ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 247 



Now, we will consider just for a moment this Jersey heifer, 

 which we will have led out where we can see her. There is a 

 heifer a little over three years old. You will note the conforma- 

 tion of that cow, as compared with the beef cattle whose pictures 

 you saw yesterday. There is a wonderful difference. She has 

 not that broad back. She has not that thick, heavy thigh and 

 shoulder. She has a long body, and when she gets older, it 

 will be a great deal deeper than it is now. Perhaps some of you 

 will say that she lacks in depth of body. But mind you, she is 

 a heifer yet. She has not that development that she will have 

 as she grows older. 



Let's consider, briefly, a few points about the dairy cow. 

 If you want to select a cow, the first thing you should look at 

 is her head. See that she has an intelligent head. And what 

 is there about the head that shows intelligence? We want her 

 with a broad forehead; prominent eyes, not too open; not too 

 quick ; her movements not nervous. We say we want a highly 

 developed nervous system. We mean an animal that is full of 

 nerves, because the nerves control all the different organs of the 

 body. Therefore we look to the head for the intelligence, and to 

 the eye for the nerve force and power. You cannot see that cow's 

 eye, sitting at the distance that you are, but you see that she is not 

 particularly nervous. I presume that it is the first time she ever 

 appeared before an audience. I doubt whether any of you would 

 be as contented, and as docile, and as easy before an audience 

 for the first time, as this cow is. It shows that a com' with a 

 highly developed nervous system is not necessarily a nervous 

 animal, but we expect her to be intelligent. 



We also look for a wide muzzle. A wide muzzle indicates 

 that there is a big place back of it to be filled up with food; and 

 since it is a dairy cow's function to take the feed from the farm 

 and convert it into milk, we want that large center-piece. There 

 is no other part of the body that has the power of digesting and 

 their function. Now here we have that large mouth, which indi- 

 cates there is a large opening to be filled. We come to the 



