Guenons St/stem of Sclectivg Cows hy the Escutcheon. 469 
have plenty of it — much upon the top of the shoulders, and 
frequently upon the udder. Upon the latter, if the hair is 
plent\',and particularly if upon the upper part, or the perineum, 
the hairs are long, harsh, and staring at you, the milk, even if 
plentiful, will be serous and devoid of colour or butter, and often 
the cow will dry off much sooner than profitable, and not be a 
very sure breeder. 
3. The Conformation. — The shape of a good cow should be 
such as to show that she is made for the work she is to perform ; 
she should have a motherly, a female appearance, as distinctly 
marked from anv masculine tendency. She should be as 
strongly marked in her different shape from that of the bull, as 
a woman is from a man. In the male we look for a good, 
strong, broad head, firmly set, by a thick, stout neck, upon a 
good pair of shoulders, with short, firm, but waxy horns, and a 
bright, lively eye, easily fired up when called upon to do his 
dutv. With the female we should look for a small, neat head, 
set upon a rather thin, pretty neck, upon fairly rounded 
shoulders, with nice, thin, rather crumpled horns, preferably 
pointed inwards and downwards, waxy and golden, with a 
tendency to a dishing of the face, and with a mild but bright 
eye, and a muzzle indicating good breathing powers. The chest, 
in either sex, should indicate the possession of good respiratory 
organs. The barrel of the cow should be large and deep, the 
ribs standing or hanging from the chine in the shape of a horse- 
collar ; this will, in a heavy milker, generally make the ridge 
bone rather prominent and sharp, than broad ; sometimes the 
chine is double, which is ahvays a good sign ; if, about the 
centre of the back-bone, there are three depressions in which 
you can lay your three fingers, this is an additional merit ; 
all these signs indicate a loosely made cow, so that she is ready 
fitted to do her work. The back should be straight, and so 
running out to the root of the tail, which will allow the tail to 
hang squarely down and free from the body ; the tail-bones, 
with its cartilaginous attachment, should extend down to at 
least the point of the hock, and as much below it as possible, 
adorned with a neat curly switch. The loins should be broad, 
and the haunch and pelvic bones wide apart, and from the 
haunch, or hip-bones, to the end of the pelvic bones a liberal 
distance ; with all these points right, the delivery of the calf 
will be easy, and they indicate not only the capability, but the 
likelihood of large calves. Short, neat, trim legs are important, 
because with short legs we generally find a large, deep barrel, 
which has less "daylight" under it, indicating good digestive 
organs, a good feeder, and a capacity for carrying a large, 
healthy calf. 
