No. 4.] THE DAIRY HERD. 383 



The escutcheon is a point of minor importance. While 

 some dairymen lay much stress on a good escutcheon, and 

 while, coupled with other indications of excellence, it is 

 useful, without this accompaniment of other dairy points it 

 loses its significance and importance. Many of our best 

 authorities now pay very little attention to the escutcheon. 

 There is often danger of letting some hobby of minor con- 

 sideration obscure the real essentials in judging. 



The yellow pigment on the skin is indicative of the rich- 

 ness of the product rather than its amount, hence its main 

 use is to show the kind of milk given. 



Temperament is something carefully observed by some 

 cattle experts, but it is rather intangible to the uninitiated. 

 The dairy temperament is nervous rather than lymphatic. 

 It should give the effect of suppressed rather than active 

 nervousness. 



HOW TO SECURE GOOD COWS. 



Whether one acquires his dairy stock chiefly by breeding 

 or by purchase, the latter method must be depended upon 

 more or less, and a knowledge of the foregoing dairy points 

 is a useful aid in making selections. Purchase of stock is 

 attended with many disadvantages that do not hold in 

 breeding. There is an uncertainty of the capacity of pur- 

 chased cow T s. Select as carefully as we will, we shall often 

 be disappointed in the product of the cow t s we buy. There 

 is often also a great shrinkage in the yield of milk from 

 cows of known excellence when subjected to different con- 

 ditions of food and management. Defects are often found 

 in purchased cows that could easily account for their sale. 

 Cows with weak quarters, and hard or defective milkers, are 

 very common among sale stock. Unpleasant habits, such 

 as kicking, fence-breaking, self-sucking, etc., may be found 

 among one's purchases. There is the further possibility of 

 introducing disease into the herd by purchase. Perhaps the 

 most common disorders thus transferred are abortion and 

 tuberculosis. 



One is not entirely free from such troubles in rearing his 

 own cows, but he will greatly diminish the chances of in- 

 troducing them, and prevent them to a large extent. He 



