Milch Cows and Dairy Farming

Milch Cows and Dairy Farming, by Charles Louis Flint, comprises the breeds, breeding, and management, in health and disease, of dairy and other stock, and the selection of milch cows. The title page promises a full explanation of Guenon’s method, the culture of forage plants, and the production of milk, butter, and cheese. The volume is adapted to farming in the United States and British Provinces, with a treatise upon the dairy husbandry of Holland and Horsfall’s system of dairy management added.

According to Mr. Harley, the most approved shape and marks of a good dairy cow include a head small, long, and narrow towards the muzzle, and a back straight, with joints slack and open. The book describes the practice called hafting, or allowing the milk to remain upon the cow for a considerable time before she is brought to the market, as a base and cruel custom that is always pernicious to the cow. In the account of butter, the book says that as soon as the milk comes to rest after leaving the udder, the round particles, being lighter than the mass of cheesy and watery materials by which they are surrounded, begin to rise.