JUDGING DAIRY CATTLE 293 



head. A small horn is preferred on the females, and some 

 of the best known dairy sires have had rather small horns. 

 A thin, muscular, somewhat long neck on the cow, and a 

 strong, heavily-muscled, rather crested neck on the males, 

 are desirable. When the neck blends well with the head, 

 there is no unnatural fullness at the throat. The union of 

 the neck with the shoulders should also be smooth. Dairy 

 animals sometimes have a heavy dewlap, which, being 

 an evidence of coarseness, is rather objectionable. 



The fore quarters of the dairy animal incline to be some- 

 what prominent and are often rough. This appearance is 

 in most cases due to the lack of covering of flesh. The 

 smoothness of the .shoulder found in the beef animal is not 

 to be expected with the dairy type, but the blades should 

 extend well into the back and not be coarse. The withers 

 above the shoulders should be lean and somewhat sharp. In 

 fact, dairy cattle judges place a premium on thin, sharp 

 withers. Many great-producing cows, however, have some 

 thickness or fleshiness at this point. Occasionally, one will 

 find dairy cows with the shoulder points noticeably separ- 

 ated from the body. This characteristic is what is called a 

 spread shoulder, and shows a weakness of the muscular 

 attachment. Such a cow has an undesirable appearance, 

 but otherwise is not seriously affected. 



The body of the dairy cow should be deep at the chest, 

 yet not thick. As one views the animal from one side, the 

 depth from the top of withers to bottom of the chest should 

 be much greater than the length of leg. From a front view, 

 the chest appears somewhat narrow. Not much depression 

 back of the shoulders below the withers, at the point known 

 as the "crops," is desired, for this indicates weakness in 

 heart girth. The same criticism will apply at the fore flank. 

 The back should be well and strongly carried, with the spine 

 easily seen above and beyond the shoulders. A strongly 

 arched rib will give a wide back and a muscular loin, which 



