The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-06-25
CONCLUDED FROM PAGE Il

pick out the best. o SnOulu No"
be able to state your reasons for
selecting a particular COW, and what
are the superior points of n and
the defects of another. In other
words, train your eye so that II
necessary you can make a Judgment
in two or three minutes. 1 do not
NEAR to say that you car in every
instance pick out the best COW from
a herd. That requires a great deal
of study and practice. But you can
become so expert that you can very
often find the best cow. You can
generally pick out a good cow and
tell those that are Indifferent.
First of all, we must consider the
COW as q machine for the economic
production of milk and butter. And
she varies for those two purposes.
If you find a COW that gives 5000
pounds of milk and yields ~30Opounds
of butter you have a cow we'll
adapted for that speciality. On the
other hand, if she gives 5000 pounds
of milk, making 200 pounds of but
ter, she will prove more remunera-
tive for the first consideration.
Commencing with the head, we
have the poll, the eye and the dish,
three points that should receive
special attention in a dairy cow. Our
arguments with regard to these
points are based on observation, not
on my w personal observation
alone, but on the observation of
those who have had wide experience,
and we find, for example, that a COW
that has the poll, or the point be-
tween the horns, wide, is generally
a good mixer. Now, we assign as a
reason for this the fact that it is an
Indication of nervous energy. When
you see a man of high, broad fore
head you expect him to be a brainy
man. We desire and seek the same
thing in a COW, for the reason that
milk is the direct product of nervous
energy. We want every point that
indicates high nervous energy
strongly developed. And a very
large brain indicates a well-nourished
nervous system.
Next look at the eye. Probably
the eye is one of the best indicators
of nervous energy or character that
you can find anywhere. When you
meet a man whom you do not like
you condemn him probably as much
for his eye as any other feature OF
his face. The eye seems to show
the soul. The same thing is dis
played in the COW. We look fol
those things that indicate good tenn
per, or, we might say, for pleasing
features. We look for those features
that are attractive. You will find
the Y of the Jersey COW probably
the most highly cultured eye in the
dairy world, A large, limpid, clear.
placid eye, it gives you the idea al
once of a gentle, kindly disposition
and at the same time of a strong
vigorous nervous temperament.
Following the eye comes the dish
of the face. The dish is not due sc
much to the curvature of the nasa-
bone as to the prominence of the eye
and brain. We count the dish &
good point for that reason.
The next point to consider is the
neck. Now, the neck of a good dairy
COW will be longer than that of a bee.
animal. In the dairy COW you wan
a rather loose-jointed animal, with
long neck and a loosely wedge shaped
body. In the steer you look for
short body and a compact, thicl
neck. For two reasons we do no
want that type in the dairy COW
Where you find a heavy, short, thicl
neck, you have as a rule a tendenc!
to meat production whereas the op
posite tendency would naturally b.
sought. Second, animals require
certain quantity of food for main
tenance all over that produces milk
fat OF energy, as the case may be. Il
a dairy animal that has both tenden
cies, instead of all the surplus foo
material going to the production o
milk, it is divided between two an
tagonizing purposes and you get
meagre flow of milk of variabl
quality. Therefore we look for tn
neck to be rather long and thin fror
side to side, or ~ewe-necked, as it i
some times called. 1t should ais
have depth and be free from loos
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