THE IDEAL COW

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 411, 21 December 1932, Page 3

THE IDEAL COW

PUTARURU FARMER EXPLAINS POINTS TO HIGH SCHOOL BOYS. USEFUL INFORMATION. In the course of a lecture to the Putaruru High School boys, Mr. McKenzie Peffers, a farmer of wide experience in dairy farming in both Taranaki and Waikato said three main essentials in a dairy cow were constitution, capacity and ability. Further essentials were good blood circulation, nervous temperament, breed type and beauty of form. The speaker then demonstrated the variousi points on a dairy cow which had been brought to the school for the purpose. In showing constitution, Mr. Peffers said that a cow should h'ave wide, open nostrils, the higger and rounder the better, to allow her to breathe in plenty of oxygen to purify the blood. There should he plenty of depth to allow of anfple room for the heart and lungs to function properly. Plenty of Length. To ensure capacity, a cow should have plenty of length from shoulder to hip, with a straight back-line. The bottom jaw should he strong and pronounced and a cow should not have what breeders call a shark's mouth. The neck should he long and "reachy," and the width between the front legs should not be too wide, as in a bullock or draught horse. The eyes should he s»etl well apart and have a placid loolc. In a'n ideal head the eyes should be set two-fifths down the length of the face. The horns should not be too fine at the base, and should be curved inwards and downwards.. Tethey should he on the hand, flinty nature. The udder should be of larga size, attached far up at the hack and well forward in front. It should he flat along the bottom, and the teats should he of medium size. In front of the udder the milk veins, which in reality were blood vessels, should be pronounced. The blood flowed from the udder along these channels' after having performed its work. The loins should be strong in order to carry the weight of a heavy producing cow. The hip-bones should be wide and the pin-hones high. The root of the tail should he fairly thin, and the end of the tail long and fine; with a fine switch. The feet should be of medium size and the colour for preference black. Nerve Force. To have a good nervous temperament did not mean a cow should be a bundle of nerves. It was nerve force which kept a cow working, and it was this same force which gave the high-spirited Arah horse its wonderful stamina. The nerve force was situated along the hack-hone. Begarding breed type the lecturer said that the various societies, such as those controlling the interests of Friesians, Shorthorn, Ayshire and Jersey cows, laid down a scale of points by which a eow should he judged. J'erseys were judged on rules laid down in Jersey Island. At different shows a confliction inawards often occurred, but they should remember that each judge saw the animals in a different light, and in a week a cow might easily go off colour. In regard to beauty of form, it would he noticed that some cows on entering the ring held their heads high and looked around placidly as if they owned all they saw. In fact they walked and looked like a queen, and, this was what should he aimed at hy breeders.