133 THE COW 



belly also. It should be "buttoned up close" to 

 the abdomen and not swinging or pendidous, else 

 it will chafe and be more liable to mechanical 

 injury. It should be soft and very elastic, covered 

 with silky hair and should fall into loose folds of 

 skin when empty. 



The milk veins have perhaps received undue 

 attention, many holding that these are the one 

 unmistakable sign of a good cow. We like to see 

 them long and crooked and if possible divided into 

 two or three branches, entering the abdomen 

 through as many different holes or "milk wells." 

 It is at least a reasonable assumption that the size 

 of these veins is a measure of the circulatory ac- 

 tivity of the udder and if so they should be a sort 

 of measure of dairy capacity. They may be traced 

 out on a very much smaller scale in bulls also and 

 in this case are given considerable value. Some 

 poor cows have prominent milk veins, but most 

 inferior ones do not, and nearly all animals of 

 unusual capacity will exhibit marked development 

 in this regard. 



The question may be fairly asked: "How much 

 connection is there between conformation and per- 

 formance and to what extent are these supposed 

 indications of dairy excellence really borne out by 

 the hard test of the milk scales and the Babcock 

 bottle?" The writer has been intimately associ- 

 ated with the care of a herd for many years. He 

 has done some buying and selling and some show- 



