THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 321 



sterilized pails, cans, bottles, strainer and milk utensils, absence of flies and 

 dust in the air to which the milk is exposed, rapid cooling, and continuous main- 

 tenance thereafter at a temperature below 50 F., clean milk can be produced. 

 It must be evident that it is not difficult to produce clean milk if the sugges- 

 tions are followed intelligently. 



It is absolutely imperative that the cows producing the milk ~be free -from 

 disease. For the protection of the dairy herd diseased cattle should be promptly 

 eliminated. Everyone will agree that the milk from cows suffering from any 

 disease of the udder should be discarded. Careful experiments performed by 

 many trained and eminently responsible investigators have demonstrated be- 

 yond reasonable doubt that tubercle bacilli (germs which cause tuberculosis) 

 at certain times may be present in the milk of cows which show no signs of 

 tuberculosis by means of physical examination, yet are proved to be diseased by 

 the tuberculin test. This is explained by reason of the fact that cows which 

 have tuberculosis in the lungs swallow their saliva, together with the organisms 

 responsible for the disease, which pass, together with the food, through the 

 intestinal tract, and in this way are found in the manure and get into the milk. 

 Various foreign commissions have been appointed, and the results of their in- 

 vestigations would seem to show that tuberculosis in animal and man is iden- 

 tical. The department advises all producers, for their own protection and for 

 the protection of the health of their customers, to have their cattle tested with 

 tuberculin by a competent veterinarian at once. 



Cows must be groomed daily. Most of the bacteria found in milk comes 

 from the body of the dirty cow and indirectly from the intestinal tract. It is 

 this visible filth which falls into the pail while the cow is being milked. To limit 

 the amount of fine dust, hairs, and scales from the body of the cow which dur- 

 ing the process of milking get into the milk, covered pails were invented. 

 Since the bacteria are so small that they can not be filtered, at least by cotton 

 and cheesecloth, once they are in solution, it is absolutely necessary that they 

 be not allowed to fall into the milk. It is only the visible filth, such as straws, 

 hairs, hayseed, scales, and large pieces of manure, etc., which remains on the 

 surface of the cotton or ordinary strainer cloths, while most of the soluble filth 

 and the bacteria which come from the intestinal tract pass into the milk. 

 Many of the so-called sanitary pails containing numerous pieces of cheese-cloth 

 and cotton through which the milk must pass, instead of removing the bacteria 

 are found in fact upon examination to increase the number, since the continu- 

 ous streams upon the sediment washes all the bacteria and soluble filth into 

 solution. 



The amount of dust and dirt which can fall upon the surface of the milk 

 pail will depend upon the cleanliness of the cow- first of all, and then upon the 

 area of the collecting surface. Numerous experiments by agents of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry have shown that milk from tuberculous cows, even when 

 the udders were not diseased, are infected with tubercule bacilli from the 

 manure of the animal. These experiments show that great care is necessary 

 in guarding milk from contamination with particles of dry manure, stable dust, 

 and dirty hairs from the body of the dirty cow. It is, therefore, absolutely 

 necessary that the cows be clean. This cleaning should be done at least one- 

 half hour before the cows are milked, and should be done thoroughly. An old 

 currycomb or a card and an ordinary stable brush will usually serve for the 

 purpose. In some cases the cow's udders and teats must be washed, and if 

 this is found to be necessary the udders and teats should be thoroughly dried 

 before milking is begun. The udder, teats, and parts of the cow which come 

 directly over the milk pail should always be cleansed before the cows are 

 milked with a clean, damp piece of sacking or a towel, and then the hands 

 must be washed thoroughly. The cloths used for this purpose should be 

 washed and kept clean. 



Stables must be -kept clean. It is certainly necessary to brush down from 

 time to time the cobwebs and dry manure dust which may have accumulated 

 upon the interior of the cow stable, and to sweep up any dry material that 

 may be scattered over the stable floor that the drafts of wind may not dislodge 

 it and blow it into the milk pail. If one will stand where the rays of sunlight 

 pass through the window into a room which is being swept and notice the 

 visible dust particles in the air it will be evident that no sweeping be done in 

 the stable during milking; and that at least one-half hour must elapse after 

 sweeping the floors or cleaning the cows before the milk pails are brought into 

 the stable and milking begun, in order that the dust may settle upon the floor 

 and not fall into the milk pails and thereby contaminate the milk. 



