Part II 



THE COW 



Better Dairy Farming Through Better Cows 



CHAPTER IX 



THE IDEAL COW 



The main objects of better dairy farming are to produce better 

 cows that will sell for more money and to produce milk at less cost. 

 Better cows can be produced only by improvement in breeding. A 

 breeder can best form his ideal by seeing good animals, noting 

 the work of judges at the best fairs and by studying the relation 

 between form in animals and their production. Not all, however, 

 can attend national shows and state fairs, therefore, for many of us, 

 our ideals must be formed more or less at home by means of 

 pictures, studies of production and descriptions. In forming the 

 mind's picture of the ideal cow, we must always remember what is 

 necessary in a cow. 



129. The purpose of a cow. — A cow exists to turn forage and 

 grain into milk, butter and other milk products. Therefore, to 

 handle large amounts of coarse, cheap roughage and grain, size is a 

 tremendous factor. A cow is the hardest working animal on the 

 farm. Strength of constitution is equal in importance to size. The 

 standard weights for the dairy breeds are, for Jersey cows, 800 to 

 1000 pounds; for Ayrshires, not less than 1000 pounds; for Guern- 

 seys, 1050 pounds; for* Holsteins, well above 1200 pounds for 

 mature cows. These weights are all minimum and in his ideal cow, 

 the breeder should always strive to have larger cows than these at 

 maturity. 



130. Capacity. — The value of a cow is in direct relation to her 

 capacity to produce milk. Above that needed to pay for her 

 maintenance and the reproduction of her kind, she must always 



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