The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1895-06-13
AN UDDER STUDY.

| an ADstract OF m Address Before the
Students of the School of Agriculture
of the Ohio State University, Columbus,
o., by Prof. C. s. Plumb, Purdue Univer-
sity, Lafayette. Ind.
| What appears to me one of the most
interesting things in relation to the
buying or breeding of the milch cow,
is the comparatively small amount Of
consideration that is given to the I'D
der. To begin with, the one thing of
| greatest Importance in the dairy cow,
outside of constitutional vigor, is the
udder. as it is for its contents that we
keep her Even though pure bred
animal, and she or her projeny reared
by breeders for fancy prices, still the
udder record in one generation or an
other. has its influence on the reputa-
ton and price. If the breeder can
show no records but can only say,
'here is cow" then he may 60 a-beg-
ging for his market, if he seeks prices
such as usually are associated with
quality.
And yet the udder is q specific organ
of the highest Importance, 1 dare say,
is as little understood or studied as any
part of the cows anatomy, although
it is perhaps handled the most. If you
doubt the accuracy of such state
ment, go about among the farmers and
owners of dairy cattle and examine
their dairy cows and ask them ques-
tions. How many people understand
the structure of this mlmmary gland,
and the formation of milk? How many
will tell you that they weed cows from
their herds on the basis of udder con-
formation and work? How many per-
sons can fairly pass Judgment on an
empty udder? How many men attach
special significance to the character OF
the milk veins? If the average owner
of cattle could answer these questions,
would he not be inclined to use such
discrimination in his purchases? And
that being SO, would there not be a
strong tendency to improve the char
acter of the udder, through process
of selection? Yet there is reasonable
evidence, it would appear to me, that
the large majority of COW owners are
unfamiliar with these matters.
The udder of the cow commonly con-
sists OF four glands, in two pairs or
lobes placed side by side. The two
glands on the right are very distinctly
separated from those. ON the left. A
furrow along the under side OF the Gen.
ter of the udder marks the division,
and this division is continued by par
tition of tissues which passes up be.
tween the two sets of glands. While
these two pairs are thus quite distinct
from each other, the two glands in the
same division are also slightly inde-
pendent of each other. In other words,
as most dairymcn know, one-half or
one-fourth of an udder may be COM
pletely dry in the fullest flow of the
milking period, while the other half or
three-quarters are yielding copious
supply of milk.
The gland is composed mainly Of
vesicles, which consist Of thin struc-
tureless membrane, covered with fine
blood and lymph vessels, and lined
with epithelial cells. The membrane
has the cells on the inside, and a num-
ber of the vesicles are grouped to-
gether forming a lobule, with one COM
mon outlet. To illustrate this, we may
imagine four pears placed so as to
bring the stem ends together, then
cover the whole with sack of balloon
form, with a common outlet at the
small end. On the inside of the skin
of each pear is layer Of cells. This
group is called lobule. A number of
these lobules unite to form lobe,
which by means of common outlet,
empties into the milk cistern, which is
situated in the centre of the gland di-
Eectly above the teat. dissected
gland appears like mass of sponge
saturated with milk, having a common
outlet at the bottom. The udder con-
tains more or less fat, and the more
fat there is, the less the milk ordina-
rily secreted. A so-called "meaty" or
"icshy" gland Is due to the large
of fat present. While large
mixers usually possess large udders,
the prevalence Of fat may cause an I'D
der 20 be large and not so productive
of milk as might be expected.
1t formerly was supposed that milk
WAS formed from the blood but this
was incorrect. If milk originated
from blood, it would be supposed to
have composition similar to it. Yet
it differs radically from it. The ash of
the milk contains three to five times as
much potash as soda, while the ash of
blood contains three to five times as
much soda as potash. Further than
this, neither casein nor milk sugar,
both important constituents of milk,
are found in the blood. There is
small amount of fat in the blood. but
not nearly enough to account for its
abundance in milk. We are conse-
luently justified in concluding that
milk is not created directly through
The agency OF the blood.
So far as the student of animal phys