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

They have the mammary part of the milk-mirror well developed, but the perinean part contracted or wholly wanting, as in [Figs. 34] and [37]; or both parts of the mirror are moderately developed, or slightly indented, as [Figs. 35] and [36]. [Figs. 38], [39], [40], and [41], belong also to this class, in the lower part; but they denote cows which, as the upper mirrors, S S S, indicate, dry up sooner when again in calf.

These marks, though often seen on many good cows, should be considered as certain only when the veins of the perineum form, under the skin, a kind of network, which, without being very apparent, may be felt by a pressure on them; when the milk-veins on the belly are well developed, though less knotted and less prominent than in cows of the first class; in fine, when the udder is well developed, and presents veins which are sufficiently numerous, though not very large.

It is necessary, then, as in the preceding class, to have a mistrust of cows in which the mirror is not accompanied by large veins. This remark applies especially to cows which have had several calves, and are in full milk. They are medium or bad, let the milk-mirror be what it may, if the veins of the belly are not large, and those of the udder apparent.

The general characteristics which depend on form and constitution combine less than in cows of the preceding class the marks of good health and excellent constitution with those of a gentle and feminine look.

Fig. 54. A Good Milch Cow.

Small cows of this class give from seven to ten or eleven quarts of milk a day, and the largest from thirteen to seventeen quarts. They can be made to give three fourths of a pint of milk, just after calving, for every ten ounces of hay consumed, if well cared for, and fed in a manner favorable to the secretion of milk.

They hold out long in milk when they have no upper mirrors or tufts. At seven or eight months in calf, they may give from five to eight quarts a day.

The third class consists of middling cows. When the milk-mirror really presents only the lower or mammary part slightly developed or indented, and the perinean part contracted, narrow, and irregular, as in [Figs. 42] to [47], the cows are middling. The udder is slightly developed or hard, and shrinks very little after milking. The veins of the perineum are not apparent, and those which run along the lower sides of the abdomen are small, straight, and sometimes unequal. In this case the mirror is not symmetrical, and the cow gives more milk on the side where the vein is largest.

These cows often have large heads, and a thick and hard skin. Being ordinarily in good condition, and even fat, they are beautiful to look at, and seem to be well formed. Many of them are nervous and restive, and not easily approached.