BLACK AND WHITE AYRSHIRES 



Colors as Old as the Breed — Rare in America but Much More Common Abroad- 

 No Indication of Mixed Ancestry — Possible Origin of the Breed. 



A. H. KUHLMAN 



Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 



BLACK and white cattle are well 

 known to all Americans inter- 

 ested in dairying, because of 

 the popularity of the Holstein- 

 Friesian breed, but those colors are not 

 commonly associated with Ayrshires in 

 this country, and it is a surprise to most 

 travelers to find black and white cattle 

 in the Ayrshire district of Scotland. 

 My attention was first attracted to 

 them at the Kilmarnock (Scotland) 

 Show in April, 1914, where several of 

 them were on exhibition, one of which 

 (Fig. 12), was among the prize winners. 

 The black and white Ayrshire cattle as 

 the illustrations (Figs. 12 and 13) show, 

 have the typical Holstein markings in 

 that the black and white are distinctly 

 separated and there seems to be a 

 tendency for the spotting to occur in 

 large patches rather than in ntunerous 

 small spots as commonly seen in Ayr- 

 shires. 



In the scale of points as adopted in 

 1906 by the Ayrshire Cattle Herd Book 

 Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 the following description is given of the 

 color of the breed : 



"Red of any shade, brown or these 

 with white, mahogany and white, black 

 and white ; or white; each color distinctly 

 defined." 



The description of the color of the 

 breed as given in the Herd Book in 1884, 

 however, shows that black and white 

 was not always popular with the 

 members of that organization as is 

 shown by the following reference to it: 



"Color, red of any shade, brown, or 

 white, or a mixture of these, each color 

 being distinctly defined. Brindlc or 

 black and white is not in favor." 



William Bartlcmore in (lescril)ing' his 



ideal of the breed in 1889, makes the 

 following statements: 



"As regards the color, it is much a 

 matter of fancy. The prevailing one is 

 flecked brown and white, but there are 

 many splendid animals all brown while 

 the leading show yard color during the 

 last ten years has been white, with 

 brown or dark brown sides of head. 

 Few dairies in Scotland of any size at 

 the present day are without their 

 flecked black and white A^Tshire and 

 strange to say, that color is much in 

 demand by gentlemen who keep a few 

 cows for family use." 



AMERICAN STANDARD 



The American and Canadian Ayr- 

 shire breeders have adopted a uniform 

 scale of points which closely resembles 

 the British, but does not recognize the 

 black and white cattle. It refers to 

 color as follows : 



"Color. Red of any shade, brown or 

 these with white; mahogany and white, 

 or white; each color distinctly defined." 



Very few black and white Ayrshires 

 have been imported into this country, 

 because American buyers think the 

 color shows the presence of Holstein 

 blood. 



The red color of the Ayrshire is 

 apparently a different kind of red than 

 that of the Shorthorn or the Red 

 Polled cattle. It seems to be a i)eculiar 

 red which usually shades into a mahog- 

 any or wine colored tinge producing a 

 color commonly recorded as brown in the 

 Ayrshire Herd Book. The term lirown 

 as used in this way, includes many 

 shades of red ranging from a bright red 

 to a very dark l)r()\vn. 



Further observation and iiuiuiry in 



* Si)eir, J., Early History of the Ayrshire Breed of Cattle, Glasgow, Au>^. l.\ l''()'>. 

 314 



