CV1 INTRODUCTION. 



These are the principal characters which indicate, in the 

 Ox, the property of adding to the fatty matter of the body, 

 and, consequently, of becoming sooner fitted for human food. 

 Those which indicate, in the female, the faculty of yielding 

 much milk, differ in certain respects. The extreme broad- 

 ness of chest, so important in the case of the fattening animal, 

 is not required in the case of the milch cow, although there 

 is nothing inconsistent between this conformation and the 

 power of yielding much milk. But the points essential to 

 the milch cow are rather connected with the hinder than with 

 the anterior extremities. The loins should be wide, and the 

 trunk deep from the loins to the mammae. This form exist- 

 ing, the more the cow possesses of the other characters, the 

 better is she fitted to combine the property of yielding milk 

 with that of fattening. In a cow designed for breeding ani- 

 mals to be fattened, the milching property is only secondary, 

 yet a cow will produce the better calves that she is wide and 

 deep in the lumbar region. A purely dairy cow should have 

 a soft skin, clear eyes, and a narrow and elongated head ; 

 the udder should be of good size, but have sufficient muscular 

 power to prevent its being flaccid. The superficial veins 

 near the udder should be well marked, but especially the 

 large vein which runs along the lower side of the belly on 

 each side, termed the subcutaneous abdominal vein. This 

 last is popularly called the milk-vein, although it is not 

 directly connected with the mammary organs. The follow- 

 ing is an outline of a Dairy Cow of the Ayrshire Breed. 



Fig. 12. 



