Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1905-03-18
l1hAlgK!211
Straininq Milk.

prof- r W. WOll, in his book on
"Dairying," says:
Milk should be strained through a
fine strainer. By straining the milk
in room with fresh and pure air, a
strong infection of bacteria is not
only avoided, but the advantage is
also gained that the milk is aired in
the best manner. The animal odor
of milk as drawn from the udder,
which is so unpleasant to many, will
not disappear to any appreciable ex-
tent if the straining takes place in
the stable where the air is foul; the
odor may, on the contrary, often in
crease by the milk being kept there
for any length of time. In the fresh
air of the milk room the animal odor
would, however. largely disappear.
The straining of the milk may
cause germs of infection to be spread
in the milk instead of removing them
from the same, that is if the strainer
cloth is not changed often enough. or
if the wire strainer is not frequently
cleaned. In such cases it will easily
happen that the finest dustlike i'm
purities remaining on the strainer are
pressed downward by the milk run
ming through and that the bacteria
found on the larger impurities are
washed off. Actual trials have con-
vinced me that this may happen and
largely contribute to the infection of
the milk. 1 spread some coarse soil
strongly impregnated with bacteria
on a fine Strainer cloth and poured
newly-separated milk containing only
a small number of bacteria over the
same. The bacteria in the milk were
previously studied and found to be
different from the characteristic forms
| in the layer of soil. After the strain
ing the milk showed an entirely diff
ferent appearance under the micro
scope than before. 1t now teemed
| with the same kinds of bacteria as
those found in the soil. In a sample
taken after the straining had con-
| tinued for some time their number
had, however, greatly decreased, and
soon the strained milk contained the
same kinds of bacteria as the un-
strained milk, which plainly showed
that the soil particles had lost their
| high bacteria content. By a bacteria
| logical analysis of the layer of soil
| this proved to be the case, as this
now contained only very small num-
| Der of bacteria. The strained milk
was therefore far richer in bacteria
than before the straining and the
keeping qualities of the milk were
decreased by the straining process.
We thus see that by carelessness in
straining germs of infection may be
scattered in the milk. The large i'm
purities are removed from the milk
in the straining, but the most danger
Gus components of these, the fermen-
tation-starters themselves, are washed
| into the strained milk.
1t is therefore very important to
change the strainer cloth often during
The straining; or, if a metal strainer
is used, the operation should be
changed occasionally by allowing
the strainer in the opposite direction.
The more unclean the milk the more
frequently the changing and cleaning
process should take place.
In my straining experiments it was
also shown that the more violently
the milk dropped on the strainer, the
more the strained milk was mixed
with fine soil-particles and COW hairs.
The kind of strainer used also played
an important part in regard to the
quality of the milk strained. Milk of
| the highest purity was not obtained
by straining the milk through a good
| linen strainer cloth, or by applying a
| fine wire-gauze strainer, but by plac-
| ing the linen cloth on the wire-gauze
strainer and allowing the milk to pass
through them both. By changing the
ormer as often as need be, the wash
ng down of bacteria from the filth
remaining on the strainer will be linn
tied as much as possible.