CATTLE, now TO BUT AND SELL 
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exhibit the vertical escutcheon running up to the vulva, but with a broader 
thigh may exhibit a thigh escutcheon, which is preferable to the other, 
thus — see Fig. 2. — Milk mirror of Jerseys. 
In both vertical and thigh mirrors, where the hair runs down, intruding 
on the udder (as low as above the dotted lines) as in Figs. 3 and 4, it 
damages the escutcheon. If you find a cow with the hair all running 
down, and between the thighs — that is, with no up-running hair — stamp 
her as a cipher for yielding milk. 
There are times when the udder of a cow with an escutcheon like Fig. 
4 will be enlarged by non-milking, for the purpose of deception. It is 
always safer to judge by the escutcheon rather than by the large size of 
the udder. 
The escutcheons of the best cows — those yielding the most and con- 
tinuing the longest — will be found to be those which conform to Fig. 2. 
The vertical escutcheon of Fig. 1 would not injure it; but if that 
ornamental feature has to be at the expense of the thigh escutcheon, Fig. 
2 is best as it is. 
Whenever an escutcheon is accompanied by a curl on each hind-quarter 
of the udder, it indicates a yield of the highest order. 
So far, we have noticed only the rear escutcheon, or that which repre- 
sents the two hind quarters of the udder. The two front quarters are 
just as important, and should be capacious and run well forward under 
the body. If the udder in front be concave, or cut up, indicating small 
capacity, it represents reduced yield. 
This front or level escutcheon is distinctly marked in the young heifer 
cr bull, and can be seep by laying the animal on its back. Tho udder 
hair under the body all runs backward, commencing at the forward line 
of the escutcheon. This dividing line is very perceptible, from the fact 
that the hair in front of it all runs forward towards the head of the 
animal, while the escutcheon, or udder hair, all runs backward, over the 
forward quarters of the udder, around and beyond the teats, and ceases 
at the markings of the rear escutcheon on and between the thighs. 
The breadth and extent forward of this front escutcheon indicates the 
capacity, in the mature animal, of the front quarters of her udder. In 
some cases this front escutcheon will be found of twice the extent that it 
is in others, and is evidence of that much more yield. 
This examination enables one to see the size of the teats and their 
distance apart, and to test the looseness and softness of the udder skin 
It is marked precisely the same in bulls, and can be easily examined at 
any age between one and ten months 
