40 THE DAIRY OF THE FARM. 



as to milk ; but the cows of any given breed more or less 

 resemble one another in all these points, and a reference 

 therefore has been made to those particular breeds in 

 which, as regards fitness for the dairy, the combination of 

 all these qualities is best. It is, however, the actual 

 possession of these characters in the individual, and not 

 its belonging to a dairy breed of acknowledged excellence, 

 that constitutes its merit ; and it may be well, therefore, 

 to point out those particulars with which excellence for the 

 dairy is generally connected. (1.) As to age* there is 

 nothing more unprofitable than an old cow. In the 

 ordinary practice of the dairy, the cow is kept probably five 

 or six years in milk, being sold when eight or nine years 

 old ; this is the general practice, simply because at that 

 age the quantity, and especially the quality, of her milk 

 falls off so much, that it is better to replace her with a 

 younger animal ; but as a cow is sometimes of such first- 

 rate quality as to induce her owner to keep her as long as 

 she will breed, so oftentimes it is well to part with an 

 inferior cow after a year or two's experience of her. The 

 cow is generally at her prime after her third calf. In 

 Ayrshire, when cows are let to dairymen, three heifers 

 with their first calf are put as equal to two cows. (2.) As 

 to form, a good cow, of whatever size, is generally 

 lighter in her forequarters than behind ; she should be 

 especially wide and deep at the loins, her skin should 

 handle soft, her udder should be of full size, and the teats 

 should be placed symmetrically on it, and it should be 

 ascertained that they are all perfect that the cow has not,. 



* For indications of age, and many other particulars not specially called 

 for in a Handbook of Dairy Husbandry, see ' ' Handbook of the Live Stock 

 of the Farm" (Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew.) 



