The Snyder signal. (Snyder, Tex.) 1887-????, 1921-04-01
HOW TO SELECT
BEST DAIRY COW
BY 4. VI. Evans, Livestock and Dairy
Specialist. Extension Service
A and VI. College.

the right sort OF attention. III COW Is
TO be used in commercial dairy
where milk Is retailed and the calves
killed, the COW that will produce gal
Ions OF medium rich milk, Is the one
that is wanted and that is required,
provided she has sufficient constitu-
/ ton To stand the strain, in farmers
case however, where the milk or
cream is sold at a moderate whole
/ sale price and the raising OF the calf
adds 20 the income. Il is advisable
that the COW ancestry be- considered.
Cows may be selected by breed. by
individual or by record For the farm
dairy all OF these must be considered.
| The individual must be of a type that
will produce milk and butter from
| what she eats rather than fat and
| flesh To be profitable she must be
able to make an individual record.
/ For US TO feel certain that her calves
will be good producers. there must
b. in her pedigree q long line of
high producers. because We know
that like produces like. or the
ILLNESS OF some ancestor" If every
dam and sire's dam in the pedigree
! rave been high producers. We can
feel assured that the calves to come
viii be profitable. II. however. some
mongrels or weak purebreads appear,
we will find some OF the off spring a
disappointment
After We have decided upon a good
producing strain in a strictly dairy
herd. the Importance OF the type OF
The individual animal is easy 10 see.
T'he individual must have the con
formation that will insure large cor
tiuued production.
In examining the animal, take
general view when ten feet away. You
aan see things then you would not
see Il closer Notice from there wheth
90 The COW is "leggy," II she has
strong. straight back and capacious
middle. then go carefully over the ami
NAL from head to rear. examining
each point as If you yere reading a
book BY the time you have gone
over the animal Systematically, you
w,ll have clearly in mind all of its
weakness and strong points
he head is the index to the re-
mainder of the body and its details
are important For instance q good
eye that is full. clear and bright will
indicate a kind. sensible disposition
and a hard worker with vigorous
health. while a sunken, lustreless eye
may indicate poor health. lack Of
energy and general unprofitableness.
On the other hand, flashy unsteady
eye indicates a mean disposition A
wide forehead indicates sense and a
long face. long body.
A large clean cut muzsle, is sign
of heavy feeder which is very i'm
portant for II Is the additional feed
beyond what is necessary TO keep up
the body, that makes the milk and
incidentally. the profit. Only suffi-
cient neck is required to furnish \
handle for the head. Thick necks
show tendency to make beef and
fat OF the feed, rather than milk.
Every COW should appear vigorous
but whenever you see fat dairy COW
you may know she is n losing propo-
sition for she cannot make flesh and
milk OF the same feed. For that same
reason a rather sharp withers and
smoothe shoulders are wanted. Depth
and breadth OF chest are wanted TO
insure strong constitution. The larger
the middle, the better for this is
where feed is stored and digestion
takes place. Large open joints in the
backbone insure length of body and
more capacity A straight back is
pretty and also indicates strength. A
straight rump is very desirable, since
usually where II shapes down the
udder usually hangs uneven and is
uneven, and is unequally developed
in the front quarters. or greater i'm
portance is the length of the rum
for this gives capacity for the carry
ing of the foetus and the milk Sc
creating glands. Length of udder
from front to rear is necessary SO
that there will be greater opportun-
ity for the milk glands to secrete
milk from he blood as IL passes
,hrovVh frou, the rear TO front. Very