570 How to Choose a Good Milch Cow. [December. 



The neck should be long, thin, and free from loose skin. A good 

 milk cow may be deer or ewe-necked, but never bull-necked. The 

 chest and breast should be deep, rather than broad, and the brisket 

 should project downward and forward ; and, whether large or other- 

 wise, should be round, well-shaped, and without loose folds of skin 

 depending from it. The girth behind the shoulders, moderate, and 

 arising more from depth than breadth of chest ; shoulders rather 

 narrow at top ; back-bone on a line with the shoulder-top ; ribs 

 arched, and well home to the haunch-bones, which should be wide 

 apart, and form a straight line across, neither depressed in the center, 

 at the lumber vertebrae, nor drooping at the extremities ; hind-quar- 

 ters lengthy, and the rump or tail-top nearly on a line with the back- 

 bone ; thighs rather thin, but broad, well-spread, and giving plenty 

 of room for the udder; belly projecting outward rather than down- 

 ward, with plenty of room for food ; the udder should be larger in 

 a lineal direction — that is, well backward as well as upward — between 

 the hind legs and forward on the belly ; also broad in front, filling 

 up the space between the lower flanks, but rather short vertically — a 

 deep hanging udder, from its swinging motion, being always the 

 cause of great fatigue to the animal when walking ; the teats should 

 be moderately long, straight, and equal in thickness from the udder 

 to the point, and also at considerable and equal distances from each 

 other ; the two front teats especially should be well apart, and the 

 direction of all four should be outward. When full of milk, the 

 udder should be greatly enlarged in size, and, when newly emptied, 

 shrink in a corresponding degree, and the skin gather into soft 

 creases. The mammary veins running on each side of the belly, 

 large throughout their whole course, and swelling into large puffs 

 at or near their junction with the udder; thigh veins also large and 

 easily felt by the hand. 



Of all these shapes, the more important are the long, finely form- 

 ed head ; long, thin neck; rump nearly on a line with the back-bone; 

 broad quarters; long udders from back to front; and large veins un- 

 derneath the belly, and downwards, from the loins and thigh, to the 

 udder. When seen in front, the body of a good milk cow should 

 present the appearance of a blunted wedge, the apex of which is the 

 breast and shoulder. Seen from behind, she should present a square, 

 well spread shape. Seen sideways, she should be lengthy, but not 

 lanky. 



Skin^ Hair and Color. — The skin is ever a true index of the milk- 



