INTRODUCTORY. 11 



We do not propose to treat of high-bred animals, as such are 

 not generally desirable for the rent-paying farmer ; or, at any 

 rate it is not wise to commence by a heavy outlay in cows with 

 long pedigrees, unless we have time, taste, pluck, and money to 

 go in for breeding prize stock — a more interesting than profit- 

 able affair with most. Good-looking roomy animals, got by a 

 pure-bred bull out of ordinary cows, or animals whose length of 

 pedigree does not materially affect their price, must be sought 

 for. It is bootless to describe those points that indicate the 

 dairy animal — such knowledge can only be acquired by expe- 

 rience and observation ; and the young farmer may very reason- 

 ably doubt his own judgment, and will do well to commission a 

 respectable dealer, who is generally able to make a more profit- 

 able selection and obtain the animals on better terms than the 

 farmer himself ; the practice of employing a middle man, both 

 for buying in and selling out, is increasing in our grazing 

 districts. 



