EARLY HISTORY 61 



"White Heifer that travelled," , a free-martin, born 1806, 

 which scaled over I ton were carted about the country, and 

 exhibited as marvellous specimens of the wonderful breed 

 with which the name of Colling became familiarly associated. 1 

 Nevertheless, in carrying out their breeding operations the 

 Collings, conforming to the practice of Bakewell, seem to 

 have regarded size as a secondary and subordinate quality to 

 those which they desired to cultivate, and to have directed 

 special attention to utility and beauty of form, and to the 

 development of early maturity and flesh production. 



Low says (1845): "The Durham or improved Teeswater 

 breed differs nearly as much from the older cattle of the Tees 

 as the Dishley (Bakewell's) breed of Longhorns from the older 

 race from which it was derived. The height is less, but the 

 trunk is more round and deep ; the limbs are shorter in pro- 

 portion to the depth of the body, and the chest, back, and loin 

 more broad ; so that, with less apparent bulk of body, the 

 weight is usually greater. The skin is light-coloured, and the 

 hair reddish-brown or white, either separate or mixed. The 

 muzzle is flesh-coloured and rarely black, the appearance of 

 which colour on the skin indicates the revival of a character 

 of the older varieties, which modern breeders study to 

 exclude. The horns are shorter than in the former breed, 

 light-coloured, blunt, and sometimes laterally flattened. The 

 skin is soft to the touch, the general form square and 

 massive, the shoulders upright, and the hind quarters large. 

 . . Although Colling preferred cattle of a medium size, 

 yet the breed being derived from one of great bulk of body, 

 there is a constant tendency to the production of large 

 animals. The breed communicates its characters readily to 

 all others, and the first progeny, even with races the most 

 dissimilar, is usually fine. The female retains in a consider- 

 able degree the properties of the Holstein race, in yielding a 

 large quantity of milk. ... In the property of yielding 

 milk, however, the new breed is inferior to the older and less 

 cultivated one, showing that refinement in breeding and 

 greater tendency to produce fat are unfavourable to the 

 secretion of milk." 



William Carr, the historian of Booth cattle, says of the 



for ^14 in Durham Fair. He dressed 165 st. 12 Ibs. of beef from a total 

 dead weight of 2620 Ibs., after the loss resulting from two months' suffer- 

 ing from a broken leg. 



1 John Day bought the ox in 1801 for ^250, and travelled with him 

 nearly six years through England and Scotland. 



