Beef cow

“ The cow is the poor man's dependence in every clime and, as the basis of the meat and dairy industries, is a large factor in the commerce of the world. Modern husbandry has been wonderfully successful in improving the breeds of cattle along two distinct lines, developing certain breeds for the production of beef and other breeds for dairy purposes. ”

“ She builds no big muscles with which to climb mountains, or wade through mud and snow drifts. The beef animal if treated like a dairy cow simply gets fat and is finally turned to the butcher. The dairy cow treated like a beef cow is a tragedy to behold. I [Pg 9] have seen both Holstein and Jersey steers out on the range where Hereford cattle stay fat and strong and I have heard the cow boys cuss about letting them live, for they were more of a ghost than a reality. ”

“ Cow beef is much the same to look at as ox beef, though being older it is both coarser in the grain and tougher; bull beef, which is never seen however, in a first class butcher's may be recognized by the coarseness and dark color of the flesh, and also by a strong and almost rank smell. ”

“ Udder large, not pendulous. Teats medium size, placed far apart. Back straight from shoulder to tail. Movement light and graceful. Cows 800 to 1000 pounds, bulls 1200 to 1500 pounds. Dairy breeds.
REPRESENTATIVE BREEDS OF
MEAT CATTLE
The beef cow presents a totally different appearance. She is square in shape, full and broad over the back and loins, possessing depth and quality particularly in these regions. The hips are evenly fleshed, the legs full and thick, the under line parallel with the straight back. The neck is full and short. ”

“ The beef of an old cow, however well fed, is quite tough and unpalatable, while that of a very young heifer is much relished. Although, however, very young animals be so much more tender, yet they are insipid and flabby. ”

“ These figures explain why dairy cows and not steers are kept on the valuable lands. When the cheap lands disappear, and rough food commands higher values, the beef cow will be raised as a luxury, and cattle will make their contribution to the human race largely in the form of milk, butter, and cheese. In the future more and more will the farmers of all countries turn to the dairy cows. ”

“ The head of the cow should be clean-cut and lean, the neck long and lean, and the shoulders narrow at the top. The joints should be open so that a man’s fist could be thrust between the cow’s front leg and her body. The cow should not be beefy at the rear. Even though she be fat she should not be of a square beef type. ”

“ Then, we feel sure that a loose, open made cow, rather pointed, or sharp and well-defined, and the contrary of what we would look for in a flesh or beef producing animal; with a skin mellow and yellow, covered with soft, fine hair, and the nearer it comes to the quality and color of a first class Guernsey or Jersey cow, breeds which have for hundreds of years been bred for butter making, then we repeat we know she must be a good, rich milker and butter maker ”

“ If the flesh of ox-beef is young, it will show a fine smooth open grain, be of a good red, and feel tender. The fat should look white rather than yellow, for when that is of a deep colour, the meat is seldom good. Beef fed with oil cakes is generally so, and the flesh is loose and flabby. The grain of cow-beef is closer, and the fat whiter, than that of ox-beef; but the lean is not so bright a red. The grain of bull-beef is closer still, the fat hard and skinny, the lean of a deep red, and a stronger scent. ”

“ The color of the cow is the result of a condition. The red cow has been better suited to a farmer’s conditions and requirements. Dairy cattle can not rough it like beef or dual-purpose cattle. Where the custom is to stable feed and give good care to cattle, dairy breeds naturally take the lead. Where the dairy business is a side issue, and besides giving milk a cow is expected to face cold winds and to withstand periods of semi-starvation, the dairy type is not in it. ”

“ Some of these may be pure bred, but they are liable to disappoint the honest purchaser, who buys them for and pays the price of pure bloods. The Dutch-Friesian cow is large, readily takes on flesh when not in milk, and therefore makes splendid beef. She is hardy, docile and easily cared for. ”

