July, 1923. The Irish Nahirahsl. 65 



ON THE ORIGIN OF THE IRISH CATTLE. 



BY R. F. SCHARFF, B.SC, PH.D. 



Many different breeds of cattle are kept in Ireland at the 

 present time, but the farmer does not trouble himself 

 much about their origin. It is the yield and quality of 

 the milk, or the quant it 3^ and character of the meat that 

 interest him. For several generations past various breeds 

 have been introduced into this country from Great Britain 

 and abroad. It is not my intention to trace the original 

 home of these cattle. What I hope to be able to show 

 is what kind of cattle lived in Ireland in remote historic and 

 even in prehistoric times, and then endeavour to ascertain 

 where these cattle were domesticated. For it is evident 

 that, like all other domesticated animals, the ox and cow 

 must have had wild ancestors. It is possible that wild 

 cattle inhabited Ireland and gave rise to the old domestic 

 stock. But we must carefully sift the evidence for the 

 belief that wild cattle inhabited Ireland and were domesti- 

 cated in this country by the early inhabitants. If wild 

 cattle never existed in Ireland, some early settlers must 

 have brought their domesticated stock with them from 

 abroad. Quite a number of interesting questions await 

 an answer. Whether they can be answered at all in the 

 present state of our knowledge remains to be seen. But 

 in the course of our enquiries I think we shall elicit some 

 valuable information which has not yet been presented to 

 the readers of this magazine. Moreover, anything that 

 can increase our knowledge concerning the Irish cattle and 

 their past history must be of value and interest. 



The late Sir William Wilde ^ recognised four distinct 

 native breeds of cattle as living in this country in the early 

 part of last century. The first of these he called the " Old 

 Irish Cow." It was of small stature, long in the back, and 

 possessed moderate-sized, wide-spreading, sHghtly elevated 

 and projecting horns. The colour of the breed seems to 



1 Wilde, W. : On the modern and ancient races of oxen in Ireland. 

 Proc. R. Irish Acad., vol. vii., 1858. 



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