38 



In the beginning of this article milk as secreted from the healthy 

 cow was taken as the ideal. The health of the animal, therefore, be- 

 comes a matter of prime importance. Suitable feed, pui-e water, good 

 ventilation, proper exercise and good care are all necessary. The con- 

 finement of cows in stables is, of course, unnatural, but has to be en- 

 dured like all ai'tificialities. The question comes on where to draw the 

 line between the essentials and the non essentials, and that is usually 

 governed by common sense and the exigencies of the case. There is 

 such a thing as being " more nice than wise," and the successful dairy- 

 man will be the one who can draw this line to a nicety, accomplishing 

 results with minimum expense. Some people object to using stanchions, 

 but the stanchion is not hard for the cow after she becomes used to it. 

 Tieing a cow up at all might with equal propriety be considered cruel. 

 The real inhumanity comes from the practice of keeping the cows in 

 stables all the time, and as a limited amount of exercise in the open air 

 is highly essential to perfect health, it is a serious question whether or 

 not water in front of a cow at all times is altogether a good thing espe- 

 cially if the cow is thereby deprived of her daily exercise. Such con- 

 trivances are costly, on the one hand, but are convenient and labor saving 

 on the other. 



To keep cows clean involves time and labor; how to reduce these to 

 lowest terms is most important. There is a variety of tie-ups, and 

 about as many different opinions regarding the same. Probably for 

 most daii'ymen some form of stanchion will, on the whole, be best. 

 This because the cow is held more firmly in place and cannot track so 

 much manure upon the platform, as is often the case where a cow is 

 fastened by chains, and then, too, with stanchions it is possible to fasten 

 a short chain to one stanchion by staple in front or rear, just below the 

 throat of the cow, and in the other stanchion there should be a staple 

 with an eye. The chain, provided with a snap at one end, should be 

 just long enough to reach across and catch into this eye. This chain can 

 be used to keep the cow from lying down after she has been cleaned 

 and unfastened after the milking has been accomplished. 



The floor planks in the platform must be of proper length and should 

 always be as short as possible for the cow to stand on comfortably, and 

 if the cows vary in size should be, say, 4 feet 2 inches at one end and 4 

 feet 8 inches, more or less, at the other, depending upon the size of the 

 cows, and the cows tied according to size, the smallest at one end and 

 so on up to the largest. The gutter behind the cows should be as deep 

 as the circumstances will allow and not too wide. By this arrangement 

 the manure is dropped in the gutter and but little on the platform. By 

 keeping the manure off" the cows much subsequent labor is saved. 



The cows during periods of confinement in the stable should be 

 groomed enough to keep thera clean, aside from cleaning their flanks 

 and udders. This work can be easily and quickly done by using a 

 partially worn-out broom with a part of the handle sawed oflF. A man 

 with snap in him, a live man, with this implement, using both hands, 

 can go over a fair-sized hei;d of animals in the time usually taken by 



