How to Select Cows or, The Guenon system simplified, explained, and practically applied — Reading Companion

The Escutcheon as a Practical Tool

Hazard insists that the reader must go "patiently, book in hand, into the farm-yard" to judge stock by the rules set forth. The escutcheon is not a theoretical curiosity but a practical gauge of a cow's milking capacity. In the excerpts, he describes specific escutcheon types: the "perfect curveline" found on bulls, and the "vertical or rear escutcheons" that "diminish as it rises, until, when within six to nine inches of the vulva, it is reduced to the breadth of not over an inch wide." These details are traceable to Guenon's engravings, which Hazard reproduces photographically. The system is presented as learnable by anyone willing to observe and compare.

Beyond the Escutcheon: Other Essential Features

Hazard warns that "while careful as to escutcheons, we must not neglect the other essential features of a good cow." He lists the "buckskin hide, the rich-colored skin, and the fine bone." He gives tactile tests: "grasping between the thumb and forefinger the skin at the rear of the ribs, or the double thickness at the base of the flank." Teats should be "well apart" and "large enough to fill the hand." He also emphasizes feeding: "the large yielder must be well fed." These practical instructions ground the system in everyday handling, not just visual inspection.

Case Study: Rosa and Duchess Compared

Hazard presents a detailed comparison of two Jersey cows, Rosa and Duchess, owned by C. L. Sharpless. Rosa, a five-year-old "solid creamy fawn," yielded 13.5 pounds of butter in a week on a diet of hay, meal, and carrots. Duchess, though "smoke-color, with brilliant white" and a "rich yellow" udder, was expected to be superior but proved less productive. Hazard notes that Rosa has a "pale skin and udder," yet her butter was "the deepest—no coloring matter being used." This case "upsets the theory that a yellow skin is essential for deep-colored butter." The comparison shows that escutcheon marks alone do not tell the whole story.

Inheritance and the Limits of the System

Hazard touches on heredity: a bull's escutcheon is "unexceptionable, being a perfect curveline," and his qualities "will be transmitted to his daughters." Yet he also admits that "we sometimes let our best animals slip," recounting that Rosa was nearly sold as a heifer for $500. The system is presented as a guide, not an infallible oracle. The excerpts do not reveal the full range of escutcheon types or the commission's final verdict, but they make clear that Hazard sees the system as a tool to be tested and refined by each farmer's own experience.

Hazard's handbook is best read with a cow in sight. The escutcheon marks are the core, but the book's value lies in its insistence on comparing multiple traits—hide, bone, udder, yield—and in its willingness to let a single cow like Rosa challenge received wisdom. The Pennsylvania Guenon Commission's report, included in full, adds an official stamp, but the real authority is the farmer's own judgment, sharpened by patient observation.

Holding this 1882 handbook, I recalled my grandfather’s quiet reverence for his herd, reading flank marks like others read scripture. Another old manual gave me that same hush—Determining the Age of Cattle by the Teeth — Text and Context—its tooth-wear charts feeling less like data than family portraiture. Both books measure time in the body’s small, patient language.