FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 318, 8 January 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

JJUW TO TELL A COOD COW. The milk veins in front of the udder arc usually »u infallible mark of a good niilcli cow, and (lie linger they are the heller tlie indications. In extra good cows tliey branch out into four arteries 1 along ti„. |,,,|ly, but tliey all unite before reaching the udder. The mure irregular the course the more sure you may be I lie cow is a good milker, but til! veins g.ve no indication of Ihe ijimlit/ or richness uf the milk. The udder should be covered with a short, downy coat of hair. The hair should begin to turn its backward course from tlref-ont teats, running in this direction between the teals, then on (he back jiart of the udder called the escutcheon, and on its far iis the vulva in the best cows. The wider tlu. belt of this upturned hair the | belter. It should be short and velvety, j covering a soft, orange-colored skill. The shape a;ul size of the udder is, however, by far the most reliable index to a g.iod cow. All the other marks are only of relative importance, and it is belter to li.ive it scraggy-looking cow any day with a good udder than a grand looking beast with a miserable bag. No matter how good looking a dairy cow may lie. except she has a well-developed uilder. with its accouipiinving network of man irv gl I-. she cannot be expected to excel as a pail-liller. As a rule, heavy millers are seldom the best-took-iTig cows, because though good looking animals capable of creditably accpiitting themselves at the pail are occasionally met willi. it is the almost invariable rule to liiiil cows which are good at the pail very thin in the llesh. narrow across the shoulders, slack over the loins, and in oilier wavs deficient from a butcher's point of view. The ideal udder is the nne which is well developed both fore and aft. one thai is carried high up towards the escutcheon, and at (he same time goes a long way forward under the belly. In addition to this, the udder must be deep and square in shape -the deeper and squarcr the better, lis four tcitts should be of good size, and placed as nearly as possible at equal distance, apart. Cows possessing ,aiders of this kind may always be counted on to prove good milkers, just as other cows possessing small, round-shaped cublers. willi leafs so close together that I hey almost touch one another at the points, may invariably be put down as poor pail-fillers, no matter how fine their appearance may be, or how goodlooking in other respects.