THE CARE AND HANDLING OF MILK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1676, 13 April 1904, Page 64

THE CARE AND HANDLING OF MILK.

We take the fallowing from a leaflet issued by the Cornell University Experiment Station; —“In healthy animals the only possible channel of bacteria invasion is the teat. The teat is a canal surrounded by muscular Avails and closed at the extremity by an involuntary spMnoter muscle, which varies much in contractility in different animals. Often it is so lax that the pressure of a small amount of milk in Alio canal is sufficient to open it, and the animal leaks her milk, lu ocher animals, it requires a strong effort on the part of the milker to draw aie milk. This canal, with a temperature f the animal body, and containing always, even after th© most complete milking, a small amount of milk, offers ideal conditions for bacterial growth. When the animal lies down, be it on the pasture or in the stable, the wider and teats com© in contact with dust aud dirt, which are teeming with bacteria. It seems, then, reasonable to conclude that m case of leaky udders the bacteria adhering to the exterior of the teat have easy access to the interior, where they meet mem favourable conditions for rarid development. This assumption is borne ouc by the results of many investigations, wMoh invariably show t-iiat cows with leaky udders harbour a very large number of bacteria in tbe milk. For this, reason, such cows are discarded from tlie hem in soon© sanitary dairies. On the other hand, where the sphincter muscles cio®e the teat firmly, tne bacterial invasion is greatly ©necked. t join what has been said above A may clearly be seen that, if cows are allowed to wade in swamps oovered with stagnant water, or tie down on dirty, filthy’stable floors, which are covered with excreta., etc., tne chances are that a comparatively large number or bacteria will be able to enter the udder through tno teats, a fact which is especially true in the case of cows chat leak their milk. It is obvious, therefore, that the discarding of animals which suffer from disease, and of cows that have ieaicy udders, me use of drained pastures, and of clean bedding on the stall floor, constitute the fust step cowards improving tne hygienic and keeping quality of milk.