LECTURE XXXIII, 



AYRSHIRE CATTLE. 



Origin, History, and Development of the Breed in 

 Great Britain. 



This breed originated in the County of Ayr, which lies next 

 the sea in the southwestern part of Scotland. The climate 

 is very damp and raw, but, while this is the case, the close 

 proximity of the ocean tends to maintain a fairly equable 

 temperature, and while gusty storms occasionally sweep over 

 the county, it never becomes cold as in our central states. 

 This is further attested by the fact that the cattle run out 

 practically all winter, and that turnips are left standing in 

 the field all winter, or pulled and left in piles without shelter. 

 The abundance of moisture is favorable to luxuriant pastur- 

 age, but much of the land is hilly, stony, and covered with 

 heather a very coarse tree-like shrub, which grows as high 

 as one's waist unless kept closely pastured. 



Such is the general character of the country where this 

 breed originated. Aiton, writing in 1806, declared that fifty 

 or sixty years preceding about 1750 the cattle found in 

 Ayrshire were puny, unshapely, and very inferior in size. He 

 further states that in addition to being diminutive in size 

 and ill-shaped, they were ill-fed, and gave but a scanty re- 

 turn in milk; that they were mostly of a black color, with 

 large stripes of white along the chine, about their flanks, 

 and on their faces. They were lank, short, thin, and high 

 from the ground; their hides were thick, and adhered closely 

 to the bones; and the best of them yielded not more than 

 three or four Scot's pints of milk per day. 



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