Of the Bastards.
Guenon denominates those cows which give milk, much or little, so long as they are not got with calf; but, when impregnated, begin to fall off in their milk. The term he uses is batard, which means, in English, bastard, spurious, of a mixed breed, mongrel. We should have preferred to call them spurious cows, as the term bastard does not exactly express the meaning we apply to that word; but, as it has before been translated bastard, and is so known by many, we retain it.
The bastards are often the best looking cows; have finely developed escutcheons, and many give a great deal of milk, some poor quality and some rich; but, as soon as they are pregnant, they go dry very soon, or fall off rapidly in their milk, while others give very little milk at all. From their fine show, they deceive a great many, and Guenon cautions buyers, as the most skillful will make mistakes. He has, however, given a series of drawings, by which they can generally be discovered.
These bastards mostly conceive well, and the first time they are put to the bull, they vary in the quality of milk they give like other cows. The flow of milk is at its height during the first eight days after calving, though of bad quality. It then diminishes a little, and keeps on at about the same yield until she conceives again, when it diminishes again, more or less rapidly.
To discover a bastard, consult the engravings which are given to each class. To the first class, the Flanders, there are two kinds. The first, which is the most common, has on each edge of the vertical escutcheon, a feathery appearance, and where this is strongly marked by the down- and up-growing hairs meeting, and they interlock and stand out from the skin, and, besides, are harsh and wiry, and generally shiny, glistening, and looking of lighter color, beware of them. The harsher, coarser they are, the shorter time will the cow milk after getting with calf. The second kind of bastards among the Flanders will have an oval on the vertical escutcheon, generally near the middle part, of about two to three inches in length, by one and a half to two inches wide, on which will be found coarse wiry hair, and the harsher it is, and the larger the oval is, the sooner the cow will cease to milk. It may often be discovered by the glistening appearance of the hair on it.
On all the other classes, the bastard marks consist of two oval patches of hair, one on each side of the vulva; and the larger they are, the more pointed in shape, and the coarser and more wiry the hair on them, the sooner the cow will cease to milk.
The importance of learning the bastard marks is very great, as the buyer can safely avoid them, and leave them to those less skilled. While he may buy the less showy looking cow for much less money, and get a better animal than the unskilled man will obtain even for the higher price.
All animals are more readily judged correctly, and the system can be learned more easily, in summer than in winter, both on old and young; for then the winter coat of hair is off, and the hair is shorter, and the escutcheon is more easily perceived. The skin, also, is more natural and soft, and the hair is usually not so harsh to the feel; and the cows are cleaner, and all marks or blemishes more quickly seen.