DAIRY CATTLE 



475 



Or thoroughly brushed before milking; 

 the milk should be removed from the 

 stable as soon as drawn and strained 

 through several layers of cheese cloth, 

 or cotton batting, after which it is to be 

 aerated and immediately cooled by the 

 use of ice or water. If milk is held 

 over night, it must be stored in a place 

 free from odor. All dairy utensils must 

 be thoroughly washed and scalded in 

 order to render them sterile. The tem- 

 perature at which the milk is held may 

 range from 40° to 60° F. On many 

 farms it is not easy to keep the tem- 

 perature below 60° F. Great improve- 

 ments in the points just mentioned with 

 regard to the sanitary care of milk may 



while a portion of this section of the 

 barn may be separated off as a milking 

 stable. The rest of the barn may be so 

 arranged that the forage is hauled in 

 upon the second floor and stored so that 

 it may be fed to cows without creating 

 a dust in the milking stable, and 

 without becoming contaminated with 

 odors from cow manure. One necessary 

 feature from a sanitary standpoint is 

 that the floor of the milking stable shall 

 be impervious to water and smooth 

 enough to allow it to be flushed out at 

 frequent intervals. The manure should 

 preferably be taken out at one end of the 

 stable and dumped in a wagon, which 

 may be hauled away as soon as it is 



Fig. 304 — MILKERS IN SANITARY SUITS 



be made in a large percentage of dairies 

 and when this is done the quality of the 

 milk will be better and customers will 

 be better satisfied. 



Dairy barns — The chief particulars to 

 be remembered in the construction of a 

 dairy barn are convenience in stabling 

 the cows and storing feed, comfort and 

 health of the cows and ease of handling 

 milk under sanitary conditions. It is 

 obviously quite impossible to suggest 

 details of construction, since these will 

 differ in each individual case, according 

 to the local conditions. In some cases, 

 it will be found very convenient so_ to 

 construct the barn that the lower side, 

 if on a side hill, will furnish an open 

 shed for the protection of the cows, 



filled. The system of throwing the ma- 

 nure through windows immediately be- 

 hind the cows is very objectionable, for 

 the reason that the inside of the stable 

 will thus become smeared over with ma- 

 nure, and the odor of the manure lying 

 outside is constantly carried into the 

 stable. 



Dehorning cows during lactation — As 

 already indicated, in the discussion of 

 Beef Cattle, it is best to dehorn all the 

 calves at an early age, since the opera- 

 tion may then be done without pain to 

 the animal and they are thereafter ready 

 for any work required. If cows are de- 

 horned in full flow of milk, the milk 

 yield is thereby diminished for a period 

 of a week or two to the extent of 15 to 45 



