will reduce the number of bacteria 75 per cent, or more, 

 and also decrease the danger from chronic typhoid bacilli 

 carriers. Experiments indicate that careful drying is 

 quite as important as thorough washing, fewer organisms 

 remaining after careful drying than when the hands are 

 rinsed in an antiseptic solution after washing and are not 

 carefully dried. 



Milking should be done with dry hands. When the 

 hands are wet the moisture assists in loosening the epi- 

 dermal cells and dirt from the surface of the teat, and this 

 material gradually moves down to the end of the teat 

 and drops off into the milk pail. The practice of wetting 

 the hands with milk when beginning to milk is to be con- 

 demned because this milk, after being mixed with the 

 dirt on the teats, drops off into the pail. 



Sometimes dairymen claim that it is sufficient to wash 

 the hands before beginning to milk, saying that if the 

 udders are clean the hands will not become soiled. This 

 would be true if the udders were bacteriologically clean 

 and if the milker did not touch anything but the clean 

 teats of the udder. But the milker sometimes touches 



