Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-06-16
Selecting tho Dairy Cow.

| &C. o. Levine, Kansas.)
IL the COW q good mixer?
Were her parents and grandparents
good producerse
Does she have the desirable dairy
form?
Is she free from disease?
These four important questions must
be answered favorably by every dairy
man in selecting cows for bis dairy If he
wishes to be successful in the dairy
business. This is true whether he Sc
lects the COW from some other herd or
picks her from his own herd.
HER MILK RECORD.
How much milk and butterfat is the
COW producing, and for how long ape
riod does she keep up her flow? are
questions of vital importance. To-day,
successful dairymen keep records OF the
production of all their cows by the use
of the Babcock tester and the milk
scales. Never buy or keep COW with a
low production record, no matter how
good her breeding or type may be. She
will lose money for the dairy and, no
matter how good bull she is. mated to,
at least fifty percent Of her offspring
will be like her in production. On the
other hand, a COW producing no less
than 800 pounds fat per year will return
a good profit to her owner. If she has
good breeding back of her and is mated
to bull of good ancestry and type, at
least seventy five percent of her OF.
spring will be in or above the 800 pound
production class.
THE cows IMMEDIATE ANCESTORS.
Were her parents and grandparents
good producers, and does she herself ap-
proach the ideal dairy type or form? are
questions to be answered in selecting
heifer that, Of course, has no records OF
her own. In itself, pedigree OF pure
bred animal is of no more importance
than the pedigree of a scrub. 1t Is what
the pedigree tells about the ancestors OF
the cow that is of Importance. For
COW to have good pedigree her ances-
tors on both her dams and sire's side,
for two or three generations back,
should be good producers.
THE DAIRY FORM.
In general the COW should have lean,
angular appearance. Her chest should
be deep. and her barrel large and roomy,
with the greatest depth in the region of
the udder rather than farther forward.
This indicates a good dairy tempera-
ment, strong constitution, and a large
for feed which will be convert.
ed into milk and butterfat rather than
into body fat. A soft, pliable hide indi.
Gates a good internal secretion and good
digestion. A large, we'll placed udder,
with numerous and prominent milk
veins, provides plenty of room for the
of milk and butterfat. A
good producing cow will answer favor
ably this description of the ideal dairy
type, and in selecting COW or heifer for
the herd, it is impossible to pay too
much attention to type.
From the production standpoint, the
proper selection of the individual COW is
the chief essential of success In dairying.
There is greater variation in production
among individual COWS of the same
breed than there is between the different
dairy breeds themselves. This fact
makes it even more important than the
selection of the breed itself.
Centuries ago, when the cow was kept
lOT u6T UooI duu uiuO ouO PkoNoS-
ed only enough milk to nourish the calf
until it was old enough to eat grass, pro-
bably an average of gallon and a half
per day for period of three or four
The highly developed dairy |
COWS we have to-day are to large ex-
tent an artificial product. BY intelli-
gent selection of the best mixers for
breeding stock, the milking functions of
the COW have been improved to the pres
ent high degree. Experienced breeders
are we'll acquainted with the fact that
characters are not regularly |
from the parent to the of
spring. This is the reason why there Is
such wide variation in the capacity for |
production among different cows of even
the same breeding.
As it is the tendency for all animals to |
transmit the characters normal to the
breed which they represent, it is evident
that only part of the progeny Of good
producing COW will be equal to, and bet |
ter than the dam. We can, however, by
careful selection and wedding out, build |
up herd that will have an average an
nual production of 400 pounds, or better,
Of butterfat, and the tendency to revert
back to the original low producing an
,estors will lessen az the milking habit
becomes more firmly fixed In the
k.ool