[90S.] 



Cleanliness in Dairy Management. 



143 



to be recommended, for if such takes place the cow is apt to get 

 cold in one or more of the quarters. 



Each milker should thoroughly wash his or her hands and 

 arms before commencing to milk, and particular care should be 

 taken to see that the milkers' clothes are clean and suitable to 

 the purpose. This may be best assured by compelling each one 

 to wear a smock which has not been too long absent from the 

 wash-tub. 



As soon as the milk of each cow has been drawn, it should be 

 passed through a strainer, consisting of muslin resting on a fine 

 wire gauze, and removed to the dairy as quickly as possible. It 

 is a great mistake to allow milk to stand about in the cow-shed, 

 as is often done, for this only serves to inoculate it further with 

 germ- life. 



Milking with wet hands is an objectionable practice. A 

 cow can be stripped of her milk quite as thoroughly and as 

 quickly by dry-milking as by wet, once the milker has been 

 broken of the habit of milking with wet hands. Apart from 

 the fact that no dirt is so difficult to remove from milk as that 

 which enters in a liquid or semi-liquid form, the act of wet- 

 milking leaves the teats covered with a film of milk on which 

 germ-life immediately begins to multiply, and as that film 

 of milk dries the germs become more or less firmly attached 

 to the teats, only to be removed and washed into the pail at 

 the next milking. Moreover, the germ-life formed under 

 these conditions is generally made up of those species which 

 are capable of bringing about very objectionable changes in 

 milk. 



Importance of Cleanliness to the Milk Seller. — To the milk seller 

 all forms of germ-life are objectionable, for if he wishes to retain 

 his market it is necessary that he should produce milk which 

 not only meets with the requirements of the standard of quality, 

 but retains its freshness as long as possible. The keeping 

 quality of milk is mainly determined by two factors : one, the 

 amount of germ-life contained in it ; and, secondly, the tempera- 

 ture at which it is kept. This latter factor is, in reality, only 

 a part of the first, as the rapidity of the multiplication of germ- 

 life is dependent on temperature. Where milk has to travel 

 any distance it is the common practice before sending it 



