THE DAIRY COW 143 



giving milk. Sometimes there are several milk wells on a 

 side. The more there are the better is the cow. In a very 

 good cow, if the flow of blood had to go through only one 

 hole, it would have to be so large that there might be danger 

 of the intestines falling out against the skin and pressing this 

 out. This then would be a rupture. Consequently a cow 

 with several milk wells is considered better than one with only 

 one well. 



In this connection, it might be asked, why is the milk vein 

 on the outside of the body? and why should the milk well be 

 located well forward? Why is not the milk vein on the inside 

 of the body? The answer to these questions is simply this. 

 A good cow must eat lots of feed and this bulk of material is 

 heavy. With this weight on the inside of the abdominal wall 

 there is so much pressure that blood could not flow through a 

 tube even if it were situated here on the inside. This also 

 explains the forward location of the milk wells. These must 

 be far enough forward in a good cow to get in front of the 

 area of great pressure caused by the paunch full of feed. 



Withers. The withers of a cow include the upper part of 

 the shoulders and the front part of the back. A good dairy 

 cow is rather thin and sharply built at this part. A beef cow 

 is broad and thick here. This thinness or sharpness of the 

 dairy cow is another indication of a good cow. 



The udder is at the lower and rear part of the body. Here 

 the cow that is bred and developed for milk making does her 

 work. If this is true, the upper part of the body will natu- 

 rally be neglected and become lean. Thus, the good dairy cow 

 is lean generally and not thick and broad at the withers. If 

 a person carried a strong healthy arm in a sling, before many 

 years such an arm would become very small and very weak. 



The neck should also be lean and light. This gives it the 

 appearance of slimness and makes it look long. The head 

 also is lean and fine. 



Lack of Ribs. The ribs of a cow should be well sprung out 

 from the backbone and should also be long to give the cow 

 plenty of internal capacity for organs and for feed. Moreover, 

 a good cow has fewer ribs than a poor cow. 



A good horse should be " closely ribbed up" toward the hip. 



