Vermont Dairymen's Association. 87 



and the persuasive power of the seller. If each cow could bo 

 rated and guaranteed at her annual milk or butter product, and 

 sold under such a guarantee it would very much simplify mat- 

 ters. As it is there are two ways of learning or estimating the 

 dairy capacity of cows. 



First, by means of the scales and the Babcock test, and, 

 second, by a careful study of her form and dairy points. It is 

 unfortunate that so few dairymen know just what their cows are 

 doing, and it is hoped that this may be the means of inducing 

 many more to adopt methods of measuring accurately the capa- 

 city of their cows. When the seller can state definitely to the 

 purchaser how much milk and what per cent, fat the cow offered 

 has produced in a year, it will be a long step in advance of pres- 

 ent market conditions. 



As to dairy conformation and points. I rate the five essentials 

 in the following order : 



1. Udder, capacious, indicated by length and breadth of 

 attachments. 



2. Barrel, long, deep and roomy. 



3. Pelvis, wide, roomy ; hips and thighs of dairy type. 



4. Head, neck and shoulders rather long, and spare-fleshed. 



5. Superficial points, skin, hair, veins — escutcheon in- 

 dicating dairy capacity. 



If the dairyman knows that there are hundred dollar cows, 

 and knows the features by which they may be recognized, he 

 has progressed far on the road to securing them. The second 

 part of this address deals with the question of obtaining the 

 hundred dollar cow. 



She must be tried because. 



1. She is rarely met. 



2. She is not recognized when met. 



3. She is rarely for sale when recognized. 



To breed the hundred dollar cow, begin with her grand dam. 

 The breed is not essential so that it is a dairy breed. It is not 

 important that she be purely bred, although she is produced 

 by uniting similar qualities, for several successive generations. 



The bull is half the herd is an old maxim in breeding. On 

 the average where only ordinary care is taken in his selection, he 

 is just about half the herd so far as influence over the qualities 

 of his progeny are concerned. A bull of high character is an 

 individual well developed, out of superior stock of the same 

 kind for several generations, and prepotent in stamping his char- 

 acters on his progeny may be nine-tenths the herd as a power 

 for its im]M-ovcment. It is not from }our greatest cows alone 

 that you arc to expect the hundred dollar sort; but more often 



