DAIRY INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 115, 17 May 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

DAIRY INDUSTRY

POINTS OF GOOD COWS FIVE PRIME ESSENTIALS CHOOSING LIKELY YIELDEBS Constitution, capacity, nervous temperament, blood circulation and ability are tho five essential of a good dairy cow according to Mr F. W. Gilbert, an English authority, who recently lectured to a Discussion Society at Home. He said, constitution is judged by the «ve, the necessities being heart depth, plenty of room for the lungs, fairly broad chest, legs well apart, well-sprung ribs, bright and prominent eyes, with horns rather heavy at the base and tapering gradually.

Constitution is imperative on account of the hard work the dairy cow is called upon to perform. A great volume of fresh air is vital to the health of a dairy cow. Wide nostrils and windpipe are accordingly of extreme importance. Capacity means the ability to consume food and to turn it into dairy products. As the capacious cow is a ravenous eater the dainty and small feeder should be avoided. Hence a large mouth and strong jaws are desirable. Because the cow chews the cud she requires large storage capacity, indicated by a good barrel, which should bo long, broad and deep, ensured by length of body the well-sprung ribs, and the wide loins and hips. Temperament and Character. Nervous temperament is not mere nervousness, but is that quality denoting character. Indications of nervous temperament are the broad face, the long, broad forehead, with room for the brain, which controls the nervous system and governs all the functions of the cow. Temperament is reflected by the eye, by the open-jointed spinal column, which should be free from fat, by prominent ribs and hips, and by freedom from superflous fat all over the body. Style, activity and carriage should be especially noted, and a preference given to the cow that is always eating or chewing the cud—in brief—to the worker.

Blood circulation deserves greater attention than is generally paid to it. After food is received it has to be distributed over the body, and here blood circulation plays its part. For generations the beef animal has been bred so that the food shall be carried to the top of the body, whereas in the dairy cow it is desirable that as much as possible of the food shall be carried eventually to the udder. Indications of blood circulation are the escutcheon, the mammary veins and the milk wells.

The escutcheon is the hair on the buttock running the opposite way to the other hair, and is possibly accounted for by the fact that this region is nourished by the large arteries passing into the udder.

Great attention should be paid to the milk veins along the belly, and the more numerous and prominent these are tho greater is the volume of blood passing through the udder, hence greater the capacity. Ability to Produce . Of ability to produce milk, the chief sign is the udder. Deep and low-hang-ing udders should be avoided, as they do not last well, and are liable to be affected by cold and wet. The ideai udder should be wide, and should extend far forward and high up behind, with a tea at each corner. The thigh should bo free from fat inside and should be well arched.

The shape of the udder is largely governed by the shape of its roof, and this fact accounts for the importance of I wide and level hind-quarters, the width of udder bearing relation to width at the hip and at the side of the tail, while the length of the udder depends largely upon the length from the hip to the pinbones. These bones should be level to avoid the sloping rump, which carries with it the tip-tilted udder. With -the above characteristics must be associated the clean, refined nock and tho sharp withers, with the appearance generally known as the dairy type. Avoid the wasp-waisted weak cow with no heart girth; she is often mistaken for dairy type