Lincolnslilre Red Shorthorns. ?)1 



outline than the parent stock. Iniuiediately after the estab- 

 lishment of the Breed Society, and the granting of classes 

 at the Royal Show in 11*01, there was a tendency to sacrifice 

 their historic qualities to Shorthorn neatness and symmetry, 

 but fortunately to no great extent ; and to-day finds in the 

 county a very much improved Lincoln Red, a much more 

 pleasing animal to look upon, with all its old time useful- 

 ness. 



It can hardly be claimed for the Lincoln Reds that they are 

 naturally great dairy cattle, and many breeders, particularly in 

 East Lincolnshire, care nothing for jnilk. At the same time, 

 when they are bred on milking lines, they develop great 

 milking capacity, and there has been no one who has done 

 so much to develop their great capabilities, and to bring them 

 to the notice of the public, as Mr. John Evens, of Burton, near 

 Lincoln. His show-yard successes are far too numerous to 

 mention, and, indeed, do not come within the scope of this 

 article ; but it might be mentioned that they include 2 

 Challenge Cups, -1 Champion Cups, 34 Medals and 90 money 

 prizes at the London Dairy Show, and first and second in the 

 Lincoln Red Milk Tests at the Royal Show for six years in 

 succession. The Challenge Cup at Belfast was won outright 

 three years in succession, and that at Dublin also, four years in 

 succession. There are also a long series of successes in milking 

 trials at Tring, the Oxfordshire, Royal Counties, Lincolnshire, 

 Somersetshire, Bath and West, Leicestershire, Rutland and other 

 Shows. Mr. John Evens' system has been to select the best 

 bagged cows in the herd ; those that did not fulfil expecta- 

 tions were eventually drafted, and other deep milking cows 

 were added fi*om time to time. Ever since Monday, March 23, 

 1885, the morning and evening milk from every cow has been 

 weighed and recorded, and for the last twenty-four years 

 the yearly milk records of the herd have been published. Cows 

 yielding below a certain quantity of milk were rigorously 

 discarded, and their offspring sold. Mr. Evens' object has 

 been to pi'oduce milk from cows of great size, quality, and 

 constitution. Being of opinion that " the bull is half the 

 herd," he selects his sires from undeniable milking families. 

 Not only must the sire's dam be a deep milker, but the dams 

 of the grand sires on either side also. The average milk 

 yield of Mr. Evens' herd for the past twenty-four years works 

 out at well over 800 gallons per head, including heifers, and 

 in one year forty-three cows and heifers averaged 879 gallons. 

 When it is realised that the average for the first four years 

 the milk records were published was little over 74(1 gallons, 

 it will be seen how valuable such records are in grading up a 

 dairy herd. 



