The dairy cow should be deep and broad through the flank--deeper and
broader than through the shoulders--but must have a comparatively large
chest, giving capacity of lungs and stomach, for she must have good
digestive powers and inhale plenty of fresh air. Her hips should be
broad, setting her thighs well apart, and her thighs should be rather
thin. This gives space for a large udder, which is indispensable, for
it is unreasonable to expect a large flow of milk from an udder of
small capacity. The udder should be soft and fleshless when empty, and
extend high up in the rear. It should also extend well forward, and
from it should extend further forward large, protruding milk-veins. If
they are double and are crooked and knotty, all the better. These veins
carry off the blood after it has passed through the udder and performed
its part in elaborating milk, and their size indicates the amount of
blood employed, and by inference the amount of milk secreted. So the
escutcheon, which should extend out on the thighs and run with even
edges and unbroken surface up to or near the vulva, is supposed to be
some indication of the extent of the arterial system that contributes
blood for the elaboration of milk. The neck should be slender, taper
and thin, the horns small and slender, the face dishing or flat, the
eyes wide apart and mild and intelligent in expression, the muzzle
broad when viewed from the front but thin when viewed from the side,
and the lips thick and strong. A long, slender tail is indicative of
good breeding. A yellow skin, or one which secretes an oily yellow
scurf--especially seen in the ears, along the back and at the end of
the tail--is considered a sign of milk rich in fat. The skin should be
soft and pliable, the hair fine, and the coat glossy. We prefer rather
light to very dark colors. Our observation is that a black cow never
gives as rich milk as one in which the white predominates. In other
colors we have not noted such a difference. Viewed from the front, the
general shape of the cow should be a little wedging--thinner in front
and thicker in the rear. Viewed from the side, the cow should taper
from rear to front, with the upper and lower lines generally straight,
with little or no, slope from the rump to the tail.