“ If there is not a good quantity of fat running through it, the beef will be tough and not well flavored. The fat should be a rich clear white, just tinged with yellow, and firm, and the suet also. Heifer or cow beef is paler than ox beef, firmer grained, the fat a clear white, and the bones smaller, but it is not as rich or juicy. When the animal is too old or badly fed, it is of a dark red, the fat skinny and tough, and in very old beef a horny substance will be found running through the ribs. When it is pressed, if the meat rises quickly from the finger it is good ”

“ The promoters of the Abilene market had flooded Texas with advertising matter during the winter, urging that only choice cattle should be driven, yet the information was of little value where local customs classified all live stock. A beef was a beef, whether he weighed eight or twelve hundred pounds, a cow was a cow when over three years old, and so on to the end of the chapter. From a purely selfish motive of wanting strong cattle for the trip, I suggested that nothing under three-year-olds should be used in making up the herd, a preference to be given matured beeves. ”

“ Their milk is influenced like that of other cows, though to less extent, by the quality and quantity of food; so that in winter, unless the animal is properly attended to, the yield will decrease somewhat, but will rise again as good feed returns. This uniformity for the milk-dairy is of immense advantage. Besides, the cow, when old, and inclined to dry up, takes on fat [216] with greater rapidity, and produces a juicy and tender beef, superior, at the same age, to that of the ox. The operation of spaying is simple, and may be performed by any veterinary surgeon, without much risk of injury. ”

“ In the modern dairy cow the tendency to lay on flesh, so highly developed in beef animals, has been largely eliminated, and in its place the ability to convert economically the food eaten into milk has been cultivated in a high degree. Continued breeding to a special purpose has changed the former short milking period, limited almost to the pasture season, to a comparatively even flow of milk during ten or eleven months of every year. A cow that does not average six or seven quarts of milk a day for 300 days in the year, aggregating 4000 pounds, is not considered very profitable. ”

“ Sufficient.—A large pie-dish full for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
BEEF.—The quality of beef depends on various circumstances; such as the age, the sex, the breed of the animal, and also on the food upon which it has been raised. Bull beef is, in general, dry and tough, and by no means possessed of an agreeable flavour; whilst the flesh of the ox is not only highly nourishing and digestible, but, if not too old, extremely agreeable. The flesh of the cow is, also, nourishing, but it is not so agreeable as that of the ox, although that of a heifer is held in high estimation. ”

“ Yellow fat indicates that the beast has been fed on oil-cake. Cow beef is not so open in its grain, nor is the red of so pleasant a colour, but the fat is much whiter. It may be also distinguished by the udder, when dressed on the whole or in quarters. You may know whether or not it is young, by making an impression on the lean with your finger, which mark, if young, will soon disappear. ”

“ I have tried various things, and have found fresh grass or fodder, provender, bran, oil-cake, mangels, and hay, the best bill of fare for “Daisy” or “Buttercup.” Avoid brewer’s slops or grains as you would poison, for although they increase the flow of milk, it is thin and blue, the butter white and tasteless, and after a time the cow’s teeth will blacken and decay. I was told the other day by a very intelligent dairyman that after feeding his cows one season on brewer’s grains he was obliged to sell his whole herd. ”

“ The Cow goes with Young for Nine Months, and the affection and solicitude she evinces for her offspring is more human in its tenderness and intensity than is displayed by any other animal; and her distress when she hears it lowing, and is not allowed to reach it with her distended udders, is often painful to witness; and when the calf has died, or been accidentally killed, her grief frequently makes her refuse to give down her milk. In a state of nature the cow, like the deer, hides her young in the tall ferns and brakes, and the most secret places ”

“ The wandering cow feeds herself, in fact, from what might be the choicest product of her own milk, tramps the life out of much more, and tosses her head in disdain at much that if cut and properly fed in the stall, she would eat with a relish; so that it may be safely said that two, and some practical men say three, cows might be well-fed through soiling, on the same land that one is by the system of exclusive pasturing. ”

