170 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



close and look over them thoroughly. You may have depth 

 through there and side to side, yet cut way up and having depth 

 this way (indicating animal). We must take into consideration 

 up and down through the chest and from right to left. 8 points 

 for that. If a cow that is an excellent cow, and lacks chest and 

 constitution, she will be a deficient animal. 



LEGS. We want them fairly straight, neither knock-kneed 

 nor sickle-hocked, too much ankle. They will attach that peculiar- 

 ity. 



BACK straight, sometimes drooping with age. I like to 

 see a good, straight back. It denotes strength. If drooping, it 

 denotes age. Sometimes, if carrying a big bag, she may droop 

 down in the back. Two points. 



PASTERNS want to be strong and upright. Some cows 

 bend clear down oh them. If naturally weak, that is quite an 

 objection. It is an indication of weakness. 



The next is GENERAL APPEARANCE. Thrifty and 

 vigorous. We don't want a scrawny cow. 



The next thing CARRIAGE, active but not nervous. We 

 want a cow that can get around actively, yet not so nervous. 

 6 points. We have gotten 85 points so far. 



Now we give 15 points for symmetry. It is the weakness 

 of the scorecard. We can't go over a card and score another cow 

 and say that is the best cow. Why can't we do that? An ex- 

 treme case. Queen would score very well straight down through 

 here, with two exceptions. The vital exception, the udder and 

 milk veins. Queen has good teats, fine form and barrel, but she 

 lacks udder and milk veins. Suppose you marked her absolutely 

 zero on udder, cut ten points on udder, three on milk veins, 

 you would cut her only 13. If not, has 15 at the bottom and we 

 would mark her 87 points. Yet she is a cow that in seven years 

 made 156 pounds of butterfat in a year with the best kind of 

 care and feed, an absolutely worthless cow. 



Q : — Did she lack symmetry ? 



A : — Symmetry means evenly balanced between the parts. 

 If she hasn't any udder, you wouldn't say she had symmetry. 



