ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 99 



Functions of the Dairy Cow. 



The functions of the dairy cow is to make milk, not the 

 juicy steak. She is an individual that is kept to take the grains 

 and roughage of the held and convert them into milk. To do 

 this successfully she does not need the wide back or heavy hind 

 and fore quarters. They are a burden to her, for these parts 

 would call upon the digestive organs for food and she needs 

 her whole energy and vitality to carry on the labor that she is 

 supposed to perform. In view of the special labor that she has 

 to do her type is entirely opposite to that of the beef animal, and 

 she is, what she is, because, of the four active systems that are 

 engaged in making milk. It is through use that she has de- 

 veloped such a large capacity for digesting, assimilating large 

 quantities of food and then transforming them again into human 

 food. 



Conformation. 



The conformation is not an absolute measure of utility, but 

 the merits and defects of an animal can be measured to a remark- 

 able degree. Professor Soule says : " It is necessary that the 

 successful feeder and breeder be a careful student cf conforma- 

 tion. He should acquire a true appreciation of the value of 

 details in conformation, and he should become so intensely 

 interested in the subject and study it so thoroughly as to become 

 an expert in reading the language of points often regarded as 

 unimportant. The study of the points of the animal and their 

 relation to one another gives the student an idea of the import- 

 ance of correlation, symmetry, animal mechanism, and quality, 

 a knowledge of whose fundamental principles is an invaluable 

 aid to the feeder and breeder. The man who realizes that all 

 the organs of the body are harmonized and proportional accord- 

 ing to certain laws sees at once that animal mechanism and sym- 

 metry are qualities to be given the most careful consideration. 

 He also realizes that a defect in erne organ will influence all the 