“ But cows do not balk, or run, or go lame, or need shoeing; and although they occasionally kick over the milk-pail, it is probably with good reason or with the best of intentions. They have nice long coats that keep them from catching cold in winter, and have an odd way of perspiring through their noses that is as curious as it is interesting. A cow is a model—without referring to this last peculiarity—for a wife; she is gentle, good, and beautiful, and never makes a fuss. The first point, therefore, was to buy a cow. ”

“ A cow these days is a different sort of a being, her coat like satin, and her udder generous, compared with the wild-eyed things with burrs in their tails, and their flanks crusted with filth, their udders the size of a kid glove, and yielding such a little dab of milk and for such a short period. ”

“ There is an old saying that one quart of milk a day gives one pound of butter a week, and I think it’s a pretty fair rule, but don’t expect to buy a cow that will give you thirty quarts of milk a day. There are such cows I know, but they are not for sale. Be quite satisfied if your cow gives half that quantity. Place the cow’s food where she cannot step on it, but don’t put it high up; It is natural for them to eat with their heads down. I think it is better that the family cow should have a calf every year, provided you can have them come early in the spring or late in the autumn. ”

“ Have her dinner from June to November consist of grass or fodder cut and brought in twice a week by some farmer or market gardener in exchange for her manure and sour milk. In Montreal, grass and fodder are brought to market by the “Habatants,” and sold in bundles. As to quantity, a good big armful will be sufficient, and it is more healthful for the cow if it is a little wilted. In the winter hay and mangels are to be fed in place of the grass and fodder. She should also have salt where she can take a lick when so minded, and fresh water three times a day. ”

“ Another interesting fact is, that we can discover all the signs on a calf, and are thereby enabled to select with much certainty those that are fit for the dairy, and to reject those that would be only a disappointment, if raised for that purpose. Of course, a very small cow, with ever so good an escutcheon, cannot be expected to give a very large quantity of milk, and might be inferior in that respect to one having a less perfect one, where the animal is of greater size. ”

“ The udder should be attached high behind and the thighs should be narrow. In fact, we want a cow that is not an “easy keeper” but that will milk out clean. The cow should be soft skinned and fine haired. Beware of the wild-eyed, nervous, quick-moving cow for she wastes her energy. Beware of the sluggish cow for she will be sluggish in appetite and will convert her feed into fat instead of milk. Perhaps the best way to describe the disposition of a good dairy cow would be to say that she is alert and intelligent but calm and sensible. ”

“ The calf is taught to drink after it is a week or ten days old, and fed on a porridge made from skim-milk and wheat middlings, or shorts; by the time it is six weeks or two months old it will be well fattened, and can be sold to the butcher for veal, at a good price, for at that season of the year veal is scarce and in demand. The cow being in full flow of milk all winter, when butter is most always high, will pay a good profit for her feed and care. ”

“ These different objects should, therefore, be kept in view, in the selection of cows; for animals which would be most profitable for the milk-dairy might be very unprofitable in the butter-dairy—a fact of almost daily experience. The productiveness of the cow does not depend on her breed so much as upon her food and management, her temperament and health, and the activity and energy of the organs of digestion and secretion. ”

“ A petted and well-fed cow has a benevolent and gracious look; an ill-used and poorly-fed one a pitiful and forlorn look. Some cows have a masculine or ox expression; others are extremely feminine. The latter are the ones for milk. Some cows will kick like a horse; some jump fences like deer. Every herd has its ringleader, its unruly spirit—one that plans all the mischief and leads the rest through the fences into the grain or into the orchard. ”

“ A perfect cow ought to have a broad forehead, black eyes, large clean horns, a long thin skin, a large deep belly; strong muscular thighs, round legs, broad feet, short joints, and a white large udder with four teats. The use of this animal is equally important for the dairy, and the propagation of its species. For the former purpose, the Alderney breed of red cows is generally preferred, as they are supposed to yield the best milk; though the quantity they produce greatly depends upon the nature and quality of their food. ”