Breed of Cattle.

The breed of cattle is too debatable a point to enter into, but it is a well-established fact that it costs no more to keep a good milked than a poor one.

For cheese-making the breed is immaterial if the cows are carefully selected, and the poor milkers constantly weeded out.

In Canada the average quantity of milk per cow in the season is 3,000lb., whilst in Denmark it is 6,000lb.; and a dairy-cow should not be considered satisfactory until it gives 5,000lb. of milk.

To feed a cow well and regularly at all times is more important than the breed. There is an old saying, "Feed a cow on pea-straw and you will get a pea-straw profit."

In selecting a dairy-cow look to the following points : She should have a highly-developed nervous organization; see to the brain, She should have a broad muzzle, broad nostril, with fair distance between the nose and eyes, and a clean-cut face like a racehorse; a large full eye, eyes wide apart and prominent; strong junction of spine and brain-spine, showing full and strong from neck to tail; shoulder fairly page 101 pointed, backbone rising at the crops, the clime-back of the shoulder points lean, back strong across the middle, points of the hips prominent; loin wide, broad, thin; generally loosely built, ham thin, and hollows prominent, pelvis broad and open, abdominal muscles strong and full, retreating brisket.

Remember it is a milker and not a beefy cow you want: in the latter all her works are posthumous. It is too common a failing to look upon a Jersey as a villa cow; the dairyman has his eyes ever set upon the beef to come out of the cow in the end, no matter what it may cost to get at it.