20 THE CREAMERY PATRON'S HANDBOOK. 



the dairy breeds, or grades of dairy breeds those which have been bred 

 and used through many generations solely for dairy purposes when wishing 

 to select dairy cows. 



THE DAIRY FORM. 



* 



A good, competent judge, when he goes out to buy a cow, does not ask 

 the owner, "Is she a. good cow?" "How much milk will she give?" or 

 "How much butter will she make?" but he looks her over carefully and 

 makes up his mind whether or not she has the right form to be a good 

 producer. 



As far as the dairy form is concerned there is not, in my opinion, a differ- 

 ent standard for different breeds. . Not that the great producers of all 

 breeds, or, even of the same breed, are all shaped exactly alike, but all great 

 performers, of all breeds, have certain characteristics alike which distinguish 

 them as dairy animals. 



Now I do not claim that a man, even though he may be the very best 

 judge, can, with unerring certainty, select a good dairy cow every time, for 

 there may be some defect, in the internal milk machinery, of which there 

 is no outward evidence. But, after all, the form is the best guide that an 

 expert judge can have. 



It is a very difficult thing to describe on paper the dairy form, but I 

 will try as best I can to give my ideas about it. 



The first thing to be looked at is the cow's head. She should have a 

 broad forehead with large, full, mild, intelligent looking eyes, and have 

 every indication of a strong brain with strong nervous force. Milk produc- 

 tion, with the cow, is the result of nervous force, and this nervous force 

 starts from the brain and runs along the spinal cord. A strong, rugged 

 backbone indicates that it encloses a large, strong spinal cord. Nerves 

 branch off from this cord between each of the sections of the backbone. 

 And the larger these nerves the more open are these sections, and farther 

 apart the ribs. This makes the dairy cow long bodied and having a rather 

 loose and relaxed appearance. 



The mouth should be large and the jaws strong and muscular, which 

 indicates that she is a good feeder. She should have great depth of body 

 showing that she has large capacity for handling and digesting the large 

 amountof food that her strong jawsare able to eat. She should have a broad 

 chest and large girth around the heart and plenty of lung capacity. She 

 should have a broad, strong loin with hips quite wide apart, with the back- 

 bone rising quite high between them. This indicates large room for the 

 organs of maternity. 



The thighs should be thin and incurved on the back side, with great 

 room between them, and the flank arched up high just in front of them. 'All 

 this to give room for the large fine udder which she must have to be a great 

 producer. The udder should extend well forward and well back, making a 

 long connection with the body, and having four fairly good-sized teats set 



