Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-06-10
SELECTING 4elFERS.
Tho Five Cardinal Features Of . Coed
and Profitable Mile Cow. =

Tho Five Cardinal Features Of . Coed
and Profitable Mile h Cow. q
When the burning passion to become
. famous and mOney-making dairyman
first takes possession Of man. he puts
the whole strength Of his mind to the task
of overcoming the hard places that a
little contemplation teaches him are to
be found in each department of the oc-
cupation.
1t will not take him long to learn
that the first requisite of profitable
dairy is good herd Of cows. He will
not read far either in books on dairying
or in the current papers of the agricul-
tural press before he comes across. this
statement that not more than half the
cows in the dairy herds of the country
pay for their keep. and that the good
cows carry the poor ones, to the great
loss of their owners. He rapidly solves
this problem in his own mind by deter
mining not to have any but good cows
in his herd. Now his trouble begins.
How Is he to get up herd of first-class.
gOoSI profitable cows. Ii he happens to
have plenty of money he is almost GER
tain to fall into the very common error
OF thinking he can buy them. Certainly
this can be done, but it would be a long
list that contained the names of al the
men who have sunk fortunes in carving
out this plain proposition. The trouble
IS that cows possess such infinite varie-
ties Of form and character. Some are
neither physically or mentally adapted
to the dairy, while others possess char
acteristics that are absolutely startling
in their capacity for dairy work. while
the intermediate space is filled with
every variety of cow, having good and
bad qualities inextricably mixed.
In view of these difficulties, the best
we can do is to set before the mind the
ideal animal and then educate ourselves
to the work of securing what we consid-
er the best. TO do this there should be
no cast-iron rules, but breed and buy as
opportunity presents itself. To become
educated in selecting the best dairy
COWS, we naturally look to the books on
dairying and the agricultural papers.
With single pen they describe the ideal
cow beautifully balanced. beginning
with a fine bony head, incurving horns,
a slender neck, thin witherS, and,
spreading as you proceed, she has n
capacious barrel, high, broad hips;
long, thin tail, square udder and
Flanderine escutcheon. Now go into
the Woodworking herd of some success
full dairyman and ask him to point you
out his best paying animals, and the
chances are that he viii not exhibit j
single ideal cow, simply because the act
of milk-giving is not. so far as we know.
directly connected with or in any great
degree dependent upon any external
feature of the COW, if we except the size
and shape of the udder Like the trot-
tiers, they 90 in all forms, while the
fashionable ideal may fail to raise her
own calf
For many years the writer made a
close study of the outward form and the
mental characteristics of the best COWS,
paying every regard to popular notions
with a view to duplicating the best ami
mails by selecting the most promising
heifers to be found. Our success was
quite equal to that of the average dairy
man, but faith in the ideal forms and
outward signs of inward excellence was
badly shaken. In order to supplement-
experience with that of the best Judges,
we attended many of the sales of blood
ed dairy cattle of late years, and con-
suited the herdsmen who have brought
herds up to national regulations for cx-
cellence of product. and find the follow
ing points make up the sum of good
heifer: Q) Large teats. (2) Teats
set wide apart. (3) Open twist with
documentary udder showing well from
the rear. (4) Deep in the flank. (5)
Slender neck. These are the cardinal
features that have been found by prac.
teal men to lead most directly to cor
rect judgment in selecting young
heifers.
The slim neck is generally indicative
of mountaineering tendency. With these
characteristics heifer is not certain to
turn out good one, but you have this
that she has every requisite
of a good COW, and if she fails it is no
fault of yours, while many heifers prove
absolutely that they possessed the ca
pacity for making the milk, but that
of small teatS, narrow quar-
tiers, or delicate constitution, forbids
their ever becoming profitable cows.
Nothing has been SAID about pedigree in
choosing young heifers, but we merely
call attention to those outward signs
that apply to all breeds, whether of blue
blood or the daughters of nobody in
Observation-Disclosures Dairynrun.