Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

The spine or back-bone should be straight and long, rather loosely hung, or open along the middle part, the result of the distance between the dorsal vertebræ, which sometimes causes a slight depression, or sway back. By some good judges this mark is regarded as of great importance, especially when the bones of the hind quarters are also rather loosely put together, leaving the rump of great width, and the pelvis large, and the organs and milk-vessels lodged in the cavities largely developed. The skin over the rump should be loose and flexible. This point is of great importance; and as, when the cow is in low condition, or very poor, it will appear somewhat harder and closer than it otherwise would, some practice and close observation are required to judge well of this mark. The skin, indeed, all over the body, should be soft and mellow to the touch, with soft and glossy hair. The tail, if thick at the setting on, should taper and be fine below.

But the udder is of special importance. It should be large in proportion to the size of the animal, and the skin thin, with soft, loose folds extending well back, capable of great distension when filled, but shrinking to a small compass when entirely empty. It must be free from lumps in every part, and provided with four teats set well apart, and of medium size. Nor are the milk-veins less important to be carefully observed. The principal ones under the belly should be large and prominent, and extend forward to the navel, losing themselves, apparently, in the very best milkers, in a large cavity in the flesh, into which the end of the finger can be inserted; but, when the cow is not in full milk, the milk-vein, at other times very prominent, is not so distinctly traced; and hence, to judge of its size when the cow is dry, or nearly so, this vein may be pressed near its end, or at its entrance into the body, when it will immediately fill up to its full size. This vein does not carry the milk to the udder, as some suppose, but is the channel by which the blood returns; and its contents consist of the refuse of the secretion, or what has not been taken up in forming milk. There are, also, veins in the udder, and the perineum, or the space above the udder, and between that and the buttocks, which it is of special importance to observe. These veins should be largely developed, and irregular or knotted, especially those of the udder. They may be seen in [Figs. 29], [30], [31], &c. They are largest in great milkers.

The knotted veins of the perineum, extending from above downwards in a winding line, are not readily seen in young heifers, and are very difficult to find in poor cows, or cows of only a medium quality. They are easily found in very good milkers, and, if not at first apparent, they are made so by pressing upon them at the base of the perineum, when they swell up, and send the blood back towards the vulva. They form a kind of thick network under the skin of the perineum, raising it up somewhat, in some cases near the vulva, in others lower down and nearer to the udder. It is important to look for these veins, as they often form a very important guide, and by some they would be considered as furnishing the surest indications of the milking qualities of the cow. Their full development almost always indicates an abundant secretion of milk; but they are far better developed after the cow has had two or three calves, when two or three years’ milking has given full activity to the milky glands, and attracted a large flow of blood. The larger and more prominent these veins, the better. It is needless to say that in observing them some regard should be had to the condition of the cow, the thickness of skin and fat by which they may be surrounded, and the general activity and food of the animal. Food calculated to stimulate the greatest flow of milk will naturally increase these veins, and give them more than usual prominence.

We come now to an examination of the system of Guénon, whose discovery, whatever may be said of it, has proved of immense importance to agriculture. Guénon was a man of remarkable practical sagacity, a close observer of stock, and an excellent judge. This gave him a great advantage in securing the respect of those with whom he came in contact, and assisted him vastly in introducing his ideas to the knowledge of intelligent men. Born in France, in the vicinity of Bordeaux, in humble circumstances, he early had the care of cows, and spent his whole life with them. His discovery, for which a gold medal was awarded by the agricultural society of Bordeaux, on the 4th of July, 1837, consisted in the connection between the milking qualities of the cow and certain external marks on the udder, and on the space above it, called the perineum, extending to the buttocks. To these marks he gave the name of milk-mirror, or escutcheon, which consists in certain perceptible spots rising up from the udder in different directions, forms, and sizes, on which the hair grows upwards, whilst the hair on other parts of the body grows downwards. To these spots various names have been given, according to their size and position, as tufts, fringes, figures or escutcheons, which last, is the most common term used. The reduction of these marks into a system, explaining the value of particular forms and sizes of the milk-mirror, belongs, so far as I know, exclusively to Guénon, though the connection of the milking qualities of the cow and the size of the ovals with downward-growing hair on the back part of the udder above the teats was observed and known in Massachusetts more than forty years age, and some of the old farmers of that day were accustomed to say that when these spots were large and well developed the cow would be a good milker.

