42 Milk and Its Products 



depends upon distinguishing between productive and 

 non-productive cows, and there is no one thing that 

 will secure greater improvement to a dairyman than 

 weeding out the unprofitable cows in the dairy, and 

 supplying their places with those that are profitable 

 producers; at the same time, there is no factor more 

 generally neglected by the dairymen of the United 

 States than this. It therefore becomes a matter of 

 some importance that the dairyman should be skilled 

 in distinguishing between productive and unproduc- 

 tive cows. 



Relation of form to capacity. In the development 

 of the dairy cow, and particularly in the formation 

 of the various dairy breeds, it has been noticed that 

 the capacity to produce milk is to a certain extent 

 correlated with certain well marked and easily recog- 

 nized characteristics of form. This has led to the 

 distinction between the so called dairy and beef types 

 of animals. The chief characteristic of the dairy 

 form is the wedge shape ; that is, the larger develop- 

 ment of the hind quarters, and the corresponding less 

 development of the fore 'quarters, so that if the cow 

 is viewed from the front or side, there is a distinctly 

 wedge-shaped appearance, with the apex of the wedge 

 toward the head. This is contrasted with the charac- 

 teristic rectangular shape of the beef animal. In 

 connection with the wedge shape, a large degree of 

 angularity and lack of muscular development, particu- 

 larly along the ribs and loins and on the shoulders 

 and thighs, is quite as characteristic of the dairy 

 animal as the wedge shape itself. In addition it is, 



