524 THE CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY 



{c) The milker. — The passing of the female milker is to be 

 regretted, for now it happens that frequently odd men about the 

 farm are employed as milkers amongst their other functions. 

 They are often ill-trained, and unclean in person and manipula- 

 tion. Yet the milker should be clean in all respects. He should, 

 of course, be free from infectious disease of any kind, including 

 tuberculosis. He should thoroughly cleanse his hands just before 

 milking, and should, if possible, wear a clean smock, used only 

 when milking, and kept in a clean place at other times. Milkers 

 would also do well to rinse their hands in clean water between 

 the milking of each cow. Milking should be done quietly and 

 thoroughly, and the first few streams from each teat thrown away, for 

 such milk is often somewhat watery, and always contains the air 

 bacteria which have gained access to the teat during the interval 

 since the last milking. Milking should be done with dry hands, 

 which should not come into contact with the milk. The Hegelund 

 system of milking manipulation has been extensively tested in 

 Denmark and the State of Wisconsin with much success and a 

 marked increase of the milk yield, 



4. Treatment of Milk after Milking- 



The Danes recognise in a manner and to an extent at pre- 

 sent unknown generally in Great Britain, that the destruction, 

 inhibition, and control of bacterial activity in milk is the basis of 

 all successful dairying. They recognise the multitudinous oppor- 

 tunities which milk has of becoming polluted from the time it 

 leaves the udder of the cow to the time it reaches the consumer's 

 mouth, and they further recognise that milk is a highly favourable 

 medium, and that, therefore, the bacteria which gain access multiply 

 at an enormous rate. In consequence of this knowledge the 

 Danes adopt three simple principles : — 



First, to prevent organisms gaining access, by cleanly methods 

 of dairying. 



Secondly, to strain thoroughly. 



Thirdly, to inhibit by refrigeration the growth of such organisms 

 as may have, by accident, gained access to the milk. Clean milk- 

 ing, careful straining, rapid cooling — are, so to speak, the three 

 cardinal parts of the dairy creed in Denmark. 



I. Clean milking*. — This desideratum is obtained in consider- 

 able degree if the cows, the milkers, and the byres are clean. With 

 these matters we have already dealt. There remain, however, 



