90 BETTER DAIRY FARMING 



General Conformation 

 In general conformation the skeleton structure must be open 

 instead of close and tight. The bones should be fine and strong 

 and large enough to support the animal properly. The bones of an 

 animal may be large and yet fine. We must have large frames in 

 order to get capacity, but largeness of frame and good-sized bones 

 must not be confused with coarseness. The bony structure while 

 indicating size and openness must also have quality. 



143. Dairy quality. — There is such a thing as dairy quality as 

 indicated by the appearance of the whole animal. She must 

 appear to be alert and in the best of health. This is indicated by a 

 fine, mellow skin not too thickly covered with fine hair of silky 

 texture. The skin and hair must be of such quality that more or 

 less of the surface veining of the body will show through as it does 

 in a well groomed race horse. The whole animal must show a 

 bloom which when once recognized will not be forgotten and will 

 be sought for by proper methods of breeding and feeding. Abun- 

 dant oily secretions in the ears, at the end of the tail and on the skin 

 in general are an evidence of quality. This waxy secretion is yellow 

 in color. 



144. The wedge shape. — The form of the entire body of our 

 ideal cow will show three distinct wedge shapes. The form of one 

 wedge is seen from the side by the top and bottom lines ending at a 

 point a little in front of the cow. This wedge is accentuated by a 

 deep barrel and deep, full udder. The second wedge is the wedge 

 formed with the point at the withers and the side lines running 

 from the withers to the hip bones. This wedge is seen by looking 

 down on the cow. The finer the withers and the wider the hips and 

 rump, the broader this wedge will be. The third wedge is seen 

 from the front with the point at the withers. The sides of this 

 wedge are made by the general lines formed by the sides of the 

 chest and barrel. The better the chest development and the 

 larger the barrel the more clearly defined this wedge will be. This 

 idea of the ideal wedge shape is merely checking in the ideal 

 general form the points that have been described in detail. In 

 breeding for capacity we must get it in the chest and barrel. 



