The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-03-31
To Secure Clean Milk.

be scrupulously cleaned after using by
first rinsing with cold water, then wash
ing with hot water with sal soda and
again rinsed and scalded with hot wa
ter. Where possible, thorough
steaming over a steam jet is desirable,
is the good advice Mr.. Smith gives in
Minneapolis Farmers Tribune.
Where there are but ten cows in
herd it will certainly pay to curry and
brush them - more particularly the
TANKS and udder and other parts of the
animal which ordinarily collect filth.
1t will pay to handle large herd in the
same manner 80 far as possible. By
thus keeping the cows clean the milk
would be much cleaner. 1t has been
shown by experiment that milk drawn
from cow that has been thoroughly
brushed and rubbed down with wet
rag, to remove the dust, kept sweet
over twelve hours longer than when the
precautions were not observed.
The litter used as bedding should be
removed as soon as wet or filthy, and
the stable itself should be kept as neat
and clean as possible. The liberal use
of land plaster or gypsum will absorb
the liquids and keep the stable dry and
sweet, and at the same time increase
| the value of the manure. Whitewash-
ing the stable several times year is a
good idea. 1t is the habit of some to
milk with wet hands, practice which
should be condemned, because it is
filthy as we'll as injurious to the cows
udder and teats.
BY milking with dry hands not 30
much filth is transmitted to the milk as
is done with wet hands. Mixers
should always keep an eye on the milk
as it leaves the teats, as very often
milk from one or two teats is bloody or
diseased. Milk from q cow showing
any signs of sickness should not be
used, nor milk which is drawn during
the first five days after calving, nor the
milk of COW for four weeks before
calving.
A mixer should keep himself and
his clothes clean, and not put on the
dirtiest jacket ne can find at milking
time. The fancy diaries of Germany
and Denmark require their mixers to
have clean suit of clothes, to be only
used during milking hours, and it is un-
doubtedly the care in these little de-
tails regarding cleanliness that enables
them to put up products superior to
any other in the world.
The milk should be removed from
the stable as soon as possible to pre-
vent it from absorbing bad odors, as
milk has great tendency to absorb all
odors and taints. 1t should be strained
Immediately. After straining the milk
should be cooled as quickly as possible
to as low temperature as the means at
hand will permit. If possible the milk
should be exposed to the air during the
process of cooling, as this will expel to
q great extent the "cowy" and other
Objectionable odors and taints found in
milk. The cooling and aeration may
be carried on by the use of apparatus
contrived to do the work by causing the
milk to flow in thin sheet over cold
surface. When this is not practicable
the cans containing the milk should be
set in cold water and stirred frequently.
Where milk is not delivered after
each milking it should be kept in q
cool place that is free from bad odors
until ready to deliver. The nights and
mornings milk should be delivered at
least every twenty.four hours. Hauling
in wagon provided with springs pre-
vents its churning.
Under no circumstances should the
delivery cans be used for any other
purpose than delivering milk. Do not
under any consideration take home the
skim milk in the delivery cans. Use
special cans or receptacles for this pur-
pose, for the reason that it is next TO
impossible, with the appliances that
the average dairyman has at hand, to
thoroughly remove and destroy all the
milk-souring germs lodged in the mac
cessible parts of the can.-Exchange.