On excellent authority, the most approved shape and marks of a good dairy cow are as follows: Head small, long, and narrow toward the muzzle; horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance from each other; eyes not large, but brisk and lively; neck slender and long, tapering toward the head, with a little loose skin below; shoulders and fore quarters light and thin; hind quarters large and broad; back straight, and joints slack and open; carcass deep in the rib; tail small and long, reaching to the heels; legs small and short, with firm joints; udder square, but a little oblong, stretching forward, thin skinned and capacious, but not low hung; teats or paps small, pointing outward, and at a considerable distance from each other; milk-veins capacious and prominent; skin loose, thin, and soft like a glove; hair short, soft, and woolly; general figure, when in flesh, handsome and well proportioned. If this description of the Ayrshire cow be correct, it will be seen that her head and neck are remarkably clean and fine, the latter swelling gradually toward the shoulders, both parts being unencumbered with superfluous flesh. The same general form extends backward, the fore quarters being light, the shoulders thin, and the carcass swelling out toward the hind quarters, so that when standing in front of her it has the form of a blunted wedge. Such a structure indicates very fully developed digestive organs, which exert a powerful influence on all the functions of the body, and especially on the secretion of the milky glands, accompanied with milk-veins and udder partaking of the same character as the stomach and viscera, being large and capacious, while the external skin and interior walls of the milk-glands are thin and elastic, and all parts arranged in a manner especially adapted for the production of milk. A cow with these marks will generally be of a quiet and docile temper, which greatly increases her value. A cow that is of a quiet and contented disposition feeds at ease, is milked with ease, and yields more than one of an opposite temperament; while, after she is past her usefulness as a milker, she will easily take on fat, and make fine beef and a good quantity of tallow, because she feeds freely, and when dry the food which went to make milk is converted into fat and flesh. But there is no breed of cows with which gentle gentleness of treatment is so indispensable as with the Ayrshire, on account of her naturally nervous temperament. If she receives other than kind and gentle treatment, she will often resent it with angry looks and gestures, and withhold her milk; and if such treatment is long continued, will dry up; but she willingly and easily yields it to the hand that fondles her, and all her looks and movements toward her friends are quiet and mild. The Ayrshires in their native country are generally bred for the dairy, and for no other object; and the cows have justly obtained a world-wide reputation for this quality. The oxen are, however, very fair as working cattle, though they cannot be said to excel other breeds in this respect. The Ayrshire steer may be fed and turned at three years old; but for feeding purposes the Ayrshires are greatly improved by a cross with the short horns, provided regard is had to the size of the animal. It is the opinion of good breeders that a high-bred short horn bull and a large-sized Ayrshire cow will produce a calf which will come to maturity earlier, and attain greater weight, and sell for more money than a pure-bred Ayrshire. This cross, with feeding from the start, may be sold fat at two or three years old, the improvement being most noticeable in the earlier maturity and size. In the Cross with the short horn, the form ordinarily becomes more symmetrical, while there is, perhaps, little risk of lessening the milking qualities of the offspring, if sufficient regard is paid to the selection of the individual animals to breed from. It is thought by some that in the breeding of animals it is the male which gives the external form, or the bony and muscular system of the young, while the female imparts the respiratory organs, the circulation of the blood, the organs of secretion, and the like. If this principle be true, it follows that the milking qualities come chiefly from the mother, and that the bull cannot materially alter the conditions which determine the transmission of these qualities, especially when they are as strongly marked as they are in this breed. Until, however, certain mooted questions connected with breeding are definitively settled, it is the safest plan, in breeding for the dairy, to adhere to the rule of selecting only animals whose progenitors on both sides have been distinguished for their milking qualities. It may be stated, in conclusion, that for purely dairy purposes the Ayrshire cow deserves the first place. In consequence of her small, symmetrical, and compact body, combined with a well-formed chest and a capacious stomach, there is little waste, comparatively speaking, through the respiratory system; while at the same time there is very complete assimilation of the food, and thus she converts a very large proportion of her food into milk. So remarkable is this fact, that all dairy farmers who have any experience on the point, agree in stating that an Ayrshire cow generally gives a larger return of milk for the food consumed than a cow of any other breed. The absolute quality may not be so great, but it is obtained at a less cost; and this is the point upon which the question of profit depends. The best milkers which have been known in this country were grade Ayrshires, larger in size than the pure bloods, but still sufficiently high grades to give certain signs of their origin. This grade would seem to possess the advantage of combining, to some extent, the two qualities of milking and adaptation to beef; and this is no small recommendation of the stock to farmers situated as American farmers are, who wish for milk for some years and then to turn over to the butcher.
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