Stock and stalks

by James Russel Roberts

Milk from cows known to be diseased, or from cows fifteen days before coming fresh can not legally be sold. After freshening, milk can be sold as soon as it attains a normal condition. It is illegal to sell milk to which water or any other substance has been added, or milk which has been exposed to disease-producing bacteria, or milk that has been stored, handled or transported in an unclean or unsanitary manner.

Cleanliness. The greatest handicap in the milk business is the difficulty of getting milk that is as clean as other food which people eat. It is not impossible to do, but it is rarely done. In most all cities of the United States milk that meets the highest requirements as to cleanliness and sanitation is being sold for from 20 to 35 cents a quart. Such milk is guaranteed to be pure by a medical board and is labeled certified milk. There are various requirements in producing certified milk that need not all be explained here. But to the average consumer the main difference is that the producer of certified milk is as careful concerning cleanliness in milking and caring for the milk as a clean, respectable housekeeper is in making bread. In regular market milk we do not require cleanliness up to the standard for certified milk, but all producers and dealers in milk should recognize and admit the truth that common milk is not nearly as clean as it should be.

The public is well aware of this fact, and the demand for dairy products would be immeasurably increased if thousands of people did not feel an aversion to drinking milk because as they say, “It’s so dirty.” We can not go to the public and ask all we would like to have unless we, in turn, give them just what they want. The public wants clean milk and I believe that if milk improves in quality the public will use more of it. No person with dirty hands should ever milk a cow and use the milk for human food. A cow’s udder should be washed. The hair on the udder and flanks should be clipped short, and to prevent dust and hair from getting into the milk, her flanks and udder should be slightly dampened before milking. A gunnysack cut up in pieces about 14 inches square makes a very good towel on which to dry the udder and the milker’s hands. A clean towel should be used for each milking.

The cleanliness of milk is usually judged by filtering a small amount through a disc of cotton. This is called the sediment test. This test, in a measure determines the amount of filth and foreign matter which milk contains. Sufficient straining will make most any milk so that it will show a clean record on the sediment test. But remember that a strainer acts as a sort of pulverizer. Milk running through a strainer gradually dissolves and washes away the particles until they are so thoroughly in solution that we can not get them in a clarifying machine. We would prefer milk strained through a metal strainer only, but in many localities health departments require that it be filtered through cloth or cotton. Where this is required we oppose no objections. The greatest difficulty with cloth strainers is that they do not get washed clean enough. A farmer usually rinses out his cloth in cold water and hangs it up to dry. Sour strainers are about the first thing we look for on a farm where the people have been having trouble keeping milk sweet.

Absorbent cotton is all right, providing no cloth is used with it, but that it be held between metal straining discs, or that the cloth be thrown away each time with the cotton. Since to throw away cotton strainers each time is expensive, I do not think the system is practical for general use. It is easier and far better to keep dirt from getting into the milk than to let everything go in and then try to get it all out again.

Sanitation. Sanitation means “pertaining to health.” Clean milk might be unsanitary for it might contain injurious bacteria. Bacteria are plants. To avoid infecting milk with bacteria which cause souring and decay we can not depend upon cleanliness alone. The first few streams of milk from each teat of the cow will be found already infected to a considerable extent. In certified dairies the first streams of milk are never used. When cows are not milked dry at each milking there is a considerable development of bacteria that takes place in the teats and udder. Careless milkers have their trouble starting before the milk leaves the udder. Various diseases infect the milk of the cow. Milk from cows with garget or diseased udders causes sore throats in children and should never be used as food. Dirt that gets into milk is of itself objectionable, but it is also one of the greatest sources of infection.

Milk utensils should be sterilized. This may be done by the use of a chlorine solution called Bacilli-Kill, by boiling water, or by the direct rays of the sun. Most sterilization is not perfect and even the dust particles in the air contain enough bacteria to, in a measure, re-seed any surface. Bacteria can not grow without moisture. If utensils are not washed perfectly and food particles are left for bacteria to grow on, there will immediately start a new development from the re-seeding that will take place after the sterilization. Tin cans can not be washed well enough to make them perfectly free from foodstuffs on which bacteria may live. When milk dealers put cream in cold storage, expecting to hold it sweet for as long as two months they use cans that have never been used before. A metal surface is rough and I know of no way to wash a milk can as perfectly as a milk bottle. The milk utensils should be thoroughly cleaned with washing powder, rinsed thoroughly with boiling water, then carefully dried. In the operation of cleaning cans the most difficult thing to do in a factory is to get the can properly dried. When it cools down there is likely to be a certain amount of moisture deposited on the inside of the can and there is always enough food left on which bacteria may grow if the can is moist. In milk plants we sterilize all equipment just before using. Cans washed and sterilized at the plant and used on the farm twenty-four or thirty-six hours later become rancid because of being shut with moist air in them. It is our ambition to sometime be able to send cans to the farmers that will remain perfectly sweet, dry and sterile, even if they are kept closed for a week. But now we must confess to imperfection, and cans that get stale before being used are perhaps the greatest menace to our milk supply. If a farmer can set these cans in the sun with the lid off, it will help greatly. If he can scald them with boiling water just before he uses them, it will help even more.

Some farmers have great difficulty in delivering milk once a day and having it sweet when it arrives at the plant. We have kept a bottle of certified milk for more than three weeks in a refrigerator where the temperature is above forty degrees and at the end of that time it had not turned sour. Such results can be only obtained by experts, but it is not difficult to become expert enough to always be able to sell milk that is in a good marketable condition, delivered once a day.

Cooling Milk. The growth of bacteria in milk depends a great deal upon its cooling. Milk has a great tendency to take up bad odors, and its tendency to do this depends upon its temperature. Milk should be cooled within thirty minutes after it is drawn from the cow. If cooled below seventy degrees immediately and kept at that temperature or below, there will be very little difficulty of milk souring, provided due care has been taken regarding sanitation and cleanliness.

Well water temperature in this climate is usually fifty-four degrees. By pumping fresh water through a tank, having it overflow so that the warm water will flow off, it is easy in a short time to get milk as low as sixty-five degrees. When running water is not available, it is better to stir the milk until it is as cold as it will get in such water as you have, then set the cans in a small tank of fresh water that can be pumped by hand if necessary. Many farmers use the stock tank to cool the milk in first, then use some half barrels cut off at a height so that the water can not overflow into the milk but that it will stand slightly higher than the milk in the cans. Use one half-barrel for each can of night’s milk. In the morning cool the milk in the tank only. However, the most satisfactory arrangement would be to have a small engine with which fresh water may be pumped at milking time, and let the milk tank overflow into the stock tank until the milk is cooled and the tank is full of cold water. A tank should be divided by partitions made of slats running up and down so that a can partly filled may float without tipping over. It is not absolutely necessary that milk be uncovered while it is being cooled, but the cover prevents the milk from cooling as rapidly. Remember that warm water always rises. The cold water will be at the bottom of the tank. Some farmers divide their milk so that the cans will all float. The milk warms the water and the warm water rises above the level of the milk in the cans. Milk should always be covered when left sitting by the road waiting for the hauler, and should always be covered in the wagon or truck. Wet the blanket or canvas that covers the milk. This helps to keep it cool.