Signs of a Good Milker.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 314, 7 November 1888, Page 3

Signs of a Good Milker.

Most men who have for any length of tim< had a practical experience of dairy cows have by, observation acquired a knowledge of certain physical characteristics Avhich indicate in the cow possessing thorn good or bad milking qualities. Many a man who easily lecognises the signs of a good milker in an animal when these are present would find it difficult to explain definitely what the points are which, all taken together, reveal to his practised eye the value of a enw for dairy purposes. There nre, however, certain well defined features in a q ocl milker which have been noted by careful observers, and described foL 1 the guidance of the inexperienced ,in such matters ; and although these ob-~ served signs but imperfectly represent all that a good judge sees in a typical dairy cow of superior merit; stilL it is useful to state them in a journal lifce.'THE Farmer, one of whose special missions is to instruct the unwise. A very good authority tin practical dairying in Mr S. Hoxie, and. we have the moie confidence in his observations because he honestly admits that the "feigns " which he describes as those which I denote a good . milker are not to b© taken as infallible. This is a proof that his observations on 'this subject have not been confined to a few ca°es, bub that ho ia generalising frdm his experience of a large number of observed cases. We have ourselves known cows that in outward appearance wcic all that a good judge could wish for in u dairy animal, and yet they have proved comparative failures. On the other hand, sometimes an unprepossessing co trsc bred looking scrubber turns out a veritable wonder at the milk pail. But these are exceptions which do not alter the -nell ascertained fact that, on Vibe whole, there are certain physical indications which are possessed in greater or les& degree by the great majority ot good dairy cow?. We ouroelves believe that the natuial temperament of a cow has a great deal to do with her value to the dairy iarnier, ana we think many observant readers ot Tins Fakmkr will agree with us in this idea. Many naturally good cows ! .ire mined for the dairy by bad treatment nb heifers, under which their characters bavc been spoilt, as it were, or it maybe ! fheir nervous organisations have been fatally dei anged. Bub we will nob dwell upon tins part of the subject now, our picaent intention being to lay before our readers Mr Hoxie's ideas on the signs of a good milker. S Under the head of milk signs, says an American contemporary, Mr Hoxie includes I I all outward appearances of cattle and of their product thab indicate quantity, quality or healthfulness of milk. One of the most commonly accepted signs for both quintity and quality is what is called the " milk form." It may be described as a, gradual widening of bhe animal fiom iho front of bhe shoulders to the hips, and totting on bhe hind quarter*. This widening is sometimes only lateral, and sometim & both lateral and perpendicular. 'l o be perfect, the shoulders shonlii be thin, the forward legs comparatively clObC together, the quarters without much iiesh. and the appearance through- | out the whole frame angular. In the examination of upwards ot four hundred Hol-3tein-Friesian cows he has found very few that ha * c approached the perfect milk form. And in Jersey cattle th'it have come under his observation he has found marked deparbure from this form in those of the highest repubabion, especially in the spread of bhe forward legs and in the thickness of bhe animal through the heart. The most of these cows have not been angular. Their abdomens have been held well up, and their bodies have been round. The impression has become strongly fixed in his mind that curved lines are as indicative of milk production as are angular lines. Another of the commonly-accepted signs is " a large udder drawn up closely to the body and welVrounded at the sides." He thinks such formed udders are more apt_ to contain adipose tissue than lower-h?a)ging udders. A gentleman conversant w ; th Jersey cabbie remarked that he had never seen a remarkable buttor cow that had not, as he termed it, "a broken-down udder." The size of the udder, even if it could be exactly ascertained, Mr Hoxie is persuaded, could nob be implicitly relied upon as a measure of the milk-producing ability. There is a quality in the tnilk glands thab must exist in different degrees of intensity i& different animals, that cannot be diacorered by any outward appearances. Another of the commonly received signg is " very large and \evy crooked lacteal veins." The lacteal veins carry the blood away from the udder towards the heart. There is no doubt that the degrees of size in these veins and perhaps degrees of crookedness indicate degrees of milking ability. He found, in many instances, cows having very laige and very tortuous veins that wei'e excelled in milking ability by cows with veins of less size and less crookedness. In some instances this has been very marked and surprising. He is inclined to the opinion that the»e veins become varicose and tortuous trom ob-tructions to the free and rapid flow of blood through them, in some instances from disease, and perhaps in other cases from the-! disproportion of the size of the orifices in the walls of the abdomen and chest to the amount of blood, that is required to be carried , away. Another commonly-accepted sign is the orifices in the abdomen and chest. In some animals these orifices are only two in number, one in the right and the other in the left side of the abdomen. These aie called main orifices and are usually larger than the others. In some cases these orifices arc so that the end of the forefinger may be fairly introduced into them. If we were obliged to choose any one of the so-called milk signs upon which to rely exclusively, it would be these orifices. Yet the impression should not be obtained that these are exact measures or infallible indications of milking ability. Reliance should be made more on size than on the number of these orifices. They may be discovered in animals of all ages and bofch sexes, but of course appear much smaller in younger animals. The larger their size and the more numerous, other things being equal, the greater the milking ability of a cow should, be expected to be. Another of the signs quite widely accepted is the escutcheon. Writers and breeders have been arrayed for and againsb this sign with the intensity of partisans. On the one side it has been studied with the interest and confidence of devotees. On the other ade it has been rejected, with snears and scoffs, without study or observation. The great errors on the part of its advocates have been in assutnin gthat it was infallible, and in giving mathematical values to various forms and minute tufts of hair. So*, far as his own observation has extended, he has generally found a <Suordination in the comparative size and

number of the orifices jusb deorjbed; 3R<I , tho size and quality or the escutcheon. And when the mammary glands have been developed, the same co-ordination' between' then-rand the e^cafcr-heon haVbcon-also dis ; ' covered, although in fcbis thei'e have been more exceptions.'