Construction of Stalls in Cowsheds. 
119 
supplies ; but the general consensus of opinion was that the 
Model Regulations of the Local Government Board as to 
Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops, should be more stringently 
enforced, and that to those already in existence fresh clauses 
should be added dealing with the sanitary conditions of the 
farmyard. 
At these conferences it was generally recognised that 
impurities may be taken up by milk at various times ; but the 
u fountain head of milk contamination ” was invariably put 
down to the farms ; while dirt collected during transit on the 
railway, or on the premises of the milk distributor, or at 
restaurants, or in the dwellings of the poor, did not appear to 
be seriously considered, the prevailing idea being that, if milk 
left the farm free from dirt, the chances of its being polluted 
afterwards were more or less remote. 
Writing from the farmer’s point of view, it is not necessary 
for me to go into the question of dirt finding its way into milk 
after it has been taken over by the consignee ; but I must 
express my opinion that milk over twelve hours old (and very 
little milk is distributed in our large towns before that time 
has elapsed), when exposed to the atmosphere of some ill- 
ventilated and dirty house, or placed as I have seen it, in open 
tumblers on the counters of restaurants and refreshment bars 
at railway stations, must certainly collect or attract to itself 
dirt and other offensive matter. 
Returning, however, to the farm as being the original source 
of the supply, there are four different ways b.y which dirt may 
be brought into contact with milk : (1) the cowsheds ; (2) the 
cows ; (3) the milker ; (4) the dairy utensils. 
Cowsheds . — Cows are naturally clean animals. When lying 
out at grass, or when in loose boxes with plenty of room and 
clean litter, they will with scarcely an exception lie perfectly 
clean. If, however, the stalls in the cowsheds are not properly 
constructed, cows cannot lie clean, and then they appear to get 
callous and not to mind whether they are dirty or not. 
With wrongly constructed stalls the labour of cleaning the 
cows is considerably increased, and as a matter of fact the men, 
having none too much time for this, get careless and neglect 
the cattle altogether, the result being that the cows’ thighs 
become plastered with manure. 
The mistake in cowsheds is that too often the mangers are 
placed at the same height as if for a horse, and the standings 
are made too wide and too long. Mangers for cows should be 
on the floor level. The length from the wall or back of the 
manger to the back of the stall, or standing, should be just 
sufficient for the cow to stand up or lie down in, her head in 
both positions being over the manger. The width of the stall 
