1 CHAPTER XI 

 SELECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL COW 



BREEDS are of great value as a means of preserving and 

 transmitting qualities which have already been developed, 

 and it is highly important to select a breed adapted to the 

 purpose for which it is to be used. However, the selection of 

 the individual cow within the breed is of even more impor- 

 tance as effecting the economic production of milk. 



The highly developed dairy cow of to-day is, to a large 

 extent, artificial. While it cannot be said with certainty 

 what the conditions were before cattle were domesticated, 

 there is little doubt, judging from other species of animals still 

 in the wild condition, that the cows produced only milk 

 enough to support the calf for a few weeks until it could sub- 

 sist on other food. There was probably little difference in 

 the amount of milk produced by different individuals at this 

 time, and the milking characteristic was undoubtedly trans- 

 mitted quite uniformly. 



After cattle were in a state of domestication and the milk 

 became an important article of human food, some attention 

 began to be paid to developing the milking functions. 

 Through natural variations, certain animals showed more 

 highly developed milk-producing functions than others, and 

 by using these for breeding purposes, and through the stimu- 

 lation of the mammary glands by better feed and regular 



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