FARMERS' REGISTER— POINTS TO JUDGE LIVE-STOCK. 



447 



of too great, aa influence over the I'uture increasing 

 condition of" the ox; and as long as there are so 

 many points to be considered, and as most of them 

 may be partially alteicd by local circumstances, a 

 difference of opinion may exist among judges of 

 lean stock. 



Now, what arc tliose pninis of an ox, a thorough 

 knowledge of which is so essential to constitute a 

 perfect judge? Could they be described aaid illus- 

 trated with such ]irecision, as that they may be 

 applied at once to every ox, in whatever condition 

 it may be, a great advancement would be made 

 towards establishing fixed rules for the right judg- 

 ing of all the domestic animals. Fortunately for 

 the su]ipression of human dogmatism on this sub- 

 ject, nature herself has furnished rules for ascer- 

 taining points for judgement, which can only be 

 discovered by long and constant practice. Ne- 

 vertheless, I shall endeavor to describe them plain- 

 ly, and afier perusing the description, I hope my 

 readers will perceive that they are established laws 

 of nature; and are therefore unerring and applica- 

 ble to every species of cattle. Like other phe- 

 nomena of nature, a knowledge of them can be 

 acquired by observation. This knowledge is the 

 most difficult which a farmer has to acquire, inas- 

 much as the management of live-stock is a much 

 more difficult branch of husbandry than the culti- 

 vation of" corn. And although the importance of 

 this knowledge is acknowledged by every expe- 

 rienced farmer, and a desire for its acquirement is 

 strongly felt by every young one, it is remarkable 

 that very little is said in professed works on agri- 

 culture on those rules which guide us in judging of 

 lat or lean live-stock. 



The first pnint to be ascertained in examining 

 an ox is the pitriiy of its breed, whatever that 

 breed may be. The ascertainment of the purity 

 of the breed will give the degree of the disposition 

 to fatten in the individuals of that breed. The pu- 

 rity of the breed may be ascertained from several 

 marks. The color or colors^ the skin of a pure 

 breed of cattle, whatever those colors are, are al- 

 ways definite. The color of the bald skin on the 

 nose, and around the eyes, in a pure breeli, is al- 

 ways definite, and without spots. This last is an 

 essential point. When horns exist, they should be 

 smooth, small, tapering, and sharp-pointed, long or 

 short, according to the breed, and of a white color 

 throughout in some breeds, and tipped with black 

 in others. The shape of the horn is a less essen- 

 tial point than the color. 



Applying these marks on the different breeds in 

 Scotland as illustrations of the points which we 

 have been considering, we have the definite colors 

 of white and red in the short-horns. The color is 

 either entirely white or entirely red, or the one or 

 the other predominates in their mixture. The skin 

 on the nose and around the eyes is uniformly of a 

 rich cream-color. The Ayrshire breed in its puri- 

 ty is also distinguished by the red and white color 

 of the skin, but always mixed, and the mixture 

 consists of spots of greater or smaller size, not 

 blended together. The color of the skin on the 

 nose and around the eyes is not definite, but gene- 

 rally black, or cream- colored. In other points, 

 those two celebrated breeds differ from one another 

 more than in the characters which I have just de- 

 f«cribed. In the West Highland, Angus, and 

 Galloway breeds, the color of the skin is mostly 

 black in the animals of the purest blood, although 



red, dun, and brindled colors, are occasionally to 

 be seen among them. The black color of the skin 

 of the nose and around the eyes is indicative of 

 the pure blood of black coloredcattle, but a cream- 

 colored nose may frequently be observed among 

 the other colors of skin. It would perhaps be 

 hazardous to assert, in the case of the West 

 Highlanders, that the characters above given are 

 the only true indications of the pure breed, for 

 their origin cannot now be certainly determined; 

 but the characters given will certainly apply to the 

 purity of the blood in the Short-horn and Ayrshire 

 breeds. 



The second point to be ascertained in an ox is 

 the form of its carcass. It is found, the nearer the 

 section of the carcass of a fat ox, taken longitudi- 

 nally vertical, transversely vertical, and horizon- 

 tally, approaches to the figure of a parallelogram, 

 the greater quantity of flesh will it carry within the 

 same measurement. That the carcass maj fill up 

 the parallelogram as well as its rounded form is 

 capable of filling up a right-angled figure, it should 

 possess the following configuration. The back 

 should be straight from the top of the shoulder to 

 the tail. The tail should fall perpendicularly from 

 the line of the back. The buttocks and twist 

 should be well filled out. The brisket should pro- 

 ject to a line dropped from the middle of the neck. 

 The belly should be straight loiigitudinal'y, and 

 round laterally, and filled at the flanks. The ribs 

 should be round, and should project horizontally, 

 and at right angles to the back. The hooks 

 should be wide and flat; and the rump, from the 

 tail to the hooks, should also be flat and well filled. 

 The quarter, from the itch-bone to the hook, 

 should be long. The loin bones should be long, 

 broad, and flat, and Avell filled; but the space be- 

 twixt the hooks and the short-ribs should be rather 

 short, and well arched over with a thickness of 

 beef between the hooks. A long hollow from the 

 hooks to the short-ribs indicates a weak constitu- 

 tion, and an indilTerent thriver. From the loin to 

 the shoulder-blade should be nearly of one 

 breadth; and from thence it should taper a little to 

 the front of the shoulder. ■ The neck-vein should 

 be well filled forward, to complete the line from 

 the neck to the brisket. The covering on the 

 shoulder-blade should be as full out as the buttocks. 

 The middle-ribs should be well filled, to complete 

 the line from the shoulders to the buttocks along 

 the projection of the outside of the ribs. 



These constitute all the points which are essen- 

 tial to a fat ox, and which it is the business of the 

 judge to know, and by which he must anticipate 

 whether the lean one, when fed, would realise. 

 The remaining points are more applicable in judg- 

 ing of a lean than a fat ox. 



The first of the points in judging of a lean ox, 

 IS the nature of the bone. Around thick bone in- 

 dicates both a slow feeder, and an inferior descrip- 

 tion of flesh. A flat bone, when seen on a side 

 view, and narrow, when viewed either from be- 

 hind or before the animal, indicates the opposite 

 properties of a round bone. The whole bones in 

 the carcass should bear a small j)roportion in bulk 

 and weight to the flesh, the bones being only re- 

 quired as a support to the flesh. The texture of 

 the bone should be small-grained and hard. The 

 bones of the head should be fine and clean, and 

 only covered with skin and muscle, and not with 

 , lunip-5 of lilt and flesh, which always give a heavy 



