RAISING NEAT STOCK. 177 



traverse our billy pastures — not too heavy, and with short, strong, 

 muscular limbs. Our pastures are not very luxuriant, and we need 

 a cow which is a rapid and not too large a feeder. Our hay crop 

 is valuable — and a profitable cow must be satisfied with a moderate 

 amount of hay in winter. Grain is expensive here — and we cannot 

 afford to feed it to our co\vs to any great extent — especially when 

 they are dry and are merely stored for the winter. It is easy to 

 see that a large animal may find it hard work to supply herself on 

 a rough hill-side, during our summer months, when grass is not 

 over abundant. She may, and generally does, winter poorly on 

 the ordinary fodder provided by most of our farms. She is liable 

 to come up thin in the autumn, and to go out thinner in the spring. 

 It is evident too that a cow of small size may be too delicately 

 constituted to undergo the trials which I have described. The 

 labor of pasturing may be too great for her — ^the work of feeding 

 on short grass, a long summer day, and then travelling home at 

 evening — together with the exhausting process of producing milk, 

 may be too hard for her. And you seldom see a really valuable 

 dairy cow with a feeble general appearance — a small delicate head 

 —a narrow muzzle — a long leg — a flat side — a large, distended 

 carcass with feeble quarters — a narrow back — a broken chine — a 

 rough misshapen rump — and a small cheerless eye. There may be 

 exceptional cases — in which all rules fail. But if you desire to 

 select a good cow for this section, regardless of breed, you would 

 choose one with the following points, viz : 



Head of medium size, with a strong, well marked, bony 

 structure, broad between and high above the eyes, and wide 

 between the roots of the horns ; with a capacious but not clumsy 

 muzzle, full nostril, an eye full and mild, not too large and 

 prominent, jowls thin and wide, horns small, well curved, clear, 

 slightly turned upwards, — and with a Ci\lm and at the same time 

 strong and resolute expression ; neck long, well muscled, slender, 

 tapering, towai'd the head, with little loose skin hanging below, 

 and not dropping too much forward of the shoulders ; shoulders 

 thin and sharp at the top, and lying close to the chine^; somewhat 

 prominent, strong-muscled, and loose, jointed at the base, long 

 from the elbow to the point in front of the base ; fore quarters 

 light, comparatively, with a straight, slender fore-log, especially 

 below the knee — broad knee, and broad, flat, capacious foot ; 

 carcass deep, round and full about the heart, and increasing 

 largely towards the hind quarters ; back straight and loosely 

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