VAN PELT'S COW DEMONSTRATION 



as double-extension veins. It is quite often that cows have 

 double-extension veins on one side of the animal, and oc- 

 casionally they are found on both sides. Many times the 

 veins branch, running back and forth across the abdomen 

 and extending upward on her sides and forward in certain 

 cases even as far as the shoulder pits. Invariably the greater 

 the development of the mammary veins, designated by their 

 length, size and tortuousness, the larger and more numerous 

 the milk wells, the more productive the cow. There are a 

 few who disagree with this opinion, but it is only necessary 

 to examine the abdomen of every cow that has been largely 

 productive as compared with those that are unproductive to 

 agree that much importance should be based upon the mam- 

 mary veins and milk wells, circulation of blood and pro- 

 duction. 



I have never seen an extremely good cow whose system 

 of mammary veins and wells was not extremely well developed, 

 and I have never seen a really poor cow with a great mam- 

 mary system. It has been my pleasure to examine such 

 cows as Colantha 4th's Johanna, Jacoba Irene, Dairymaid of 

 Pinehurst and Financial Countess and without exception their 

 veining is tremendous. 



Milk Wells V 



In the instance of Colantha 4th's Johanna the entire 

 abdomen is covered with veins ranging in size from that of 

 a man's thumb to that of his wrist, terminating in numer- 

 ous wells which, in turn, range in size sufficiently large for 

 the insertion of a man's thumb to those only large enough 

 for the insertion of the small finger. These indices point 

 to the fact that a wonderful volume of blood has passed 

 through the udder. Common sense bespeaks the necessity 

 when it is remembered that in the case of Colantha 4th's Jo- 

 hanna there was a yield in one year of 27,432.5 pounds of 

 milk containing 1,247.95 pounds of butter. In her case, as 

 in the case of every other good cow, it would matter little how 

 great her constitution, how capacious her digestive apparatus 

 or how strenuous a worker she might have been, had the 

 greater percentage of her blood flowed to the top of her 

 back, carrying with it the nutrients extracted from her food, 

 she would never have produced the wonderful volume of 

 milk and butter-fat which she did; and, although she might 

 have been a profitable animal for the butcher, she would have 

 been worth little in the dairy. 



[51] 



