Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



167 



show some slight depression just behind the shoulder, although the 

 heart-girth must be very large to insure a strong constitution. The 

 distance between the front legs is a fairly accurate measure of the 

 width of the chest floor, which should not be cramped, but ample, 

 with the front flanks well filled out. In making a large flow of milk, 

 the heart has to pump great quantities of blood which the lungs must 

 purify, thus demanding that the dairy cow have a large chest capacity 

 and an excellent constitution. 



The back should be straight and strong, and have moderate width, 

 and a fair degree of length. Dairy cattle seem put together somewhat 



Fig. 57. — Excellent type in Iul uau ^ ^uw. Guernsey cow, Langwater Dairy- 

 maid, first prize winner as a four- year-old at the National Dairy Show. Owned by 

 C. L. A. Whitney, Albany, N. Y. Note the breedy head and neck, straight top line, 

 shapely udder, and the quality, femininity, and dairy temperament shown in this 

 cow. She has an official yearly record of 16,949.2 pounds of milk and 812.66 pounds 

 of butter-fat. 



loosely; it is not desired that they should be closely coupled or short 

 in the back. A sway-back is sometimes said to indicate true dairy 

 type, but there is no good argument in support of this view; it is logical 

 that cows with big middles should have straight, strong tops. Some 

 dairymen also desire that the backbone shall stand up prominently 

 along the back, loin, and rump, and terminate in a long tail. The 

 argument is that a well-developed backbone encloses a large spinal 



