DAIRY ME;]JTING. IO5 



Jersey cows, that there was not a very great discrepancy between 

 cows. In our old herd there was quite a uniformity. We 

 hardly ever had a cow that would make less than 250 pounds 

 of butter per year, and from that up to 350. But these cows 

 varied greatly in the test. The cow that almost everybody 

 would pick out as the best cow in the lot tested only 3.5 per 

 cent. I was completely surprised. One of the cows that from 

 all appearances would give the poorest milk tested the highest. 

 She gave 6,517 pounds of milk in a year, and made over 500 

 pounds of butter. The other cow gave 4,220 pounds of milk 

 and made 173 pounds of butter. I had always supposed that 

 I knew a little something about what a cow would do by the 

 looks of her. I never believed that the shape of the cow's face 

 ■or head or the color of her tail had anything to do with her 

 value, more than to please the eye, but I had thought that the 

 udder denoted something, and the milk veins. I still think the 

 milk veins have more to do with the quality of the cow than 

 any other marks. You cannot tell by the size of the udder 

 "but you can tell something by the milk veins. I have never yet 

 seen a cow with large, crooked milk veins that would not give 

 a large flow of milk. But that does not denote the length of 

 time she will give it. or the quality. 



I have found out one thing about the individuality of the 

 ccw, and that is that I cannot tell what she will produce in any 

 other way than by the scale and test. And I want to say to you 

 that there are a great many other dairymen in the State in the 

 same condition that I am. When I started out to replace my 

 herd I should have been in a bad fix if I had not found that there 

 were lots of other dairymen who did not know any more about 

 their cows than I did. and they were just as liable to ofifer me 

 their best cows as their poorest. I want to cite a few instances 

 to show you how little I know and how little some others know, 

 about cows. The first cow in our new herd I bought of one 

 of my neighbors. He had a nice herd of cows, and he sent 

 word to me that he had a cow to sell, one just ready to come 

 in. I went down to see him and asked him what kind of a 

 cow she was. He said, "She ought to be a good cow ; she came 

 of the best cow I ever had, and she was sired by your bull." 

 I knew the mother well and knew that she was a first-class cow, 



