boo:k: taato. 



OHAPTEE VIII. 



Selecting Milk Cows. 



Handling Qiialities, and Quality in Cattle Frod^tcts. 



Almost every one who buys or keeps cows, has his indi- 

 vidual taste or fancy to satisfy, without much regard to 

 questions of economy or practical value. Still the calcu- 

 lating faculty, and the desire to know the reason why, are 

 more active in our day than at any previous time. There 

 is as much difference in the fancy of writers and in the 

 preferences of merely practical men, as in others who buy 

 cows. Practical men themselves are sometimes quite im- 

 practicable, when drawn out of their immediate sphere ; 

 one of their peculiarities being that they know certain 

 things from experience only, without being able to explain 

 the reason why, in some instances. 



The wedge-shaped cow is frequently recommended as 

 the best for milk ; and if mere bulk of milk be the object, 

 this form is adapted to large yield. Wedge-shaped cows 

 may be good cheese cows ; but as this is not a well-bal- 

 anced form, the cows are likely to be inactive ; and the 

 quality of their milk thin. Cows that are wedge-shaped, 

 have, as a rule, according to the law of compensation, lost 

 as much size in their fore quarters as they have gained in 

 their hind quarters ; hence, while large hind quarters pro- 

 vide for a large supply of blood in the vicinity of the 

 udder, the accompanying small fore quarters indicate re- 



