FARMERS' IKSTITUTES. 53 



THE DAIRY. 

 HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD DAIRY COW. 



PROF. C. D. SMITH, AGRICULTURAL, COLLEGE. 



That cow is a good one Ihat transforms a largo amount of feed into 

 milk and butter economically. A farmer has haV;, silage and grain thai 

 he does not want to sell as such. He wants to put them through the body 

 of the cow and by her machinery separate the financially valuable butter 

 from the fertilizing elements to be returned to the soil. The question to 

 be discussed is how to choose the machine that will make this separation 

 most eflficiently and economically. 



Unfortunately dairymen without the scales and test do not appreciate 

 how widely cows differ from each other either in gross returns for the 

 year's campaign or in the amount of milk and butter they produce from 

 a given amount of feed. In a grade herd recently purchased for the 

 College we have, for instance, two cows costing approximately the same, 

 one giving- four hundred pounds of butter per year and the other but little 

 over two hundred. Do these cows look jflike? 



IS THERE ANY OUTWARD SIGN 



by which the dairyman can select his good from his poor cows? I wish 

 the 'Signs were more easily seen. In looking over this grade herd, know- 

 ing the records of each cow, it is plain to note that the good cows are by 

 no means the handsome ones, nor are they universally the homely ones. 

 We have cows, giving 350 pounds of butter, with long, slim, dishing 

 heads, and others with heavy, thickset stupid ones; good cows with long 

 slim necks and others with short, apojilectic necks; good coavs with bare 

 ''skinny" shoulders and equally good ones with shoulders well covered. 

 Are there then no characteristic points that a good cow has and that are 

 absent in a poor one? The answer must be — none that are apparent at 

 first glace to the beginner in cow selection. It is an art to pick out good 

 cows; an art to be learned in the school of experience. 



Naturally in choosing a good cow the udder and the blood vessels lead- 

 ing to and from it receive a good deal of attention. The udder, as far 

 as utility is concerned, may be even or uneven, hung well up or pendent, 

 fleshy or milking away to almost mere empty skin, and yet the cqw be a 

 profitable animal; but the udder must be well develoi)ed with reasonably 

 prominent milk veins and fairly large "milk wells" if you are to expect 

 large yields from her. Next 



THE COW MUST SHOW IMMENSE DIGESTIVE CAPACITY 



by the loose hide, big belly, wide mouth and comparatively heavy jaw. 

 Good health and good digestion are prerequisites to economical milk pro- 

 duction. 



Next, the cow, even if she be a so-called dual purpose animal, must 

 indicate a generous disposition, a tendency to put her food in the pail 



