ESCUTCHEONS AND COLOUR OF SKIN NO INDICATION OF MILKING QUALITY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 21 October 1922, Page 3

ESCUTCHEONS AND COLOUR OF SKIN NO INDICATION OF MILKING QUALITY.

(H.H.D. in Canadian paper.) Many judges of dairy cattle lay considerable stress on the escutcheon or milk-mirror as an indication of the quantity of milk a cow will give; and lobk to the color of the secretions of the skin, particularly in the ears and on the end of the tail-bone, as throwing some light on the richness of the milk, or percentages of fat- in a cow's milk. Some recent investigations have shown that there is little or nothing in these signs. Thus another time-worn theory has to be discarded. There is one way, and one way only "to know the quantity and quality of anilk given by a cow —that is by weighing Tier milk regularly and testing it often enough to know what percentage of fat the milk contains. . Usually this work is best done through the cow-testing association. But if there be no association, this, important work ought not to -tie neglected.