168 THE STOCKFEEDER'S COMPANION 



the skin generally should have an oily feel. Horns 

 also slightly yellow at base. 



Building up a Herd. 



It is very useful to know the various points of a 

 good dairy cow, but in breeding dairy cattle successfully 

 one should know something of the milking pedigree or 

 milk record which the respective parents have. The 

 keeping of milk records has been one of the secrets of 

 success in countries like Denmark, and during more 

 recent years it has become fairly common in this 

 country. This enables the breeder to select from his 

 herd those cows which give a large quantity of milk 

 each year, which is at the same time rich in butter- 

 fat. 



The bull used on a dairy farm should also 

 be carefully selected, possess a strong masculine 

 body, a good constitution, and in addition a good 

 milking pedigree. The following example will show 

 the care which has been taken at the Geneva Experi- 

 mental Farm (New York State) with their Jersey 

 stock bull (Blue Belle Prince). In addition to being 

 entered in the herd book, he possessed the following 

 qualifications : 



(Sire OAKLANDS NORA 2ND LAD. 



BLUE BELLE PRINCE, 



No. 70,075. -I Dam BLUE BELLE PRINCESS, No. 157,364. 

 Born 6th October 1904. Milk record . . 8121 Ibs. 



(. Butter ... 557 Ibs. 



The bull's dam had therefore a record of giving over 

 5 cwts. butter in a year. The advantages of keeping 

 these records are that they tend to raise the milking 

 capacity of dairy cows very considerably, inasmuch as 

 individual records are kept which enable one to 



