FIFTY DAIRY RULES

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 53

FIFTY DAIRY RULES

The following rules concerning the production and handling of milk have been deemed worthy of publication, in the annual report of the U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry: THE OWNER AND HIS HELPERS. 1. Read current dairy literature and keep posted on new ideas. 2. Observe and enforce the utmost cleanliness about the cattle, their attendants, the stable, the dairy, and all utensils. 3. A person suffering from any disease, or who' lias been exposed to a contagious disease, must remain away from the cows and the milk. THB STa^hE. 4. Keep dairy cattle in a room or building by themselves. It is preferable to have no cellar below and no storage loft above. 5. Stables should be well ventilated, lighted, and drained; should have tight floors and avails and be plainly constructed. 6. Never use musty or dirty litter. 7. Allow no strongly smelling material in the stable for any length of time. Store the manure under cover outside the cow stable and remove it to a distance as often as practicable. 8. Whitewash the stable once or twice a. year. Use land plaster in the manure gutters daily. 9. Use no dry musty feed just previous to milking; if fodder* is dusty, sprinkle it before it is fed. 10. Clean and thoroughly air the stable before milking. In hot weather sprinkle the floor. 11. Keep the stable and dairy room in good condition, and then insist that the dairy, factory, or place where the milk goes be kept equally clean. THE CO v> >->. 12. Have the herd examined at least twice a year by a skilled veterinarian. 13. Promptly remove from the herd any animal suspected of being in bad health and reject her milk. Never add an animal to the herd until certain it is free from disease, especially tuberculosis.

14. Do not move cows faster than a comfortable walk while on the way to place of milking or feeding. 15. Never allow me cows to be excited; by hard driving, abuse, loud talking or unnecessary disturbance; do not expose them to cold or storm. 16. Do nob change the feed suddenly. 17. Feed liberally, and use only fresh, palatable feed stuffs; in no case should decomposed or mouldy material be used. 18. Provide water in abundance, easy of access and l always pure; fresh, but not too cold. 19. Salt should always be accessible. 20. Do not allow' any strong-flavour-ed food, like garlic, cabbage, and turnips, to be eaten, except immediately after milking. 21. Clean the entire body of the cow daily. If hair in the region of the udder is not easily kept clean it should be clipped. 22. Do not use the milk within twenty days before calving, nor within three to five days afterwards. MILKING. 23. The milker should be clean in all respects; he should not use tobacco ; he should wash and dry his hands justbefore milking. 24. The milker should wear a clean outer garment, used only when milking, and kept in, a clean place at other times. 25. Brush the udder and surrounding parts just before milking, and wipe them with a clean, damp cloth or sponge. 26. Milk quietly, quickly, cleanly, and thoroughly. Cows do not like unnecessary noise or delay. Commence milking at exactly the same hour every morning and evening, and milk the cows in the same order. 27. Throw away (but not on the floor, better in the gutter) the first few streams from each teat ; this milk is very watery ;and of little value, but it may injure the rest. 28. If in any milking a part of the milk is bloody or stringy or unnatural in appearance, the whole mess should be rejected. 29. Milk with dry hands; never allow the hands to come in contact with the milk.

30. Do not allow dogs, cats, or loafers to be around at milking time. 31. If any accident occurs by which a pail full or partly full of milk becomes dirty, do not try to remedy this by straining, but reject all this milk and rinse the pail. 32. Weigh and record the milk given by each cow, and take a sample morning and night, at least once a week, for testing by the fat test. CARE OF MILK. 33. Remove, the milk of every cow at once from the stable to a clean, dry room, where the air is pure and sweet. Do not allow cans to remain in stables while they are being filled. 34. Strain the milk through a metal gauze and a flannel cloth or layer of cotton as soon as it is drawn. 35. Aerate and cool the milk as soon as strained. If an apparatus for airing and cooling at the same time is not to hand, the milk should be aired first. This must be done in pure air, and it should then be cooled to 45deg if the milk is for .shipment, or to 60deg if for home use of delivery to a factory. 36. Never close a can containing warm milk which has net been, aerated. 37. If cover is left off the can, a piece of cloth or mosquito, netting should be used to keep out insects^ 38. If milk is stored, it should be held in tanks of fresh, cold water (renewed daily) in a dean, dry, cold room. Unless it is desired to remove cream, it should be stirred with a tin stirrer often enough to prevent forming a thick cream layer. 39. Keep the night milk under shelter so rain cannot get into the cans. In warm weather hold it in a tank of fresli water. 40. Never mix fresh milk with that which has been cooled. 41. Do not allow the milk to freeze. 42. Under no circumstanced should anything be added to milk to prevent its souring. Cleanliness and cold are the only preventatives needed. 43. All milk should be in good condition when delivered. This may make it necessary to deliver twice a day during the hottest weather. 44. When cans are hauled far they should be full, and carried in a spring waggon.

45. In hot weather cover the can;, when moved in a waggon, with a clean wet blanket of* canvas. THE UTENSILS. 46. Milk utensils for farm use should be made of metal, and have ah joints smoothly soldered. Never allow them to become rusty or rough inside. 47. Do not haul waste products back to the farm in the same cans used for . delivering milk. When this is unavoidable, insist that the skim-milk or whey. ... tank be kept clean. 48. Cans used for the return of skim- i: milk or whey should be emptied and’ cleaned as soon as they arrive at the farm. 49. Clean all dairy utensils by first * thoroughly rinsing them in warm water; then clean inside and out with a brush and hot water in which a - - cleaning material is dissolved; . then rinse, and lastly sterilise by boiling water or steam. Use pure water only. 50. After cleaning, keep utensils inverted, in pure air, and sun, if po»- ; ' sible, until wanted for use.