PRODUCTION OF MILK FOR CITY USE. 121 



work that makes the business distasteful. Whatever methods that are 

 practicable that will lessen this cost of delivery should not only be welcomed 

 but sought after. It has been demonstrated by experience that milk may 

 be so handled that one delivery per day will suffice and that the methods 

 necessary to secure this result will also make a better product for consump- 

 tion. It works to the advantage of the producer and consumer. The es- 

 sentials are cleanliness and a fairly low temperature. The former is hard 

 to secure, the latter may be obtained cheaply. 



Milk of good quality can only be obtained from cattle capable of pro- 

 ducing a good quality. A dairyman with nondescript cattle can not hope 

 to compete with his neighbor having high grade or pure bred Jerseys. 

 Neither feed nor surroundings can compensate for breed characteristics in 

 the per cent, of fat present. A high grade milk should contain five per 

 cent, or more of butterfat, a good milk four per cent, or more, while a milk 

 containing only three per cent, must be considered low. Probably 80 per 

 cent, of the milk delivered in cities will contain from three to four per cent, 

 of fat, 15 per cent, will contain between four and five per cent., and five per 

 cent, will contain more: than five per cent, of fat. Dairies in which the 

 cattle are common stock selected upon the basis of the amount of milk 

 produced, and kept only for a short time and then turned over to the butcher 

 as fatted stock, are never high grade. In fact they are not high grade in 

 quantity as an exact record is not kept, and when such is made for a com- 

 parison it is disappointingly low. A dairy in which there is frequent 

 change can not have a uniform set of milkers ; cows are less docile and are 

 more predisposed to disease and to injuries from each other. As long as 

 milk is sold by the quart volume and not upon its quality, the dairyman 

 delivering three per cent, milk receiving the same as the one delivering 

 five per cent, milk, so long will there be a preponderance of poor dairies. 



It is almost unnecessary to say that the herd must be healthy. Only 

 the most unscrupulous will willingly or knowingly milk a cow that is dis- 

 eased. Some will milk a cow having garget in one quarter and some will 

 milk a tuberculous animal not realizing the danger that may come from it. 

 In all herds there should be ample provision of separation of animals at 

 breeding periods. 



The stable arrangement and conditions are very important factors 

 in the preservation of the health of the herd and in the ease with which 

 cleanliness may be secured. From a hygienic standpoint some of the newest 

 and most expensive dairies are most at fault. It is the proper plan and 

 not the amount of expense that is put into a stable that determines its 

 fitness. In the recently constructed dairies tight siding to secure warmth 

 has taken the place of the loosely constructed stables, but no adequate 

 means for ventilation has been given to compensate for this lessened circu- 

 lation of air. The cubic air space allotted to animals in a number of barns 

 was found to be from 250 to 300 cubic feet or from one-fourth to one-third 

 the amount that should be allotted. The object has been to secure warmth 



