106 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



supplying the villagers with milk, and from the few dairy farms 

 where cows are kept for making cheese. 



"The best heifers are retained as breeders, in order to supply 

 the place of those tdiose progeny is not valuable, or who are 

 turned off on account of their age. The other female calves 

 are spayed during the first year. The spayed heifers are usually 

 smaller than the bullocks, but they arrive sooner at maturity ; 

 they fatten readily ; their meat is considered more delicate, and 

 in proportion to their size, they sell at higher prices than the 

 bullocks. 



" Mr. Culley says, ' In Galloway, they spay more heifers than 

 perhaps in all the island besides, and in this too their method 

 is different from any other part I am acquainted with, for they 

 do not castrate them until they are about a year old, whereas in 

 every other place I know, the heifer calves are spayed from one 

 to three months old ; and it is now generally admitted as the 

 safest practice to castrate calves and lambs, male or female, 

 while very young.' They are now generally spayed much 

 earlier than they used to be, but some of the breeders adhere to 

 the old custom. 



"The young cattle are rarely housed after the first winter; 

 they are on their pastures day and night, but in cold weather, 

 they receive hay and straw in the fields, supporting themselves 

 otherwise on the foggage left unconsumed after the summer grass. 

 Many of the farmers are beginning to learn their true interest, and 

 the pastures are not so much overstocked in summer as they used 

 to be, and a portion of herbage is left for the cattle in the winter; 

 therefore, although the beasts are not in high condition in the 

 spring, they had materially increased in size, and are in a proper 

 state to be transferred to the rich pastures of the lower district. 



"The following were the proportions of a fat heifer of this 

 breed : Height of shoulder, 5ft. 2in.; length from nose to rump, 

 10ft. 4in.; width across the hip, 2ft. Gin. ; across the middle of tho 



