LECTURE XXIX. 



DAIRY CATTLE. 



Points to Be Observed in Judging and Selecting the Same. 



The Dairy cow, in her highly specialized form, may be con- 

 sidered as a manufacturing plant wherein raw products, such 

 as grains and fodders, may be transformed into a food avail- 

 able to man. 



There are two portions of the body which are of chief 

 importance as manufacturing centers. These are the stomach 

 and udder. 



The stomach receives the food from the alimentary canal; 

 the food is softened, mixed, and retained in the first stomach, 

 the rumen, until soft, and is stored here until the animal is 

 ready to masticate it more thoroughly. It is then sent to the 

 mouth, where it is chewed, and sent back to the second 

 stomach, the reticulum. From here it passes to the third, 

 omasum, and then to the fourth or true stomach. During 

 this time it is acted upon by the juices of the salivary glands, 

 and upon reaching the true stomach, abomasum, it is acted 

 upon by the gastric juices which change the albuminoids 

 into peptones. After leaving the fourth stomach it passes 

 to the small intestines, where it is acted upon by the bile 

 and pancreatic juices, and is rendered available for absorp- 

 tion by the blood. The food, thus digested, now passes 

 through the walls of the small intestine, into the circulation, 

 and is carried by the blood to all parts of the body, the 

 nutritive -elements in the blood being utilized by the various 

 organs and tissues. 



The udder consists of two large masses of glandular struc- 



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