BODY CHARACTERISTICS 109 



is made into cheese and stored in dairy houses at convenient 

 points to be brought down later. With the first cold of the high- 

 altitude pastures the cows retreat through a succession of grazing 

 places to the valley, where they go into winter quarters. The 

 cheese made from the cows while on the green grass and pure 

 water of the mountain side is that which has made Switzerland 

 famous, and from which a good share of the annual cheese income 

 of 26,000,000 dollars is derived. During the long winter the 

 cows are fed hay made from the lowland grass, carefully pre- 

 served roots, potatoes, and a very small quantity of grain. This 

 is usually linseed oil cake. Hundreds of years of life largely 

 in the open with the heavy climbing necessary to pasture and the 

 heavy work done by cows as oxen have developed in this breed the 

 qualities which now make it popular. 



Body Characteristics. — The Brown Swiss is one of the 

 heavy dairy breeds, the cows ordinarily reaching 1200 to 1400 

 pounds at maturity, while bulls frequently weigh a ton or more. 

 (Fig. 39.) They are rather heavy of bone and generally coarse 

 in make-up. Their top line is usually reasonably straight and 

 the body deep, which gives them a symmetry broken only by their 

 unusually broad heads and muzzles. The color of the animals 

 of this breed varies from a silvery gray to almost black, the 

 dark shade, however, is of a rich brown-black rather than the jet 

 black of the Holsteins. A light colored strip is usually present 

 down the back bone, and yellowish muzzles always present in the 

 best marked animals. The disposition of the Brown Swiss is 

 one of their assets, it being particularly mild and non-resentful. 

 The various qualities differ somewhat, the animals raised more 

 largely on the higher altitudes have become smaller, and those 

 pastured more largely on the lower levels have attained greater 

 size. Most cows are also used largely for working purposes as 

 well as for the production of oxen and milk. These have 

 developed heavy, coarse bones at the expense of both meat and 

 milk qualities. 



Calves usually weigh 100 pounds or more at birth, making 

 quick gains for veal but maturing rather slowly as cows. This 

 may be due in part to the fact that in Switzerland the heifers 



