SECRETARY'S REPORT. 47 



The general aspect of the dairy animal is thinner, sharper, 

 and more angular than a feeding animal. When selecting dairy- 

 cows we should look for a wide chest, small head, wide between 

 the horns and eyes, small muzzle, slim, thin neck, sweeping 

 smoothly into the shoulders, the shoulders at the withers thin, 

 back straight, hips wide, and wide in the pelvis, and deep in 

 the flank, ribs a little flat, belly somewhat large, udder large, 

 extending well up behind and well forward, her general appear- 

 ance delicate and feminine; but, after all signs, the best recom- 

 mendation a dairy cow can present, is a list of a long line of 

 ancestors that have been famous for milk. Heifers may come 

 in at two years old, but are enfeebled in health and constitution 

 by the practice, and will not hold out in the dairy to so great 

 an age as those that come in a year older. 



The best dairy bull should have a broad, short head, horns 

 spreading from the side a little in front, and turning upwards, 

 back straight, a little sharp at the withers, widening backward 

 to the hips, slightly sloping rump, belly large and legs short 

 and fine, tail long and tapering, with a heavy brush of hair at 

 the end. Much of the profit of a dairy cow depends upon a 

 plentiful supply at all times of rich food. The variation in the 

 quantity of milk they yield is principally owing to the difference 

 in the nutritive quality of the food they receive. Cows receiv- 

 ing food poor in alimental matter, fall away in milk. Add to 

 the nutritive properties of their food, and they immediately 

 increase their flow. The quantity of milk then does not depend 

 on giving a particular kind of food, but on giving a quantity 

 equal to the support of the natural waste of the body, and 

 leaving a remainder to be converted into milk. 



Farmers err very much when they attempt to keep more 

 cattle than they have means to sustain in the best condition, 

 especially in winter. The result is, their cows come out of the 

 stable in the spring weak and feeble, and struggle through half 

 the summer before they are in condition to yield milk in quan- 

 tity more than equal to paying expenses. 



Dairy cows should be at all times in good condition. They 

 should receive their food at regular intervals ; their milk should 

 be drawn at stated hours, and by quiet, kind, gentle milkmen ; 

 and they should be treated at all times with the utmost kind- 

 ness. In short, every means in the power of the dairy farmer 



