136 Animal Husbandry 
219. Forequarters. — The shoulders should be prominent, free 
from beefiness, and rather angular. The withers should be lean, 
thin, and refined. Both withers and shoulders should be free 
from meatiness and heaviness. The legs should be straight and 
short with fine shanks. 
220. Body. — The producing powers of the dairy cow depend 
largely on the depth and volume of the barrel. The chest should 
be deep, with a large heart girth, and broad, particularly as noted 
between the fore legs. The ribs should be long and sufficiently 
arched to provide a capacious body. The abdomen should be 
large and deep, indicative of capacity, and should be well sup- 
ported. The back should be lean, backbone rather prominent 
and strong. In many good dairy cows there is much distance be- 
tween the spinal processes, and the cow is said to be “‘open jointed.’ 
The loin should be broad, although the space between the last rib 
and hip may be rather open. 
221. Hindquarters. — As a whole, the hindquarters in a dairy 
cow should be wide, long, and deep. There should be freedom 
from fullness and meatiness, particularly at the tail-head. In 
many very good cows there is a slight rise from the hips to the 
attachment of the tail. The hip bones should be rather sharp, 
prominent, and wide apart, thus giving ample room for the gen- 
erative organs. They should not be lower than the spine. The 
rump should be long and wide, with the thurls and pin-bones high 
and wide apart. From the points of the hips to the tail-head there 
should be a marked hollow, due to the absence of flesh. The thigh 
should be outcurved and thin, as this provides room for the udder. 
A thick thigh and a full twist are decidedly objectionable in a dairy 
cow. The legs should be comparatively short. 
222. Udder. — Too much stress cannot be placed on the im- 
portance of thoroughly examining the udder when choosing a dairy 
cow. It should be considered from two points of view: the size 
and form, and the quality. 
The udder should be large. In form it should be moderately 
