608 BREEDING FOR THE DAIRY. 



since a short supply of milk is an indication of and associated with 

 enfeebled breeding powers, every care should be taken to obviate 

 this defect. 



How Ancestry Affects the Quality of the Dairy 



Cow Experience has shown that in cows the supply of milk 

 depends not so much on either of the parents as on the mother of 

 the bull which begets. This is stated by Sedgwick in the Medico- 

 Chirurgical Review to be a fact beyond dispute, and he quotes also 

 in support of this proposition the distinguished French authors, 

 Bondach and Guion 



The Points Which are Desirable in a Dairy Cow 

 Mr. Elliott W. Stewart, a distinguished American authority, in his 

 work on " Feeding Animals," makes the following suggestions, in 

 regard to the selection of cows for the dairy, and no better guide 

 can be offered. He says: 



" Look first to the great characteristics of a dairy cow large 

 stomach, indicated by broad hips, broad and deep loin and sides, a 

 broad or double chine these indicate a large digestive apparatus, 

 which is the first essential to the manufacture of milk. Secondly ', 

 a good constitution, depending upon the lungs and heart, which 

 should be well developed, and this is easily determined by examin- 

 ation ; but the vigor and tone of the constitution are indicated by the 

 lustre of the hair and brightness of the eye and horns, and the 

 whole make up. Thirdly, having determined her capacity for 

 digesting surplus food for making milk, look carefully to the udder 

 and the veins leading to it. The cow may assimilate a large quan- 

 tity of food which goes mostly to lay on fat and flesh; but if she 

 has a long, broad, deep udder with large milk veins, it is safe to 

 conclude that her large capacity for digestion and assimilation is 

 active in filling this receptacle. In fact, the udder is the first point 

 to look at in a cursory examination of the cow, for nature is not apt 

 to create it in vain. If it reaches to the back line of the thighs, 

 well up behind, reaches well forward, is broad and moderately deep, 

 with teats well apart and skin soft and elastic, it may be inferred 

 that nature has provided means for filling it. Again, when you 

 have found all these essentials, if the cow is five years old and does 

 not yield 5,000 lbs>of milk per year, she is not worth possessing as 

 a milker and breeder; yet, if the cow is five years old and actually 

 yields 6,000 or more pounds of milk, you may safely buy her with- 

 out regard to her points. She must digest the food to make it, and 

 her machinery is so far above criticism. But the length of her 

 period of giving milk must not be forgotten. This is a quality 

 inherited as much as her capacity for quantity. A cow that, well 

 fed, will not milk for ten months is not to be desired. A moderate 

 and nearly uniform quantity, continuing for ten months, will pro- 

 duce a larger aggregate yield than heavy milking for a short period. 

 Twenty-three pounds per day for ten months will give 7,000 

 Ibs., while a short period of seven months will require thirty-three 



