The Inside of a Dairy Cow.

by W. W. SWETT and C. A. MATTHEWS

THE DARKEST place in the world, William Dempster Hoard once remarked, is the inside of a cow. The former Governor of Wisconsin was referring to the lack of facts about the significance of body form in dairy cattle how a farmer, that is, can identify a good producer on the basis of her appearance, since he cannot see inside. The question vitally concerns dairymen, who succeed or fail as their cows give milk and butterfat: Only 3 or 4 percent of the milk cows in the United States are actually tested for producing ability, and at least 96 percent of the time, therefore, a dairyman has to rely on the looks of an animal when he buys one for his herd.

For generations the problem has puzzled and challenged cattle breeders, who select and mate their best animals in constant efforts to get cows that give more milk, and then study the results of their handiwork in the hope of determining the basic reason why one cow produces more than another. Formerly, as now, some breeders accomplished more than others; their herds grew better, looked better, and gave more milk.

The owners and their neighbors speculated as to why these animals were superior. The keen observers among them found certain points more or less common to superior animals, came to look upon those points as associated with the desired performance, and, on that basis, started to imitate the successful breeders. Progressive cattlemen took pride in showing off their better animals and, as time went on, competition developed; they began to bring their cattle together for comparison—probably by a disinterested judge. So, cattle shows and judging developed one hundred fifty-odd years ago. Later, agricultural societies and breed associations put cut scales of points and score cards for judging, revising the criteria as new theories were advanced or abandoned. Then came livestock judging as a classroom subject and at fairs, national dairy cattle shows and expositions, and interscholastic judging contests.

Undoubtedly all these activities do much good. They stimulate thought, bring exchanges of ideas, create a more uniform ideal of dairy cattle type, and establish goals for less experienced dairy farmers. But the fact remains that many details commonly considered important pertained largely to the beauty of the animals. Logical explanations are given for desiring certain body characteristics, yet there is little scientific information to support some of them. Besides, little credit has been given to the two vital points, the recorded ability of cows to give milk and butterfat and the proved ability of sires to transmit high production to their daughters.

The ideas and ideals of the show ring have set the pattern for most teaching of subjects pertaining to dairy type and for competitive judging among boys and girls, college students, and farmers. Show-ring activities, consequently, should be conducted so as to emphasize known performance as well as excellence of body form.

To increase the educational value of the show ring, and thereby instruction in judging and selecting dairy cattle, we made a plan that recognizes both type and records of production in arriving at a final placing for a class of animals in the show ring, or in selecting animals for any purpose.

The plan, which has been used successfully, covers the judging of cows on the basis of combined ratings for type and production performance; for judging sires on the basis of the type-production rating of their daughters; for judging cows by groups; and for conducting judging contests in which the combined-rating system is used. It obviously cannot be applied to heifers or bulls that do not have daughters with records of production. Under the system, a class of cows is first judged on the basis of type and lined up in the usual manner. Each cow is assigned a numerical rating for type; this represents her relative position in the line. She is also given a numerical rating that represents the relative position of her production among the cows in the class. The two ratings are combined, and the cows are realigned according to their combined ratings for type and production.

The procedure differs from the so-called production shows, in various parts of the United States, in which a minimum production record is usually required for every cow entered for competition on the basis of type. Such a requirement serves only to limit competition to cows with moderate milking records. It gives no consideration to differences in production—a cow with a record of 1,000 pounds butterfat in a year receives no more credit than one that barely meets the requirements for entry.

Although the plan was developed primarily for judging individual cows, it has been adapted to the Danish system, which consists simply of placing the cows in groups representing well-defined degrees of excellence in type. Cows meeting established standards for any particular group are placed in that group, and all cows in the group receive identical awards.

Thus, one need not split hairs over minor points for cows of similar type, and one can recognize all breeders who have attained certain standards of excellence, rather than a few with top-ranking individual animals. The judge need not award first prize to a mediocre animal when classes do not contain superior individuals.

Herd sires are rated on the basis of the type and performance of their daughters. Each sire's daughters are treated as a group. Each group is judged for type and given ratings for it, for butterfat production, for increase or decrease in butterfat production as compared with their dams, and for the percentage of the daughters that are better than their respective dams in butterfat yield. The sires themselves are not rated on the basis of their own type, consequently they need not be exhibited—a costly and sometimes dangerous practice for valuable, old, and heavy animals. The method is essentially similar to the procedure followed in the selection of a herd sire. Our plan was worked out with the current conceptions of type unaltered, although we believe numerous ideas of type are based largely on suppositions that may have little scientific support.