I placed this quality class of Guernsey cows D A C B. D easily starts the class with her long, deep and wide frame and quality mammary system. D places over A with a longer, more snugly-attached fore udder. She has a deeper cleft on the floor of her udder and more clearly defined halving all the way up her rear udder. D shows more depth of body and more overall capacity than A with a particular advantage in depth of fore rib. I admit that A shows more strength in her loin and is more stylish and upstanding through her front end than D. In my middle pair, A uses her more youthful udder to easily place over C. A is more snug in her fore udder attachment than is C, holds her udder higher above the hock and has a higher rear udder attachment. A has shorter front teats and stands on stronger pasterns than C. I admit that C does exhibit a deeper and more open rib than A. Finally, in a closer pair of very different cows, C uses her tremendously open, dairy frame to place over the tighter-ribbed B. C is deeper through her fore and rear rib, is more angular over the withers, longer and leaner through the neck, and shows more openness throughout. C also shows more width and bloom in her rear udder than B. In addition, C is wider through her rump than the more compact B. B holds her udder higher above the hock than C with a fore udder that blends more smoothly into the body wall. However, she lacks the overall dairy quality needed to place higher in this class. Seth Johnson Tunbridge, Vt. Johnson placed the GUERNSEYS. These days Johnson serves as a technical dairy specialist for Prince Agri Products, covering New England and eastern New York. Prior to that, Johnson worked for the American Guernsey Association for 18 years, 14 serving as executive secretary where he also was an official classifier for Guernseys, Brown Swiss and Milking Shorthorns. In 2013, he was president of the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Johnson has judged many local and regional shows, including the Vermont and Ohio State Fairs along with the Northeast National Milking Shorthorn Show. SCORING KEY Click here to see more classes in the 2014 Cow Judging Contest.
