30 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



merit than all others combined; first, that the cow is capable of 

 converting her food into milk; and, second, that she is capable 

 of digesting and assimilating a large amount of food. So we 

 must look for those qualities first. When you see a cow of this 

 other shape (referring to a beef type illustration) you can be cer- 

 tain that her tendency is to convert her food into flesh rather 

 than milk production. Then, again, we want a good develop- 

 ment of the udder and of the mammary glands. These points 

 are important, indeed, these, with what I have before mentioned, 

 constitute the most important indications, although there are 

 many minor ones. I use a score card, in which we have fifteen 

 or twenty points enumerated in judging dairy cows. It is true 

 that the udder does not contain all the milk that a cow produces 

 at any given time, but only a small portion of it; but, nevertheless, 

 the udder is the organ in which the production of the milk takes 

 place, and a well-developed organ indicates a larger and more 

 extensive process, and the same is true of the mammary veins, 

 and so these two are important, whenever you find a cow which 

 gives a large flow of milk, you will find a well developed milk 

 vein and udder. 



The color and characteristics of the skin and hair to a consid- 

 erable extent indicate the quality of the milk. A highly colored, 

 mellow, rich skin indicates a richer quality of milk and fine, silk- 

 like hair on the back of the udder and covering the escutcheon 

 indicates the same. 



Perhaps you have inferred from my remarks up to this time 

 that there is not any difference in breeds and that we might as 

 well have one of those breeds as the other. I do not entertain 

 any such opinion. I believe in breeds, but I also believe in cows, 

 and I believe that sometimes farmers and stockmen are inclined 

 to follow breed blindly without studying individuality enough. 

 I believe also that for the special purpose of dairy 

 production, where dairying is to be made a specialty, 

 that the dairy breeds are unquestionably more economi- 

 cal producers. I do not believe there is any doubt but 

 what the Jersey and the Holstein and the Guernsey will produce 

 dairy products where we want dairy products alone, more 



