POINTS FOR PUECHASERS OF CATTLE. 581 



a head of wheat in feather. Calves, no matter what their age or 

 condition, which will make good milkers can be accurately and 

 safely selected by the escutcheon indications. It may be noted 

 that the escutcheon should be accompanied by large milk veins. 

 Marks of an Unprofitable Cow The kind of cow which 

 should not find a place in the farm or stock yard is easily distin- 

 guished by the following characteristics: She will have a large head 

 and large long horns; the form may be plump, but the thighs will be 

 fleshy and the hair long and coarse, the udder will be indifferently 

 developed, hard and muscular, and shrinking but little after milk- 

 ing. It will not show veins on the perineum or udder, and will 

 have but a small escutcheon. These are not good milkers, drying 

 in four or fiv6 months after calving, or rapidly after impregnation. 

 Neither are they adapted for taking on flesh to good advantage, as 

 too great a proportion of weight goes to the waste parts. 



Choice of a Bull for Breeding -A bull will hardly ever 

 be bought for any other purpose than for breeding. Consequently 

 the first and most essential point is to see that your bull is bred 

 from a sire with a good pedigree, whatever class may be selected, 

 and from a cow of high grade, in the same breed. He should be 

 young, not more than two years old, in perfect health and free from 

 blemish. The bull which will prove a good getter of calves for 

 dairy purposes will show an escutcheon similar in character to that 

 described above for cows. He may be deemed a good calf -getter 

 when the ascending hair of his escutcheon is not interrupted by 

 hair growing downward. The escutcheon in the bull begins at the 

 front of the scrotum, runs along within the hocks, spreads out on 

 the thighs, ascending to the fundament, where the respective sides 

 meet. On both sides of the belly will be found veins similar to the 

 milk-veins of the cow. They start forward from the scrotum and 

 reach a little beyond the navel, where they disappear in a little 

 cavity. The skin of the scrotum should be supple, with fine, thin 

 hair, soft and silky ; its color yellowish, and the scales which detach 

 from it oily to the touch. 



How to Ascertain the Weight of Live Cattle by 

 Measurement Multiply the girth in feet by the distance from 

 the bone of the tail immediately over the hinder part of the buttock, 

 to the forepart of the shoulder blade, and this product by 31, when 

 the animal measures more than seven and less than nine feet in 

 girth: by 23, when less than seven and more than five: by 16, when 

 less than five and more than three; and by 11, when less than three. 

 Example What is the weight of an ox whose measurements 

 H-reas follows: Girth, 7 feet 5 inches; length, 5 feet 6 inches? 



Solution 5fx7A=40 T V . 40 T Wx31=l,264ff which will 

 be the weight in pounds. 



A deduction of one pound in twenty must be made for half- 

 fattened cattle, and also for cows that have had calves. It is under- 



