charge to isolate animals with udder trouble as soon as they are observed. There has been splendid cooperation in this on the part of the owners. Animals have been removed from the milking stables at the time of veterinary inspections during the past year on account of the following conditions: The reports are forwarded to the Commission monthly and in case of unusual irregularities a letter accompanies the report, calling special attention to the objectionable condition. We are glad to report that the recommendations are promptly complied with on the part of the dairy owners and that it is seldom necessary to report incomplete on recommendations made the previous month. Monthly Sanitary Inspections: The monthly sanitary inspections of dairies are made by the laboratory assistant at a different time than the veterinary inspections. Particular attention is given to sanitation and to the carrying out of the Commission's regulations, but in addition to this the animals are observed for ear tags, udder troubles and vaginal discharge. Inspections of Distributing Stations and Wagons: Once each week all distributing stations or their delivery wagons are inspected to observe the handling and icing of Certified Milk. In San Francisco County this work is regularly carried out by Dr. Rudd. When distributors fail to ice the milk on wagons the Certified Dairy supplying them is fined $10.00 by the Commission. On the east side of the Bay the work is carried out by the laboratory assistant, using a motor cycle on account of the larger territory to cover. Since the motor cycle has been brought into use there have been few violations, as the wagon drivers have little opportunity for escape. For first offenses the drivers are permitted to return to the milk plant for ice. For second offenses the certificates are removed from the bottles. Blank reports are filled out for all violations, one copy being sent to the Secretary of the Commission and a second copy mailed to the distributor. With these systems of supervision, few violations occur among distributors on account of not icing the milk Semimonthly Bacteria and Chemical Examinations of Certified Milk: Samples of milk are collected from different distributors twice each month for each Commission. Three dairies ship milk to both San Francisco and Alameda Counties so that there are four examinations made each month for these dairies. The following are the results of bacteria examinations of Certified Milk during the past year: Number of examinations for all dairies............................. the year..... 272 ..... 14 or 5.1% .4,974 In conclusion, I believe that I can safely say that the Certified Dairies supplying the San Francisco Bay region are a financial success. They are of a size that makes this possible. The dairies as a whole are efficiently managed and are constantly improving their equipment. Built up along these lines they should be permanent. It is important now that Milk Commissions interest themselves in guarding the avenues that may lead to failure in order that Certified Milk may maintain its present high standard and public favor and that Certified Dairies may continue to prosper. Dr. Chester L. Roadhouse, University of California: I have brought with me one set of reports from one of the six dairies that are on file at the Veterinary Division in the University of California at Berkeley, where these reports are kept for reference. As a matter of possible interest I would explain that one box of this type kept in the filing cabinet is used for each dairy, and copies of all reports are typewritten and filed in this drawer; the report of bacterial examinations being filed in front and the veterinary inspections filed next to them. In addition to this, we find it quite important to file carefully the identification cards of the cows for each dairy; and this is a sample of the system which we follow (Exhibiting same). In this first pack are included the additions to this particular dairy during the period since the last semiannual test; the next pack is labeled, "Cows in herd and tested January 6, 1915;" and the third pack of identification cards, there being one for each animal, covers the cows not in herd January 6, 1915. A large number of animals are sold each year or disposed of for different reasons. Every six months there is a complete clearing up of the identification cards at the time of the tests, and those animals which remain in the herd are shown by the test sheets filed here. All reports of tuberculin tests are recorded on blanks used for that purpose. The tuberculin tests are filed from the beginning of this work until the present time. This happens to be one method of filing. You may use different methods. I think this is convenient because of the fact that the sheets can be loosened and turned back so as to permit of easy examination of any particular sheet in the file. If any of you are interested in examining these records more closely I will leave them here for your inspection. Dr. Walter D. Ludlum now temporarily took the Chair, relieving Dr. McCleave. Dr. W. D. Ludlum (In the Chair): As Dr. McCleave said this morning, several of these papers are on the same general subject and will receive discussion at the same time. The next paper on the program is, "The Relation of the Producer to the Commission" by H. R. Timm, Dixon, Cal. The Relation of the Producer to the Commission By H. R. Timm, Dixon, Cal. You have no doubt all been to a great many conventions where you may have listened to long tiresome papers on subjects that you cared very little about; so I have been wondering for quite a while what phases of the dairy business would tire you the least. When I had just about decided what that should be, I received a telegram from Dr. McCleave stating that I was to talk on "The Relation of the Producer to the Commission." I do not know just exactly what Dr. McCleave wanted me to talk about unless it be that I would tell you how much we loved the Commission (Laughter); but I do not think it is proper to do this because all of the dairymen are married men, and as a few of the members of the Commission are unmarried ladies, I would not express our affection for them in such endearing terms. But a dairyman always likes to talk about cows, alfalfa hay, and such things-not about the technique of milking or his relation to the Commission. I feel very much in the position of the second-rate musician who gave a performance before a mining camp, and after he got half way through one of the miners put a sign over the piano which read, “Please don't shoot the Professor, as he is doing the very best he knows how." Now California, through its natural advantages of soil and climate, is a country that lends itself particularly to cattle raising and dairying. It is a land where feed grows in abundance and the climatic conditions are such that it allows of a long grazing season; all of which are advantageous to the dairy business. You hear people talking about going into dairying and also saying that the dairy business will soon be overdone. Now this may, or may not be a fact, but I can remember the time when we first began to raise prunes and everybody said that there were already enough prunes planted in the Santa Clara Valley to supply the whole State; but we found that we were not limited to the State of California and we have been shipping prunes all over the United States and also to Europe. The prune market has stayed up. Of course, at the present time prunes are down as are all kinds of fruit, because they are feeding the European people on something a little more heavy than prunes; but if every other man in the United States, or I might rather say in California, were to resolve today to go into the dairy business tomorrow, we would not have any more milk or any more cream than we now have, because there are just so many cows in the State, and all the resolutions you might pile up would not make any more. It takes three years to make a cow, and then half the time she is not worth the making; so you see that within a year or two you would not double the out-put of our dairy business. Too many go into the dairy business blindly; they think all they have to do is to get an old cow and a milk stool and their fortune is made; but there are a number of things to be considered before you go into dairying as a lifetime job. First, you have to get the cows, which is not a very easy matter; and then you have to have the feed; then again you have to have a building in which to milk those cows and you have to know that those cows are really worth milking. You see in the dairy papers every day and hear people talk about "more cows, more cows," more cows to eat the abundance of feed in order to get better prices for their hay. I heard an old gentleman not long ago speaking for progressive agriculture and he was saying, "Get more cows to eat up the feed." Another old gentleman next to him asked him, "How many cows have you? You have two hundred acres of land, why don't you have two hundred cows? The speaker answered, "Well, I have ten cows." "Why don't you have more?" Well, that is all my wife can milk,' Now he had the ability to keep cows but not to milk them. There is a dairyman next to us who has two hundred cows, he has the ability to milk them and still doesn't make any money. He has seventeen children, the oldest of whom is twenty years old, and they are all good milkers. It does not cost him anything to milk those cows. I asked him not long ago, "How can you afford to milk cows like that that do not seem to give more than a pint or a quart?" He answered, "Well, it is all clear gain, all clean profit, because my children milk them." I was wondering what the Milk Commissions would say and whether they would really think that it was all "clean" profit if they could go and see those children milk. |