Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-11-05

Mr.. Cooks article on the INSTRUCTIVE
object lesson recently given at one o
the New Jersey demonstration meetings
touches on what believe to be one o
the most vital points in studying dairy
conformation. / believe those charac
teristics in the animal which show nerve
force are essential to give any animal
perfect dairy conformation. They
should certainly be included in the list
and am not sure that they should mol
head it. The cow with the sunken eye
the listless manner, the sluggish, stupid
brain, lacks in my judgment the true
dairy conformation fully as much as the
one without the open organization, the
large udder or the mammary veins.
We have been looking too much at the
rear end of the COW. We have forgotten
that some of the most important dairy
functions are indicated by the form oi
the foreward quarters, the turn OF the
neck, the carriage of the head and the
expression of the eye.
Dairy functions are not understood
and they never will be, because the COW
has patent on the process of milk max
ing that will never expire and that no
one can initiate or infringe upon. just
how DR.. Jordan's cow produced so MANY
more pounds of fat in her milk in a
given time than she ate in her food in
the same time and gainad in body
weight has not been explained. Just
why Mr.. Cooks cows produce 80 well
upon ration apparently unbalanced be
does not know.
How many cows are able TO thrive the
best and produce the highest possible
number of pounds OF normal milk upon
an almost exclusive ration of green corn
from the field, cannot tell. The COW
runs her own machinery in a way known
only to herself, aud is always ready to
respond when fed an abundance and
treated with the consideration she de-
serves.
It is therefore necessary that she
should be made right all round, that no
working part should be out OF balance,
that as whole she show power, and II
she does not show this, in my judgment
she has not the true dairy conformation
and neither can she be of good breeding.
have been somewhat sharply taken
to task at times because of my firm be-
life in dairy conformation as an indica-
ton of dairy function, and have had IN
stances cited of cows well formed, often
nv ideals, that were not producers, and
of cows without dairy form that were
producers, but am still willing to main
tain that no COW ever lived that had
complete dairy form, including those
points that stand for vigor and intelli-
gence, that would not have been pro-
ducer if properly understood by those
who had her in charge, and | am as
ready to maintain that records do not
exist to prove that any cow without q
pronounced dairy form was ever good
performer for any length of time or over
long milking periods, and neither Is
there any record to show that sue a
COW was a producer or performer unless
it was case of atavism or accident.
do not wish to discourage the use oil
scales or the milk tester; in fact, con-
slider them indispensable in any dairy,
but would use them to help study the
individuality of the cow so as to feed
and care for her for best results as well
rs TO weed out the poor cows. L trust
that all who read Mr.. Cooks article will
begin more careful study of the COW as
whole, remembering that the working
parts of any machine must be supported
by strong frame and foundation, and
that the frame of the COW and her con-
stitution form the foundation necessary
for the support of her working parts.
Again, it is true that We do not study
the dairy sire as we should. Nerve
force can come from him in a marked
degree. The sluggish bull is menace
in any herd. The bull not only imparts
his own characteristics in this respect,
but he transmits the producing qualities
of his dam. The large producing heiter
Alzalene Scales is almost an exact re-
production of her sire's dam, which was
stronger cow than her dam. Blood
lines showed strongly for two genera
tions, leaving out of account the closer
relationship of the mother of the heifer
B. Walker McKeen in Tribune Farmer.