No. 7. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 265 



lbs. of butter. While we do not claim the Ayrshire to be a beet 

 animal, or even a general purpose cow, still, as she is of fair 

 size, and an easy keeper, she will at any time pay the cost of raising, 

 if it is desired to beef her. She has heavy hind quarters and thick 

 loins, and butchers always like them because they cut up well and 

 the meat is nicely flecked with tallow, even as a two-year-old. 

 Steers, pure bred and grades, are of fair size, mature early, fatten 

 quickly, and are as profitable for beef as it is possible for a dairy 

 breed to be. 



I have seen oxen of this breed and they appeared to be good ones. 

 They were fair size, handsome looking and sprightly, and were said 

 to be tough and enduring. 



In concluding, 1 would say that while the Ayrshire breed has never 

 been pushed into public notice, she is a popular cow with all who 

 "know her or have tried her, and she is steadily gaining friends, and 

 I notice that it is very rare for a man to let her go when once he 

 has obtained an Ayrshire cow; and her friends all speak well of 

 her, and she seems to have but few enemies. She is a good, all- 

 round useful cow. 



Mr. Peck: Mr. Peck said that while the Holstein, the Jersey and 

 the Guernsey had done much to develop the dairy business, he re- 

 garded the Ayrshire as one of the best dairy cows and best adapted 

 to all conditions. That while an admirer of the Ayrshire, he could 

 recognize the merits of the other breeds as adapted to other condi- 

 tions. Every breed has its weak as well as its strong points, and 

 the dairyman wants to know the weak as well as the strong points. 

 One of the defects of the Ayrshire is that the milk globules do not 

 cream as readily as the milk of the Jersey. This is one of the de- 

 fects. She is perhaps more liable to milk fever than the Holstein 

 or the Jersey, but the veterinary surgeons have overcome this diffi- 

 culty until we are able to obviate much of the loss arising from this. 

 She is well adapted to grazing in a hilly country. She is strong, 

 agile as a goat and possessed of a wonderful amount of nerve and 

 vigor. She is one of the best cows for crossing with other breeds. 

 I have found the Ayrshires possessed of great digestive powers, and 

 if any disease gets into the herd, it is never an Ayrshire. There 

 has never been a diseased udder in my herd. She will find food for 

 herself where another cow will starve. She is a persistent milker. 

 As a persistent milker, I do not think she has a superior in any 

 other breed, and she will take on flesh very readily. In the cross 

 of the Jersey and the Ayrshire 1 have produced the finest cows I 

 have ever seen; they are finer cows and handsomer than eitlier the 

 Jersey or the Ayrshire. 1 think the cross between the Jersey and 

 the Ayrshire will produce more milk and butter than the Jersey, and 

 the quality is up to the market demand. 

 18 



