50 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRYING. 



inherited property to its full extent. For this purpose a proper 

 selection of breeding animals must first be intelligently made, and a 

 careful superintendence of subsequent breeding, rearing, and suitable 

 feeding must be exercised, while attention, careful treatment, and 

 every other precaution must be exercised in regard to such circum- 

 stances as may exercise an influence on the milk yield. 



A thoroughly reliable judgment on the value of a cow can only be 

 obtained from an exact record of her actual performances. Since, in the 

 case of calves and stirks, there can be no such record, and in the case of 

 cows which are for sale, till now, unfortunately, such records have only 

 been available in very few cases, in order to obtain a standard for judging 

 this question, it is very common to have recourse to certain external 

 properties, such as the shape of body, &c., which stand in direct relation 

 to the usefulness of the cow, and give very probable indications with 

 regard to her value. Among external appearances which testify to high 

 milk-yielding capacity the following should be noted: 



(1) A very powerfully developed udder, which ought in no case to be 

 fleshy. A good milk udder is broad, and stretches back to the neighbour- 

 hood of the sexual organs, and in front to the neighbourhood of the navel ; 

 while on its lower surface it is well rounded arid not pointed. The teats 

 should be set wide apart, and in the full udder should point outwards. 

 The so-called secondary teats should not be wanting. 



(2) A rich net-work of fine knotty veins, strongly developed milk veins, 

 and broad milk cavities, covering the entire udder, and showing distinctly 

 through its soft skin. The development of the whole system of milk 

 veins gives no reliable information as to the amount of blood circulating 

 in the udder, since a portion of the blood flows through the pubic vein 

 of the sexual organ, and there may also be found in fleshy udders highly 

 developed veins. 



(3) In the perineum the occurrence of numerous narrow folds lying in 

 regular order beside each other, which are especially well seen in an empty 

 udder, are soft to the touch, and are very loosely connected with what lies 

 under them. 



(4) A dusty secretion of fine, hairy scales, on rubbing the greasy skin 

 of the udder and of the perineum. 



(5) Fine glossy hairs, fine thin horns, fine hoofs, a widely - spread 

 escutcheon, and a fine elastic skin. As these properties are dependent on 

 a strongly developed cutaneous gland system, one has a certain right to 

 infer from their presence a large development of the milk-glands, which 

 are likewise included among the cutaneous glands. The milk -yielding 

 capacity of an animal is widely believed to be indicated by the condition 



