POINTS OF HEIFERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 3

POINTS OF HEIFERS

SELECTING DAIRY TYPE. In the selection of a dairy heifer the form and general character will, to a great extent, indicate whether she will develop into a good producer, states the “Southland Daily News.” When 1 a heifer is quite young, the trained eye of the judge can see its dairy value and can discern the dairy type as distinct from the beef type. The production records of her ancestral dams on both sides are important factors in determining her future dairy value, while constitution is also important. The form of the heifer with a future as a profitable producer is, in miniature, that of a good type, fully-de-veloped dairy cow. Dairy characteristics are indicated by an absence of surplus flesh; she is somewhat angular and spare. The head is typical of her breed, the eyes large and bright, and muzzle large, ears of average size, neck lean and lengthy, sloping with the shoulders. She is sharp over the shoulders, ribs well sprung, with good girth. The forequarters are light. Digestive capacity is indicated by the depth through the barrel from the centre of the back to the navel. Good depth indicates ample capacity to convert food into milk. The greater the depth through the middle, the greater the production is likely to be. The back is straight. There is a good length from the hip to the pin bones, and from the hip to the flank. The thighs are flat and free from fleshiness; the line of the thigh is incurving. The bones should be light and not coarse. The tail should be thin and free from flesh.. All of these points should indicate that there is no tendency to lay on flesh. The udder (as yet undeveloped), milk veins, and wells are reliable indications of the heifer’s future value as a dairy cow. The skin covering and surrounding the immature udder is soft and loose, with teats well placed. The milk veins can be followed with the finger and milk wells gauged. Comparatively well-developed milk veins and large milk wells also are important points in judging a dairy heifer.