First order (fig. 15) will give fifteen quarts per day; time, eight
months. Skin in escutcheon reddish-yellow and silky, hair fine, teats
far apart. The eighth order (fig. 16) yields two and a half quarts a
day, and dries up on getting with calf.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Fig. 16.
_Order_ 1. HORIZONTAL CUT COW. _Order_ 8.]
Each class of cows has a kind called bastards, among those whose
escutcheons would otherwise indicate the first order of their class:
these often deceive the most practised eye. The only remedy is to become
familiar with the infallible marks given by Guenon by which bastards may
be known. This defect will account for the irregularity of many cows,
and their suddenly going dry on becoming with calf, and often for the
bad quality of their milk. They are distinguished by the lines of
ascending and descending hair in their escutcheon.
[Illustration: Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Fig. 19.]
In the FLANDERS COW (fig. 17) there are two bastards; one distinguished
by the fact that the hair forming the line of the escutcheon bristles
up, like beards on a head of grain, instead of lying smooth, as in the
genuine cow; they project over the intersection of the ascending and
descending hair in a very bristling manner. The other bastard of the
FLANDERS COW is known by having an oval patch of downward growing hair,
about eight inches below the vulva, and in a line with it; in the large
cows it is four inches long, and two and a half wide, and the hair
within it always of a lighter color than that surrounding it. Cows of
this mark are always imperfect. In the bastards, the skin on the
escutcheon is usually reddish; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no
dandruff.
Bastards of the SELVAGE COW are known by two oval patches of ascending
hair, one on each side of the vulva, four or five inches long, by an
inch and a half wide (fig. 18). The larger the spot, and the coarser the
hair, the more defective they prove, and vice versa.
Bastards of the CURVELINE COW are known by the size of spots of hair on
each side of the vulva (fig. 18). When they are of four or five inches
by one and a half, and pointed or rounded at the ends, they indicate
bastards. If they be small, the cow will not lose her milk very rapidly
on getting with calf.
Bastards of the BICORN COW are indicated precisely as in the
preceding--by _the size_ of the spots of ascending hair, above the
escutcheon and by the sides of the vulva (F, F, fig. 18).
Bastards of the DEMIJOHN COW are distinguished precisely as the two
preceding--_size of the streaks_ (fig. 18).
The SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW indicates bastards, by a streak of hair at the
right of the vulva (fig. 19). When that ascending hair is coarse and
bristly, it is a sure evidence that the animal is a bastard.
LIMOUSINE COWS show their bastards precisely as do the CURVELINE and
BICORN, by the size of the ascending streaks of hair, on the right and
left of the vulva. (Fig. 19.)
Bastards of the HORIZONTAL CUT COWS have no escutcheon whatever. By this
they are always known.
Some bastards are good milkers until they get with calf, and then very
soon dry up. Others are poor milkers. Those with coarse hair and but
little of it, in the escutcheon, give poor, watery milk. Those of fine,
thick hair will give good milk.
BULLS have escutcheons of the same shape as the cows, but on a smaller
scale. Whenever there are streaks of descending hair bristling up among
the ascending hair of the escutcheon, rendering it quite irregular and
rough in its appearance, the animal is regarded as a bastard. Never put
a cow to any bull that has not a regular, well-defined, and smooth
escutcheon. This is as fully as we have room to go into M. Guenon's
details. We fear this will fall into the hands of many who will not take
the pains to master even these distinctions. To those who will, we trust
they will be found plain, and certain in their results. From all this,
one thing is certain, and that is of immense value to the farmer: it is,
that on general principles, without remembering the exact figure of one
of the indications above given, or one of the arbitrary terms it has
been necessary to use, any man can tell the quality and quantity of milk
a cow will give, and the time she will give milk, with sufficient
accuracy to buy no cow and raise no heifer that will not be a
profitable dairy cow, if that is what he desires. The rules by which
these things may be known are the following:
No cow, of any class, is ever a good milker, that has not a large
surface of hair growing upward from the teats and covering the inner
surface of the thighs, and extending up toward or to the tail.
No cow that is destitute of this mark, or only has a very small one, is
ever a good milker. Every cow having a scanty growth of coarse hair in
the above mark will only give poor, watery milk; and every cow having a
thick growth of fine hair on the escutcheon, or surface where it
ascends, and considerable dandruff, will always give good rich milk, and
be good for butter and cheese.
Every cow on which this mark is small will give but little milk, and dry
up soon after getting with calf, and is not fit to be kept.
Observe these brief rules, and milk your cows _at certain hours every
day_--milk _very quickly_, without stopping, and _very clean_, not
leaving a drop--and you never will have a poor cow on your farm, and at
least twenty-five per cent. will be added to the value of the ordinary
dairy, that is made up of cows purchased or raised in the usual,
hap-hazard way.
If your cows' udders swell after calving, wash them in aconite made weak
with water; it is very good for taking out inflammation. Other common
remedies are known. If your cow or other creature gets choked, pour into
the throat half a pint, at least, of oil; and by rubbing the neck, the
obstruction will probably move up or down. Curry your cows as thoroughly
as you do your horses; and if they ever chance to get lousy, wash them
in a decoction of tobacco.