The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-23
What the Board of Health
Desires.
NO RADICAL CHANGES
TO Meet the Requirements No Heavy
Expenditure of Money is Neces-
sary---MiIk an Excellent Med
ium or Food For PutrefaCtion
Germs or Bacteria.


Fully one month will elapse before
perfection Shall have been obtained in
the plans of the Board of Health for
furnishing Raleigh a modern city
dairy system, and pure and uncon-
taminated milk supply. The special
committee having in charge the in
spections and which is authorized to
frame the milk ordinance, is probing
into every detail connected with dairy
conditions and operations, and they
report that the results of these eXaml-
nations demonstrate the necessity or
what they will propose to the city Tor
the regulation or government OF inc
diaries supplying milk to Raleigh.
TO publish certain instances and
conditions observed at some of the
oairieS would be too repulSiVe TO thS
sensitive stomach and delicate mind,
but a reporter has had long conVersa-
tons with members of the committee,
and has personally visited some of the
dairies, and these inspired him with
observations to which he here gives eX-
preston.
The inhabitants OF Raleigh arc in
terested in the movement, but do not
understand it, and the dairymen them
selves are not thoroughly acquainted
with what the Board of Health, for the
sake of the health of the people ask.
If the requirements below were prac-
ticed by all the dairymen, no change
would be imperative.
To give the people a proper under
standing and the dairymen exact
knowledge of what is desired the OBJ
servations are given utterance as fol-
lows:
Cleanliness Essential.
In the production of pure milk,
cleanliness is the most important con-
sidcration. Very few cows give milk
that has disease producing properties
ais it leaves the udder, and few if any.
Of the feeds used, do worse than give
the milk an unpleasant flavor.
Healthy COWS that receive sound feed
and clean water are essential to the
production of good milk, but in any
scheme looking to the improvement
of the milk supply of a city the most
important provision is cleanliness III
stables, mixers, milk-room. and YES
sels-cans, pals. bottles. etc.
To the successful dairyman clcanli-
ness must mean something more than
the visible absence of accumulated
filth 1t must have something of the
significance which sterilization has
with the bacteriologist; cleanliness
must mean the absence of filth or for
eign matter from the milk, whether
that filth be visible or invisible, but
fortunately it is neither expensive nor
difficult to obtain a satisfactory de-
gree of cleanliness if the dairyman has
the knowledge of what is necessary
and an appreciation of its importance
to him and to his patrons.
No Heavy Expense.
Expensive barns and costly appara-
tus are alike unnecessary but hot wa
ter, soap, WhiteWash, etc, all of which
are cheap, are essential. When the
filth, which most commonly contami-
mates milk, has once been allowed to
get intoNit, no amount OF cooling, aerat-
ing, Straining, etc., Will remove this
filth or produce a wholesome food out
of such milk. 1t should be remem-
bered that milk is an excellent med
ium or food for putrefactive germs or
bacteria as we'll as for man, and that
the filth of stables, COWS, and improp-
erly washed vessels abounds in these
putrefactive bacteria. 1t therefore be-
comes apparent that If this filth be al
lowed to enter milk, putrefactiVe and
other Objectionable changes will rapid
ly occur under the conditions which
usually control the delivery of market
milk.
Dairy Cleanliness.
Dairy stable floors should be smooth.
and tight, SO as to permit of thorough
cleaning. This condition can be OBJ
tanned with wood floors so that cement
and tile are not necessary, even if they
were desirable.
The side walls and ceiling of stables
should be tight enough to prevent dust
sitting freely through. No hay should
be kept in the loft, nor should cob
webs and dust be allowed to accumu-
late.
Abundance of light is essential if the
stables are to be kept clean.
The COWS should not be feed just
before, nor during milking, or the
dust thus set in motion will fall into
the milk.
The stables must be kept thorough
ly cleaned and the walls should be
whitewashed at least once every six
months.
The COWS should be kept tlean. This
cannot be done without bedding OF the
COWS are kept in the stable much Of
the time.
The long hair should be clipped
from the udder and flank of tho cows
and these parts thoroughly wiped with
a clean damp cloth just before milk
ing. A filthy cloth Wrung out of still
more filthy water. as is frequently
used, is not satisfactory.
Inc mixer should WASH ms hanQS
before milking.
The clothes Of the mixer should be
clean and used for no other purpose.
A clean, white suit is cheap, and soap
and water will keep it clean.
The mixer should not wet tho tcats.
If he does the milk or water used for
the purpose, along with filth from his
hands and the cows udder is apt to
drop in the milk.
The first stream of milk should be
rejected and the remainder removed
from the stable as each cow is MIXED
to milk room removed from the dust,
dirt, and odors of the stable.
All milk should be strained through
four thicknesses of cheese cloth, but
this, together with d wire strainer with
the finest of meshes will not, as has
bee nshown by actual tests, remove
more than one-half the dirt which
usually gets into milk
All vessels should be of metal, with
seams well filed with solder and free
| from rust. Others cannot be properly