460 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



collection of individuals, good, poor, and indifferent, according to the 

 character of the various blood lines. 



If production is the sole aim for which the dairy herd is builded, 

 less attention need be paid to the individuality. Yet, the point is, by 

 no means, unw^orthy of careful consideration. It is a fact well recognized 

 that if a cow be productive and profitable to own, she must combine in 

 her conformation the indications of well developed constitution, capacity, 

 nervous temperament, blood circulation and ability. The most certain 

 method of building a herd of cows endowed with these vital points is 

 to demand that all sires and the ancestors of all sires used possess them 

 to a marked degree. Then, as surely as "like begets like or the likeness 

 of an ancestor," the resulting daughters will not be faulty in conforma- 

 tion. From the standpoint of individual conformation, therefore, the 

 sire should indicate great strength of constitution, with very large, open, 

 well distended nostrils, great depth from the top of the shoulder to the 

 floor of the chest, well sprung fore-ribs, giving great capacity for the 

 development of heart and lungs. Supplementary to these points, if he 

 is vigorous and rugged in appearance, acceptable constitution is indicated. 

 If he is capacious, he will have a large mouth, great length from 

 shoulder to hip bone, and well sprung, deep ribs, assuring a roomy 

 barrel for the storage of great quantities of foods, both concentrated and 

 bulky. In addition, the soft, pliable and elastic hide, covered with hair 

 that is silky and fine, vouches for a digestive apparatus that is strong 

 and has the power of utilizing, efficiently and readily, the food the animal 

 may consume. The digestion of the animal is either temporarily or per- 

 manently inefficient if the hide is hard and resistant to the touch and 

 the hair is coarse and wiry. 



NEEDS WELL DEVELOPED NERVOUS TEMPERAMENT. 



As truly as cows that lack a well developed nervous temperament are 

 loafers and unprofitable, so is a bull worthless who begets daughters want- 

 ing in this respect. The useful dairy sire indicates, more clearly than 

 does the female, excellence of dairy temperament. This does not sug- 

 gest that he is an unruly critter, but that because of a head broad 

 between very large, prominent, bright eyes, he possesses brain power 

 sufficiently strong to control the great nervous system which is demon- 

 strated by a prominent, open-jointed backbone, a muscular body, free 

 from beefiness in all parts, and a general appearance of activity. Bulls 

 with dull, sluggish eyes, inset, and close together, are of a slow, sluggish, 

 passive temperament, usually beefy in conformation, and beget daughters 

 that are predisposed to convert their feed into beef worth from 5 to 8 

 cents per pound, rather than butter-fat worth upwards of 30 cents per 

 pound. 



As surely as it is desirable for cows to have large, tortuous mammary 

 veins, numerous and large milk wells, and large udders, and medium- 

 sized, well-placed teats, so it is necessary that the sire in use has well- 

 defined mammary veins and milk wells of the same character and rudi- 

 mentary teats that are reasonably large, placed far apart and forward of 

 the scrotum; so that, through inheritance and possession, he may transmit 

 them to his daughters. 



