DAIRYING 15 



eral was done so carelessly, the total loss of milk in the United 

 States from lazy milking would amount to sixteen million pounds 

 per clay. This startling figure is undoubtedly as correct as the 

 statistical reports which give the number of milch cows in the 

 United States as 16,292,360, and it shows that a great saving 

 may be made by milking the cows dry. The last milk or strip- 

 pings is also much richer than the first milk, so that it is worth an 

 extra effort to obtain it. 



689. It has been estimated from careful observation made 

 by Professor Woll that the yield of milk can be permanently in- 

 creased nearly twelve per cent by a systematic udder manipula- 

 tion and further that there is such a difference in the way cows 

 are milked by different persons that some milkers are worth at 

 least $14.00 a month more than others on account of the differ- 

 ence in the amount of milk an extra good milker will obtain from 

 a given number of cows as compared with other careless milkers. 

 This fact was obtained from some experiments made at the Wis- 

 consin Experiment Station in which the difference in the amount 

 of milk obtained by four different men from the herd of fifteen 

 <iows was noticed. 



Milker No. 1 left .17 Ibs. butter fat per cow in the after-milk. 

 Milker No. 2 left .05 Ibs. butter fat per cow in the after-milk. 

 Milker No. 3 left .19 Ibs. butter fat per cow in the after-milk. 



Milker No. 4 left .2 Ibs. butter fat per cow in the after-milk. 





 These figures show a difference between extremes of .15 



pounds butter fat per day and if these fifteen cows are milked 

 300 days in the year, the difference would amount to an annual 

 loss to the ow r ner of 675 pounds butter fat which at 25 cents a 

 pound, amounts to $169.00, showing that the owner could afford 

 to pay the best milker $14.00 a month higher wages than the 

 poorest milker. 



690. The first jets of milk from each teat often contain a 

 large number of bacteria that have entered the udder by way of 

 dust and dirt adhering to the moist ends of the teats. This 

 "fore" milk rinses the tubes of each and removes many bacteria 

 so that when it is kept separate from the later milk this is more 

 nearly germ free than when no attempt is made to keep the 

 "fore" milk out of each milking. 



