FARM DAIRYING 



milkers have the bad habit of moistening the 

 hands with the first streams of milk. The first 

 streams should neither go on the hands nor into 

 the pail. The milk in the udder proper is prac- 

 tically free from germ life, but as the cow lies 

 down on the never-too-clean floor, bacteria of the 

 worst form find their way through the opening at 

 the end of the teat, and in the milk in the teat 

 canal they gloriously thrive and multiply. This 

 is the milk that should go into a small tin for the 

 barn kitty. While bad for the milk supply, I 

 have never known it to kill a cat. Do not milk it 

 on the barn floor, or in a few days you will have 

 a most offensive smell arising. A good practice 

 is to rub the hands with a little vaseline or lard. 

 This takes the place of wetting with milk, ar- 

 rests any particles which might fall from the 

 teats, and also keeps the teats from chapping. 



If either the fore or back portion of the udder 

 is poorly developed, milk that part first in the 

 hope of stimulating the nerves and overcoming to 

 some extent the deficiency. 



Always milk the cows in the same order. If 

 you milk Spotty first to-night, go to her first 

 next morning. She may get cranky and hold up 

 her milk if you pass her by and go to Blacky. 



Milk as nearly as you can at the same hour, hav- 



[ 124] 