Guénon divided the milk-mirror into eight classes, and each class into eight orders, making in all no less than sixty-four divisions, which he afterwards increased by sub-divisions, making the whole system complicated in the extreme, especially as he professed to be able to judge with accuracy, by means of the milk-mirror, not only of the exact quantity a cow would give, but also the quality of the milk and the length of time it would continue. He tried to prove too much, and the consequence was that he was himself frequently at fault, notwithstanding his excellent knowledge of other general characteristics of milch cows, while others, of less knowledge, and far more liable to err in judgment, were inclined to view the whole system with distrust.

My own attention was called to Guénon’s method of judging of cows some eight or ten years ago, and since that time I have examined many hundreds, with a view to ascertain the correctness of its main features, inquiring, at the same time, after the views and opinions of the best breeders and judges of stock, with regard to their experience and judgment of it merits; and the result of my observation has been, that cows with the most perfectly-developed milk-mirrors, or escutcheons, are, with rare exceptions, the best milkers of their breed, and that cows with small and slightly-developed mirrors are, in the majority of cases, bad milkers.

I say the best milkers of their breed; for I do not believe that precisely the same sized and formed milk-mirrors on a Hereford or a Devon, and an Ayrshire or a native, will indicate anything like the same or equal milking properties. It will not do, in my opinion, to disregard the general and well-known characteristics of the breed, and rely wholly on the milk-mirror. But I think it may be safely said that, as a general rule the best-marked Hereford will turn out to be the best milker among the Herefords, all of which are poor milkers; the best-marked Devon the best among the Devons, and the best-marked Ayrshire the best among the Ayrshires; that is, it will not do to compare two animals of entirely distinct breeds, by the milk-mirrors alone, without regard to the fixed habits and education, so to speak, of the breed or family to which they belong.

There are cows with very small mirrors, which are, nevertheless, very fair in the yield of milk; and among these with middling quality of mirrors instances of rather more than ordinary milkers often occur, while at the same time it is true that now and then cases occur where the very best marked and developed mirrors are found on very poor milkers. I once owned a cow of most extraordinary marks, the milk-mirror extending out broadly upon the thighs, and rising broad and very distinctly marked to the buttocks, giving every indication, to good judges, of being as great a milker as ever stood over a pail; and yet, when she calved, the calf was feeble and half nourished, and she actually gave too little to feed it. But I believe that this exception, and most others which appear to be direct contradictions, could be clearly explained by the fact, of which I was not aware at the time, that she had been largely over-fed before she came into my possession. I mention this case simply to show how impossible it is to estimate with mathematical accuracy either the quantity, the quality, or the duration of the milk, since it is affected by so many chance circumstances, which cannot always be known or estimated by even the most skilful judge; as the food, the treatment, the temperament, accidental diseases, inflammation of the udder, premature calving, the climate and season, the manner in which she has been milked, and a thousand other things which interrupt or influence the flow of milk, without, materially changing the size or the shape of the milk-mirror. M. Magne, who appears to me to have simplified and explained the system of Guénon, and to have freed it from many of the useless details with which it is encumbered in the original work, while he has preserved all that is of practical value, very justly observes that we often see cows, equally well formed, with precisely the same milk-mirror, and kept in the same circumstances, yet giving neither equal quantities nor similar qualities of milk. Nor could it be otherwise; for, assuming a particular tuft on two cows to be of equal value at birth, it could not be the same in the course of years, since innumerable circumstances occur to change the activity of the milky glands without changing the form or size of the tuft; or, in other words, the action of the organs depends not merely on their size and form, but, to a great extent, on the general condition of each individual.

Te give a more distinct idea of the milk-mirror, it will be necessary to refer to the figures, and the explanations of these I translate literally from the little work already referred to, the Choix des Vaches Latières, or, the Choice of Milch Cows.

The different forms of milk-mirrors are represented by the shaded part of [figures 29], [30], [31], etc.; but it is necessary to premise that upon the cows themselves they are always partly concealed by the thighs, the udder, and the folds of the skin, which are not shown, and so they are not always so uniform in nature as they appear in the cuts.