The Dairy Cow. 451 



THE DAIRY COW. 



Shape. 



It is a question liow far the conformation of tlie -Jersey cow has 

 lent itself to the spread of a widely held opinion that a cow, to be a 

 typical dairy animal, must be narrow chested and thin Ueshed. The 

 breeders of Jersey cattle, breeding solely for quantity and quality of 

 milk, after long and careful selection, have no doubt become possessed 

 of a class of dairy animals superior in these respects to any other 

 known breed. In furtherance of their work in the development 

 of a rich milk producing animal, and the whole attention of the Jersey 

 cattle breeders being given to the one object, their cattle have little 

 to recommend them to breeders who must necessarily aim at producing 

 stock of a general purpose character. Had the Jersey cattle breeders, 

 with their careful and systematic attention to details, for which they 

 are famous, found it to their advantage to have produced larger 

 framed general purpose animals, there can be little doubt but that 

 equally good results, so far as milk is concerned, would have been 

 attained. The production of butter suited the position of farming in 

 their isolated position, hence tlieir attention to a special purpose 

 breed of cattle. To those who feel inclined to question this it may 

 be said that there is clear evidence that the greatest care has been 

 exercised for generations by Jersey breeders in selection and mating 

 their cattle, so as to develop the quantity and quality of milk, while 

 on the other hand no such careful and united action can be traced on 

 the part of Shorthorn breeders. Until we have evidence to show 

 that systematic and practical efforts have failed in producing a wide- 

 chested, broad backed, deep and rich milk-yielding class of cows it 

 cannot be claimed to be an imj)ossibility to do so. Even with the 

 small attention that this subject has received from breeders, we have 

 direct evidence of what can be done in a few years by those who, 

 never losing sight of wide chests and broad backs, select their 

 breeding animals with the assistance of carefully kept records of the 

 quantity of milk produced with its percentage of butter fat. 



Fat and Flesh. 



With regard to this matter it is absolutely necessary to distinguish 

 between iiesh and fat, a distinction which even amongst cattle breeders 

 would* seem to be a matter of uncertainty and doubt. Full muscular 

 or flesh development can doubtless go hand in hand with deep 

 milking, but excessive fat development means absence of milk. To 

 many who fail to distinguish between flesh and fat, a deep, round 

 body suggests high feeding and small milking powers ; while a 

 fleshless, although fat animal, is often termed " a lean, milky looking 

 subject." There is one infallible test in such cases, a test employed 

 by butchers when purchasing animals for the block. It is trying 

 the thickness of the flank, or lap, as it is termed in many parts of 



