CHAPTER X 



DAIRY TYPE 



Dairy animals that are correct in type present a marked contrast 

 to beef animals. The body and back are longer and much narrower, 

 the thighs are thin, the neck longer and more slender, and in all parts 

 the animal is lean and angular, whereas the beef animal is thick-fleshed 

 and smooth. The lean, angular appearance is highly desirable, but 

 an emaciated condition is sharply discriminated against because it 

 indicates a lack of health and vigor. Both males and females are 

 rather sharp at the withers, deep ribbed, medium in length of leg, and 

 well divided between the hind legs. There should be no bulge to 

 the thigh, and no tendency toward the development of what is called 

 the "twist" in beef cattle. There is a limit to an animal's feeding and 

 digestive capacity, hence one animal cannot produce both beef and 

 milk in maximum quantities. Breeders of dairy cattle want the dairy 

 cow to do one thing only; they discriminate against beefiness just as 

 sharply as they favor evidences of large milking capacity. 



The Dairy Cow 



Dairy cows may be judged by two distinct methods. One method 

 consists of keeping records of the cow's production, including the dura- 

 tion of the lactation periods, the pounds of milk given at each milking, 

 and the results of the Babcock tests for butter-fat. Records may also 

 be kept of the quantities of feed consumed and the cost of the feed- 

 stuflfs used, so that at the end of each year an accounting may be made 

 with each cow, and her profitableness or unprofitableness accurately 

 determined. This method gets right at the cow's producing capacity 

 and removes all doubt concerning her right to a place in a producing 

 herd. It is also much used in estimating a cow's value for breeding 

 purposes. This method may be called judging by performance. 



The other method of judging dairy cows consists of a detailed 

 study of the animal, and an examination for certain characteristics 

 which are evidences of milk-producing capacity. If the fifty highest- 

 producing dairy cows in the United States were assembled so that 

 comparisons might easily be made, considerable variation would be 

 found among them in form, quality, udder, and other points. Yet 

 through all these cows would run certain well-defined characteristics 

 which dairymen have come to know are associated with heavy produc- 

 tion. These characteristics may be causes of the heavy yield, or 

 merely incidental correlates, but in either case they are evidences of 



