Milking and Breeding. 259 



With the vast expansion in dairying, many more good 

 cows are required than are or can be produced by the 

 hap-hazard general practice of breeding indiscriminately 

 alike from good, bad, and indifferent animals. 



Experience shows that general farmers, or non-profes- 

 sional cow-breeders, certainly will not breed the best class 

 of milk cows, and if they accidentally obtain such a cow, 

 or family, they either demand very high prices, or keep 

 them as family favorites. It therefore devolves upon dairy- 

 men and breeders to supply such cows, if they are to be 

 bred or multiplied ; as certainly is required, in consider- 

 able numbers. 



Dairymen and breeders own many of the best cows that 

 are available, for special selection to breed from. A lim- 

 ited number may be obtained by good judges, from gen- 

 eral farmers, for beginning such herds. But — to repeat — 

 milking pregnant cows, is strongly adverse to their most 

 successful breeding ; for, as before shown, the largest and 

 most profitable embryos and calves are, and necessarily 

 must continue to be, produced by devoting all the breed- 

 ing blood of breeding cows to its natural purpose, which 

 is forming increase in the embryo growth, and calf-size, 

 according to increase in production of blood and milk. 



On the contrary, breeding reduces the supply of blood 

 to the udder; the entire milk-yield being formed, not 

 from the general circulation, but from the mammary sup- 

 ply of the breeding blood arteries. 



It follows that full, or good success in obtaining large 

 yield, and breeding full-sized calves, while milking preg- 

 nant cows, is impracticable and impossible. 



Besides insuring successors of large yield, a great saving 

 of labor must result from keeping only good cows. And 

 the saving of labor is an equivalent of profit. Two good 

 cows yield more profit than three poor ones; besides 



