142 LIVESTOCK ON THE FARM 



The udder should not be "baggy." That is, it should not 

 have a small attachment to the body and be long or deep 

 vertically. This kind of an udder not only troubles and in- 

 conveniences the cow in travel but it is not so good a machine 

 from the functional standpoint. A cow with such an udder 

 should not be driven rapidly and by no means be chased by a 

 dog. The same is true, in fact, of any cow. 



The feeds are digested in the stomach. Here the blood 

 vessels gather up the food particles such as protein, carbohy- 

 drates, fat, mineral matter and water and carry this material 

 back to the udder. These blood vessels go back into the ab- 

 domen of the cow then into the udder. The larger, therefore, 

 the attachment between udder and body the better is the 

 opportunity for these blood vessels carrying material for milk 

 making to get to their destination. A good udder is one of the 

 big factors of a good cow. 



Milk Veins. — The blood after it has discharged its load of 

 material from which milk is made by the gland cell must go 

 back to the abdomen to get a new supply of material. Thus it 

 must be kept in motion constantly to bring material to the 

 cells of the udder. These cells do the actual work of making 

 the milk. 



In order, therefore, that there may be ample provision for 

 the blood to flow from the udder back to the body of the cow, 

 the milk veins must be well developed. These are the tubes 

 running forward from the udder, one on each side, between the 

 skin and the body wall toward the front legs. They are on the 

 outside of the abdomen. These veins should be large and it 

 is said that they should also be crooked rather than straight. 

 At any rate, they must be large so as to make ample provision 

 for the blood to flow back from the udder to the body. 



Milk Wells. — These milk veins go back into the body and 

 there must be a hole through the body wall. These holes are 

 called milk wells or sometimes "wiers. " Wier is an irriga- 

 tion term. A wier gives a means of measuring water flow. 

 So the milk wells or wiers measure the flow of blood from the 

 udder. And the flow of blood is an index of the amount of 

 milk that is made by the udder. The size of the milk well can 

 easily be determined by feeling with the fingers when the cow is 



