How to Select Cows: or, The Guenon system simplified, explained, and practically appliedHazard, Willis P. (Willis Pope)
Science
How to Select Cows: or, The Guenon system simplified, explained, and practically applied
Hazard, Willis P. (Willis Pope)
Cattle -- Judging; Cows; Dairy cattle
“Thus far we have considered the escutcheon in reference to its form and
size alone, and may now say, that the quantity of milk depends on these,
but its quality is indicated by other signs, which we find to a great
extent in the same place. It is too well known to require any assertion,
that some cows give a large quantity of very poor milk, and others an
equally large quantity of rich milk. It is equally well known that some
cows give but little milk, though they yield a good quantity of butter;
and I repeat, that the signs indicative of these differences of quality
are found in the escutcheon, and they are easily recognized. If the skin
in the escutcheon is soft and oily, and particularly if it is of a rich
yellow color, (though this is more easily seen by examining the end of
the tail,) suggestive of “gilt edged” butter, that cow will give good
milk. In such cases we will find her hair soft and short. There may be
some long hairs, too, but the undergrowth will be as mentioned, and often
has almost the quality of fur. But if, on the other hand, the skin is
white and dry, and the hair thin and harsh, the cow gives poor milk. If
her escutcheon is large and symmetrical, she may give a large quantity of
poor milk. The form and size of the escutcheon indicate _quantity_, the
skin and hair indicate _quality_. These signs are true also as applied
to bulls, being in such cases a proper guide in the selection of animals
to breed milkers from. My own experience and observation, which has been
considerable in the matter, convinces me that cows inherit their milking
qualities more from their sires than from their dams; and it is probable
that many who have been disappointed in heifers raised from some favorite
milkers, will be disposed to agree with me. If this be true, then the
Guenon method has an application that must prove valuable to those who
breed cows for dairy purposes. Another interesting fact is, that we can
discover all the signs on a calf, and are thereby enabled to select with
much certainty those that are fit for the dairy, and to reject those that
would be only a disappointment, if raised for that purpose. Of course, a
very small cow, with ever so good an escutcheon, cannot be expected to
give a very large quantity of milk, and might be inferior in that respect
to one having a less perfect one, where the animal is of greater size.
But in such cases, the small cow would give much more in proportion to
the cost of keeping. In all cases, therefore, the size should be taken
into account.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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