The bulls of which the escutcheon is small and covered with coarse hair and irregular on the sides procreate bad milk cows, which give serous milk.
Escutcheon of Guernsey Bull RADLEY.
No. 209, A. G. H. B.
All interruptions in the ascending hair of the escutcheon by encroachments of the descending hair on the right or left, in the lower part of the thigh, indicate for their get a lower grade, and at a glance the inferiority of the milk production.
The yellow or nankeen color of the skin of the escutcheon is always a favorable sign.
The good reproducing bull will prove fecund until ten or fifteen years of age, but it is a rare exception.
Any one may be grossly deceived if he judges only by the appearance or the shape of the prolific qualities of a bull. Experience or observation alone can show that he has maintained his early ability.
A vigorous bull, well fed, can serve one or more cows each day, but it is of great importance that he shall not commence to serve until he is fifteen or eighteen months old, otherwise he will be speedily exhausted and deformed. The improving mark of his cross and his vigor will be speedily shortened.
When the bull has attained the age of two and a half or three years, the form alters, the hind-quarters become attenuated, the front quarter becomes much enlarged, his neck enlarges and thickens, &c.