Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

146 CATTLE.
point in a bull. A deficiency here argues deficiency of constitutional
power, and materially diminishes his value as a stock-getter ; a cow
with a large head and broad forehead, in other respects loses the
most valuable points of the feminine character—she is neither a good
milker, nor a good mother, nor does she often fatten kindly ;
coarseness in her whole form, and her very flesh is
there is
coarse, when
slaughtered. There is no
breeders that this—that a
point more generally assented to by
fine small head, tapering towards the
muzzle, usually indicates a good milker and-a good feeder, and a good
temper too.
The cut of the head of the bull, page 145, except somewhat too
narrow a muzzle, is a good illustration of the masculine character of
a superior bull of the improved short-horn breed.
In some species of hornless cattle the expanse of this bone not
being wanted as a base for the horn, is not found ; but the frontal
bones begin to contract a little above the eyes, and terminate in a
comparatively narrow ridge at the summit of the head. This narrowness
of the parietal ridge is a characteristic of the purity of the breed
and its grazing qualities, particularly among the Galloway and Angus
cattle, showing fineness of form, and smallness of bone everywhere.
THE FRONTAL SINUSES.
If this expanse of bone were solid, its weight would be enormous,
and it would weigh the animal down. To obviate this, it is divided
into two plates, separated by numerous cells ; these extend through
the whole of the bone, even through the parietal and occipital bones.
Hence the frontal sinuses extend from the angfe of the eye. to the
foramen through which the brain escapes from the skull, and to the
very tip of the horn (vide a and c, p.144.)
There is a septum, or division, in the centre of the frontal sinuses.
Commencing about half way up the nose, the septum is wanting at
the lower part, and the two nostrils are thrown into one ; and the
frontal sinuses communicating with the nasal, there is one continuous
cavity from the muzzle to the tip of the bone of the horn, and from
one nostril to the other.
INFLAMMATION OF THE FRONTAL SINUSES.
The whole of this cavity is lined by a prolongation of, the membrane
of the nose, and when one part of it is inflamed, the whole is
apt to be affected. This accounts for the very serious character
•which a discharge from the nostril sometimes assumes in cattle.
The sooner a gleet from the nose of an ox is examined and properly
treated the better, for the inflammation is extensive generally.
After a little cough, with slight nasal discharge, we occasionally