SELECTING CROSSBRED COWS FOR THE DAIRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 11, 23 December 1911, Page 7

SELECTING CROSSBRED COWS FOR THE DAIRY.

(By “Jumbuck” in “The Queenslander.'*^

From America wo first got tire icier that a good dairy cow mu si lie what they termed “wedge' shaped”; that is, she musi possess a wide hind-quarter, gradually decreasing in width of body forwards until the forequarter is much contracted, both in width, and depth. It is, no doubt, the case that many of the heaviest milkers are of this form; but seeing the great strain tc the system, to which heavy milk producers are subjected, it becomes a psychological question whether a cow of such conformation is able long tc withstand it, or to resist bovine diseases, and it is the opinion of many eminent breeders in the United Kingdom (foremost amongst whom is Mr Robert Bruce, the director of the Dublin Agricultural Society, and a onetime most successful cattle-breeder, and still one of the acknowledged best writers on the subject) that the lacteal properties of cows are not dependent on such a conformation, which is inimical to a robust constitution, arid the Dexter-Kerry is frequently quoted as against this supposed fallacy of reasoning. There are also many remarkably heavy milkers among the Shorthorn stock, notably the Red Lincolns, which belie the “wedgeshaped” theory. I Dairy cows can only be reliably judged by the milking test; but there are certain outside indications which close observers have found to be associated with heavy milking qualities, and as dairy farming is a comparatively new industry in Queensland, and as dairy farmers are now, and must be for sometime to come, largely dependent on crossbred or grade cows, a few generally recognised points to bo observed in the selection of good I milking cows will be of value especially to beginners, and a list of such prominent points is given by Professor 0. CV Gregg, of .the‘North Dakota Farmers’- Institute, in* “Hoard’s Dairyman,” a dhort abstract of which is given below and will be endorsed by many practical dairymen of experience here. . He arranges these I points into five different headings, namely: First, a large, ample, and capacious body (this is needed and must appear, for the ample supply of milk must come from food received and digested within the area of the body). Second, observe if the backbone is prominent, and if that part of the body which is called the crops is scantily covered with flesh. Beef cattle are full at this point of the body; but in .milking cow's what is wanted is that the ample supply of blood is to go to the udder, whore the milk is made. Third, go to the | udder and see if it is reasonably large, j Do not depend on the eye to estimate > the size. _ Many very good udders are contained within the body and their size is not apparent. Look to the forepart of the udder, be it large or small. Up to the point where the skin ceases to ho as loose as upon the other part of the body it can be ’ judged that the udder extends. One can get a fair idea of the udder attachment to the body by drawing an imaginary lino from the point last mentioned to the front udder that has already been examined. This I will give a distinct and positive line of attachment of the udder to the body. If that line is long, then wo have the clasping form. In such a form we have nature’s provision to receive that ample supply of blood | that this good body will produce. ! II ourth, put the hand on what is known as the milk vein, which extends ’ from the udder along the lower part of the body to both sides ; at the end of this line will be found a hole through the body of the wall. This hole should be large enough to take the end of an average index finger; by pressing against the wall of the body for the space of about two inches, in a varying direction, a second > hole may bo found that will be about the size of a lead pencil. Look, at the holes on both sides of the body. These holes through the body are for the return of the veins which take the blood to a very great extent, to the udder. Here we have an absolute fact which indicates that the blood makes its circuit through the udder, nr gland, where the milk is made. One can safely reason that from tin’s abundance of blood we shall have'an -. abundance of milk Fifth, and last

of all, look and soo if the eye of the animal is large and full. This largeness of the eye indicates a strong nerve system. Digestion and milk secretion is the work of the nerve system. The nerve system is the power that drives this animal milk machine.