THE UDDER OF TIES COW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 6

TH E UDDER OF TIES COW.

While every cattle-fancier recognises the relative value of all the various points that go to make up an ideal whc'.e, nearly everyone has a particular point upon which he lays great stress in judging a daily cow. Competent judges, however, are very partial to one special feature of every dairycow. That point is not the colour of the inside of the ear. nor is it the escutcheon, nor the length of the tail, nor the size of the umbibcil ; but it is the udder and its veins. The mammary gland is, in their estimation, the most reliable indication ct the value of s dairy cow, and it may bf considered more important than all others combined in point of estimating actual production.

We may, and frequently do, see cows with an ideal head, neck, "body, etc., but if the udder is not well developed the cow is a failure in dhect proportion as this important feature is lacking. But do w© ever see poor producers with well-developed udders? It seems perfectly natural that as milk is secreted in the mammary gland the greater the development of thai/ organ the greuei v\ ill be the product. Bleeders of dairy cattle should p.>.y more attention to the development of "udders in their Ideals of breeding. In oider to do ihat, however, it m oufd be well to have <=-)me> expression as to what kind of udder is ideal in shape, size, and composition.

It is not Miffeiently known that the productiveness of an iictder dcpc-n>K upo.> the number nf epithelial or decretive ells ifc conlnins, and liol nece&sarily wion its size. Tho ideil udv'cr, then, would be one ot Rich a sh-ipe that the inarcimum-Mzed udder containing ihc maximum number of secreting cells could be easily carried when full. A htt-le thought will show us that the shape of this udder must necessanly form pail of an arc of a circle, but that both the back ?nd front part of the udder will extend Lsvond the circle, and thu- form what we know a? .square, w-ell-bilancud udder. The udder should, of couis-e. be hee from miuli ne-b. 'Lhe amount of flesh ;>a udder wiil "-hoy on milking out. ln.wever, \\ ill deppvid ru the period of Ir.otitioi 1 . as the nioie active the secretive ceils aie tha

more apparent flesh will the udder show

after milking.

A Sesliy udder is readily

distinguished by the fact that the super- , iluons -flesh it contains usually -sesins to drop more or less to the bottom of thj udder, making it pendulous. Such an udder not only is unsightly, but the cow ■with such an udder is quite ilikely to transmit this undesirable quality to her offspring.