1909.] The Construction of Cow Houses. 



543 



heads over the top of it, there is no greater liability of the 

 stall being soiled than if the animals were tied up with their 

 heads to the wall. 



Cleanliness of the udder and teats or the hands of the milker 

 is a comparative term, and will be variously interpreted by 

 different people. At the International Congress on Dairying 

 at Buda-Pest in 1909 Dr. Paul Schuppli gave the following 

 definition: — "The udder (and particularly the teats) should 

 be so clean that no one would shrink from touching them 

 with lips or tongue." This is one of the best definitions of 

 cleanliness of the udder and teats that has yet been given, and 

 the more it is considered the greater will be found the neces- 

 sity for its general application. 



In addition, milk once polluted can never be made clean, 

 as sieving and pasteurising only cover up the pollution by 

 removing what is objectionable to the sight, but, after all, the 

 pollution remains very much the same as before. 



In many parts of the country the most common type of 

 cow-house is that represented in Fig. 3, in which the 

 cows are stalled with their heads to one of the outside walls. 

 In these cases the one central passage serves the purpose 

 of conveying the food to the cows, removing the manure, 

 and taking away the milk. Like plans No. 1 and No. 2, 

 this one may be either single or double, the latter being the 

 cheapest building that can be erected. It does not, however, 

 give the same opportunity for supplying the stock with fresh 

 unpolluted air that designs No. 1 and No. 2 do, as the air at 

 the head of the stalls is always more polluted than in any 

 other part of the building, whereas it is there that pure air is 

 of most advantage. 



There is a type of cow-house which is very common in 

 many districts of Britain, but which is objectionable in various 

 respects. In It all the stock are fed from one central passage, 

 while the manure and the milk are removed by the two at the 

 sides. In this case the cows' heads are as far removed from 

 the fresh air inlets as they possibly can be, while the animals 

 breathe into each other's faces from opposite sides of the 

 passage. In a building of this class, where not exceptionally 

 well ventilated, the general health of the stock is likely to be 

 low, and one infected animal in the lot may cause a great 



