CHAPTER III. 



CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF THE COW. 



Dairy Breeds : Shorthorns, Suffolk, Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, and Kerry 

 Individual Character : Age, Form, Other Characteristics Treatment of 

 Cow: Housing, Health, Winter Milk, Diseases, Milking The Calf: 

 Rearing and Feeding. 



THE various breeds of cattle known to English agri- 

 culture, and their ordinary management, have been already 

 described in a Handbook on the Live Stock of the Farm, 

 but it is right that such peculiarities of breed, age, and 

 individual character should be referred to, as ought to 

 guide the choice of the purchaser. 



The Dairy Breeds of Cattle. Of the many distinct 

 breeds of cattle cultivated in the United Kingdom, only 

 four or five can be enumerated as strictly dairy breeds. 

 Among these are the shorthorn, the Suffolk, the Channel 

 Island breeds, the Ayrshire, and the Kerry. (1). The 

 Shorthorns are more and more the principal dairy breed 

 of these islands. In Gloucestershire there was, and still 

 is to some extent, a dark red, or brindled cow, of medium 

 size, with almost black extremities, though sometimes with 

 a streak of white along the back : but it is now becoming 

 rare. In Cheshire also there was a native breed more or 

 less resembling the Lancashire and midland counties long- 

 horned breed ; but either by substitution or by crossing, 



D 2 



