50 THE COW IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



The average farmer milks his cows over seven 

 hundred times each year and consumes on an 

 average of better than twenty-seven days in do- 

 ing so . Is it any wonder then that the average 

 farmer does not like to keep cows when he feels 

 that they are not making him a good profit when 

 it takes so much time and labor to care for 

 them? 



As each cow in the herd is different from 

 every other one, she must be fed and cared for 

 in a different manner perhaps than the others to 

 produce her best. It requires judgment and skill 

 to be able to feed and care for a cow so that she 

 will produce the limit of her capacity and this 

 capacity can only be acquired by careful, con- 

 scientious study and a close application of this 

 knowledge in practice. Each cow should be cared 

 for just as though she were a highly developed 

 piece of machinery and then she will produce 

 economically and profitably. In selecting cows 

 for productive ability, there are several es- 

 sential features that usually show on the ex- 

 terior of the cow and the man that buys a cow 

 should be able to distinguish the most of these if 

 he would secure a good one. 



There are a few characteristics that are found 

 in every cow that is a good producer, being more 

 or less pronounced according to the cow's pro- 

 ductive ability, A cow to be a good producer 

 must have a good constitution, capacity to eat 

 and digest large quantities of food, nervous tem- 

 perament, which means that she must be an 



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