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Despite the strictures which have been passed upon Guénon's method of judging of cows, the best breeders and judges of stock concur in the opinion, as the result of their observations, that cows with the most perfectly developed milk-mirrors are, with rare exception, the best milkers of their breed; and that cows with small and slightly developed milk-mirrors are, in the majority of cases, bad milkers.
The different forms of milk-mirrors are represented by the shaded parts of cuts, lettered A, B, C, D; but it is necessary to premise that upon the cows themselves they are always partly concealed by the thighs, the udder, and the folds of the skin, which are not shown, and therefore they are not always so uniform in nature as they appear in the cuts.
It is unnecessary to add that the cows most carefully shaven are those which are badly marked, and that it is prudent to take it for granted that cows so shorn are bad milkers. Milk-mirrors vary in position, extent, and the figure which they represent. They may be divided according to their position, into mirrors or escutcheons, properly so called, or into lower and upper tufts, or escutcheons.
With calves, however, it should be stated, in addition, that the milk-mirrors are more distinctly recognized on those from cows that are well kept, and that they will generally be fully developed at two years old.
The period is short, in proportion as the tufts are large. They must not be confounded with the escutcheon proper, which is often extended up to the vulva. They are separated from it by bands of hair, more or less large, as in cut marked F. Milk-mirrors are sometimes symmetrical, and sometimes without symmetry.
Their size varies as the skin is more or less folded or stretched; while the cuts represent the skin as uniform or free from folds, but not stretched out. It is usually very easy to distinguish the milk-mirrors by the upward direction of the hair which forms them.
Cows are often found, whose milk-mirrors at first sight appear very large, but which are only medium milkers; and it will usually be found that lateral indentations greatly diminish the surface of up-growing hair. Many errors are committed in estimating the value of such cows, from a want of attention to the real extent of the mirror.
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