314 



Cheese Dairies. 



Vol. XII. 



In relation to the selection of cows for the 

 dairy, the description given by Mr. Youatt, 

 in his Treatise on Cattle, may be useful, and 

 the same points substantially are given in 

 various other treatises as regards cows suited 

 to the dairy. 



"The milch cow should have a long, thin 

 head, with a brisk but placid eye, be thin 

 and hollow in the neck, narrow in the breast 

 and point of the shoulder, and altogether 

 light in the fore quarter, but wide in the 

 loins, with little dew lap, and neither too 

 full fleshed along the chine, nor showing in 

 any part an indication to put on much fat. 

 The udder should especially be large, round 

 and full, with the milk veins protruding, yet 

 thin skinned, but not hanging loose or tend- 

 ing very far behind. The teats should also 

 stand square, all pointing out at equal dis- 

 tances, and of the same size ; and although 

 neither very large nor thick towards the ud- 

 der, yet long and tapering to a point. A 

 cow with a large head, and high back bone, 

 a small udder and teats, and drawn up in the 

 belly, will, beyond all doubt, be found a bad 

 milker. 



" Besides these qualifications, a great point 

 to be considered is the temper; for kindly 

 cows will not only give far less trouble in 

 their management than those of an unruly 

 disposition, but are commonly observed to 

 have a more copious flow of milk, as well as 

 to part with it more readily." 



Experiments should be made by those who 

 are engaged in the dairy business, as to the 

 value of their cows for dairy purposes. Let 

 them be fed with the same food, measure its 

 quantity, as well as that of the milk from 

 each, and when used separately, it will be 

 no difficult matter to determine which is the 

 most profitable. This is all important to 

 success in this business. 



In regard to the management of cows, we 

 select from British Husbandry, vol. 2nd, page 

 399, some suggestions that are worthy of 

 consideration : 



"Experience has very decidedly shown, 

 that no food is comparable to that of good 

 natural pasture for milch cows; for not only 

 does it yield a greater quantity of milk, but 

 the flavour of grass butter may always be 

 distinguished by its superior richness and 

 delicacy from that which has been made 

 from milk produced from soiling in the 

 house, and its quality may be injuriously ef- 

 fected even by the application of manure to 

 the land. Common salt given in moderate 

 quantities to cows, increases the quantity 

 and improves the quality of the milk. Milcli 

 cows should at all times be maintained not 

 only in good condition, but in what may be 

 termed a "milky habit," and for this pur- 



pose during winter, roots or grain should be 

 given, so as to prepare them well for the 

 opening of the pastures." 



" The act of milking is one that requires 

 great caution ; for if it be not carefully and 

 properly done, the quantity will be consider- 

 ably diminished, and the quality also will be 

 inferior, as not only is the first of the milk 

 the poorest, but it gradually becomes richer, 

 until the last drainings of the udder, or what 

 is commonly termed the 'strippings.' It 

 should, therefore, be thoroughly drawn from 

 the cow, both to secure this latter portion 

 and to ensure the continuance of the usual 

 supply; for if any be allowed to remain in 

 the udder, she yields a less quantity at the 

 next milking — a fact which has been ac- 

 counted for by supposing that the portion left 

 in the udder is absorbed into the system, and 

 that nature generates no more than to sup- 

 ply the waste of what has been taken away. 

 The greatest care therefore should be paid, 

 to have them clean milked. They should 

 also be treated with great gentleness, and 

 soothed by mild usage, especially when young 

 and ticklish, for they never let their milk 

 down pleasantly to a person whom they dread 

 or dislike. If the paps are sore or tender, 

 they ought to be fomented with warm wa- 

 ter before milking, and, indeed, if the opera- 

 tion of milking be nicely performed, they 

 should each time be clean washed, but this, 

 we are sorry to say, is too often neglected. 



"The choice of those who perform the du- 

 ties of the dairy should never be entrusted 

 but to persons in whose unremitting care and 

 gentleness the utmost confidence can be re- 

 posed. All its operations should be conduct- 

 ed with the most punctual regularity, and 

 with such extreme cleanliness that no speck 

 or taint shall be discoverable either about the 

 interior of the house or the utensils. Through- 

 out Ireland, Scotland, and the north of Eng- 

 land, it is invariably left to women, and were 

 men to be employed, they would consider 

 themselves degraded; but in the southern 

 counties, great hulking fellows may be seen 

 seated at the udder, and handling the teats 

 with their huge fists, as if they had the deli- 

 cate fingers of a girl. Females are in every 

 way competent to the work, to which they 

 are better suited by their delicacy and ten- 

 derness than men; it is, indeed, a truly femi- 

 nine employment, and to their hands it should 

 be left. 



"The nature of the land, the oldness of 

 the pasture, the age of the stock, and the 

 state of the season, have each a separate in- 

 fluence upon the quantity and quality of the 

 milk; thus the milk given by cows in au- 

 tumn and winter is decidedly richer than 

 that produced in spring and summer, and 



