Don’t over-extend in poultry investment to the point where temporary reversal would be disastrous.
Chapter XI
THE FAMILY MILK SUPPLY
Living in the country should make possible an adequate and safe milk supply for the family. The transportation of milk from the farm and its distribution in the city constitute a costly process under present methods, and this limits consumption. Furthermore, the ordering in advance of a definite quantity each day means as a rule that only the milk delivered will be consumed. A maximum amount of milk is thereby set, based upon factors that may be alien to real needs of the family for this food beverage. Using milk and dairy products freely from a near-by supply will contribute much to the health of the entire family and especially of the children. The term “family” is used in this case to denote two or three adults and the same number of children.
Nutritional experts declare that milk is the most important of the “protective” foods. Scientists agree that milk protects by providing in the best form those necessities which are often lacking in other foods. Milk supplies calcium so necessary for sound bones and teeth, phosphorus, easily digested protein, butter fat and milk sugar. Most important of all are the vitamins found in milk. Milk acquires these properties from the cow, a living factory manufacturing milk from raw products, which are the foods the cow eats—the pasture grasses and the cured hay, supplemented with carefully blended grain rations. Nutrition authorities recommend at least a quart of milk daily for every child and ample amounts for adults as well.
Sources of Milk Supply.—The country resident will have little difficulty in securing an adequate supply of wholesome milk at low cost. He may obtain it from a neighbor who is in the dairy business or he may maintain a cow or two where the area is large enough to provide some pasturage and where a building for stabling is available.
If the milk is bought from some near-by farm it is important that the purchaser assure himself of the health of the cows producing the milk and of the sanitary conditions surrounding production and handling. Quality in milk is much more than cream content. Cleanliness in production and handling is far more important, and this the country resident can personally determine by occasional visits to the source of supply, an advantage difficult for the urban resident to attain. Quality in milk is not necessarily measured by the investment in the milking barn or the showy external features of the producing and handling plant.
The essential factors in the production of clean, wholesome milk are healthy, clean cows; healthy milkers; clean, sterile utensils; and sanitary stables and premises. These conditions can be attained by any careful dairyman and can be checked by any layman interested in securing a dependable supply of safe milk. The purchaser should insist that the cows be tested regularly under government supervision for tuberculosis and the reactors to the test removed from the herd. This is important in all circumstances and particularly so where the milk is consumed in the unprocessed state by children.