ESCUTCHEONS ON BULLS.
Guenon applied his discovery to bulls to great advantage. He found that bulls belonged to the same classes as cows, and had escutcheons similar, but much smaller; these extend from the testicles upward toward the anus. The importance of having a good bull becomes apparent when we reflect that he “gets” from fifty to one hundred, annually, while the cow is impregnated but once in the year. The escutcheons of the progeny of a cow with good escutcheon will be much improved if the cow is coupled with a bull well marked, and particularly if his escutcheon is the same as that of the cow. Better have the two of different breeds, but of similar or good escutcheons, than to have the bull with inferior escutcheon.
Of course, the higher up the escutcheon extends on a bull, and the broader it is, the better it is, but we must not look for bulls to be so well-marked as cows are, for they never are. To distinguish the bastard bulls from the good ones, observe if there are any streaks of descending hair, and mixing so as to be bristly. This indication will be a certain one in proportion to the size of the blemish, and as that is in proportion to the whole escutcheon.
Guenon says: After having described, as I have done, all the classes of cows, and taught to recognize the bastards, I pass to the characteristic signs of the bulls re-producers, which can also be divided into orders and classes; the signs are the same as for the females, but they are much more restricted and of less extent.
With the males the escutcheon commences on the inside below the hams and extends as far as the middle of the posterior surface of the leg, and extends sometimes even to the anus of the superior orders in certain classes.
Like that of cows, the escutcheon of bulls is modified by tufts.
The bulls whose escutcheons are similar in their form and size to cows of the first order, possess a great ability for procreating good milk cows, those on the contrary whose escutcheons are but little developed, produce only those of poor yield.
A bull will be well marked, and a good reproducer when there is no interruption of descending hair in the ascending hair on the escutcheon; when the shape of the escutcheon is of large dimensions in proportion to the size of the animal, and it is covered with very fine hair.