264 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Shorthorns have since commanded very high prices ; and have, 

 to a great extent, been kept by comparatively inexperienced 

 parties, as mere fancy stock, and have been bred for sale, and 

 without any care to develop or even to retain their useful prop- 

 erties. 



At the same time, many gentlemen, and some ladies, of good 

 judgment and ripe experience, have successfully exerted them- 

 selves to retain and improve, the noble qualities for which the 

 breed has been so highly esteemed. The results of these widely 

 different courses is, that while some families of Shorthorns 

 continue to give a large flow of rich milk till far advanced in 

 pregnancy, and display a remarkable tendency to lay on flesh, 

 others cannot even suckle their own calves, and are only kept 

 in show condition by extravagant and unprofitable feeding. 



The Ayrshires are a breed of dairy cattle which appear to 

 have originated from a cross of the Shorthorns, at the time 

 when this race was more generally distinguished for milking 

 properties, on the original stock of the county of Ayr. They 

 have also been credited with an infusion of Jersey blood, and 

 this supposition appears to be borne out by the light stripe round 

 the nose often noticeable in Ayrshire calves. 



Whatever their origin, the natural result of judicious breed- 

 ing and selection for purposes of practical utility, for nearly a 

 century, has been to establish a race of cattle which for yield 

 of milk, in proportion to their size, are absolutely unequalled. 



As might be expected from their mixed origin, and the some- 

 what unsystematic way in which they have been bred, we find a 

 great diversity in the form and general appearance of the Ayr- 

 shires. There is, however, a striking uniformity in those quali- 

 ties for which they are chiefly valued. Most good milch cows 

 have big bellies to hold the material for filling big udders, and 

 to obtain these materials in most of our New England pastures re- 

 quires a high order of energy, muscular activity and endurance. 

 In these qualities the Ayrshires are preeminent. They are 

 essentially a working class, and ten of them will keep in fair 

 condition and yield a good mess of milk in pastures where five 

 larger and lazier animals would almost starve to death. The 

 same hearty appetite and vigorous digestion which enable them 

 to secrete large quantities of milk, are readily diverted to the 

 formation of flesh. 



