JUDGING THE DAIRY TYPE OF CATTLE 29.J 



ward. This close carriage of the hocks and legs has given 

 rise to the expression ' * cow-hocked, ' ' which is anything but 

 a compliment. One rarely sees the thighs and hocks too 

 widely separated. The correct position of the hind legs, 

 from either side or rear view, is the same as that of the beef 

 animal, excepting that space in one type is needed for beef, 

 and in the other for the udder. When the cow or bull 

 walks, the hind legs should be carried forward in direct 

 line, without crossing or swaying, an objection referred to 

 in the first Jersey scale of points. 



The mammary development of the cow, when milk pro- 

 duction is the principal object sought, becomes a subject 

 of vital importance to the dairy cattleman. He realizes 

 that, in capacity and actual value, there is a wide range of 

 difference between the ordinary beef cow that simply nurses 

 a calf, and the highly bred cow of dairy type that may 

 produce twenty thousand or more pounds of milk in a year. 

 Each animal has the same physical structure. Why does 

 one produce so much more than the other f This is due to 

 various factors, among others, ancestry along milk-produc- 

 ing lines, the nervous, digestive and circulatory systems, 

 and the general conformation, or relationship of one part 

 to another. Inasmuch as the judge must be a student of 

 the relationship of form to function, a brief reference to 

 some of the factors bearing on milk production will be 

 appropriate at this point. 



The process of digestion begins with the mouth, the 

 food passing from this into the stomach and then on into 

 the intestines. At various stages of the movement of the 

 food, digestive fluids are mixed with it, so that it gradually 

 becomes more and more reduced and ready for use in the 

 body. 



The blood as a factor in milk production is very im- 

 portant, for milk is produced from blood during its move- 

 ment through the udder. Blood nourishes the body tissue, 

 furnishes material for the secretions, and supplies life-giv- 

 ing oxygen. Blood is 81 per cent water and 19 per cent 



