300 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



A cow for producing cheese, is not profitable, unless she gives seven 

 thousand pounds of milk per year; a butter cow, a Jersey for instance, 

 should produce five thousand pounds of milk per year to be really 

 profitable. 



The stable where milch cows are kept should be thoroughly cleaned 

 before each milking, and should be swept each day; the cows' udders 

 should be brushed, and the milkers should wear clean aprons and should 

 wash their hands before milking. Milk should never be strained in the 

 bam, but in some place where the air is fresh. If milk is perfectly clean, 

 it will keep sweet much longer; sterilized milk put in bottles will keep 

 sweet for weeks and even months. Loud talking should not be permitted 

 in the stables while the cows are being milked, and each cow should be 

 milked by the same person for the entire season. 





^Cr^: 





TJie perfect milch type. 



Milk to be legally sold in New York State must possess three per cent, 

 of butter fat. For upper grades or first year work in the high school, 

 there could not be a more profitable exercise than teaching the pupils the 

 use of the Babcock milk tester. 



The Care of the Milch Cow 



The importance cannot be over-estimated of teaching the pupils in 

 rural districts, the proper care of milch cattle for the production of milk. 

 The milch cow is a perfect machine, and should be regarded as such in 

 producing milk. First, she should have plenty of food of the right kind, 

 that is, a w^ll-balanced ration. Second, she should have a warm, clean 

 stable and be siipplied with plenty of good, fresh air. A cold stable 

 makes it necessary to provide much more food for the cow; a case on 

 record shows that when a bam was opened up in cold weather for neces- 

 sary repairing, the amount of milk from the cows stabled in it, decreased 

 ten per cent, in twenty-four hours. There should be a protected place for 



