Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1869-09-17
FARM AND FIRESIDE.

WHAT IS A Coop Cow What we need
is good COW that can eat and digest a deal
of food, and can then convert it into milk.
not into meat or fat. 1t is by careful atten-
ton to and development of some points, that
the good mixer is at last obtained. What
are these points
/. Health, good constitution or digestive
apparatus, for which we require capacious
belly.
2. That the largest possible development
of the animal shall be behind, in udder and
parts adjacent.
A good COW is likely to be wedge shaped.
of which the head is the smaller end.
Big heads, or horns, or shoulders are not
to be desired, because they have to be nour-
ished by the food. But these are indispen-
sable; a large bag, and hind quarters to sup
port and minister to it. . How have they
been attained, and how can they be further
perfected BY always breeding from the
COW having this development and FROM the
bull descended from such mother More
and more these PROJECTIONS will increase as
they descend from mother to child, until at
last the greatest possible milk producer is
reached, if indeed, it be not already Pos
sibly an individual COW may have reached
the limit in this direction but what we need
now is the certainty that every calf will grow
to be such COW. We want, not that one,
but that every COW shall give thirty quarts
i'll summer and twenty in winter, then we
will agree to stop awhile. Observe, both
parents should have good health, and both
should have these posterior developments.
BY using due care. these properties will be-
come so fixed as to be continued with Ger
tainty to their defendants.
So little attention has been given to this
matter in this country, that our great milk
raisers say "We know nothing of breeds ;
we prefer the native cow" And what is the
native 2" As early as 1908, it is sup
posed, cattle were broug ht from England in
to Virginia; in 1924 into New England
in 1926 into New York from Holland in
1927 into the Delaware county from Sweden;
in 1881 into New Hampshire, ETC., etc, All
these, coming from various sources, have
been mingled in every possible way. and are
known here as ''natives" They have no
distinctive peculiarities which they transmit,
but in many cases care and climate and good
food have produced from them excellent
COWS, and the ''red oxen" Of Connecticut are
not easily equaled. The vast majority OF
our COWS are of this kind, and are poor and
from these the milk raisers are obliged to
select
The first appearance, to a judge, will con-
vey an impression as to the health Or consti
tuition Of a cow He will ask, also bouy
frame, one that does not steal the fat from
the milk he will feel the skin, to find it
flexible and covered with close, scottish hair;
he will ask for good lung room, capacious
belly Il wide rump and well developed bag
covered with soft hair Extending from
this bag forward, he will be DESTROYS to see
prominent the two great veins which lose
themselves in the belly; and on the back of
the udder he will look for many we'll defined
branching veins. Then comes Guenon's
milk mirror" which is a broad strip of hair
running up from the udder to the vulva,
which he considers one thing necdful but
which has not, in this country, been found
an infallible test, though it is good one
If, in addition, the COW is gentle and good
tempered, you are almost sure of milk
maker Look for that kind. The M7h
Makers" IN April GALAXY.