DEXTER- AND LINCOLNSHIRE RED 93 



Fearn, N.B. ; John Young, Tilbouries, Maryculter, N.B. ; Wm. Young, 

 Fenaghy, Cullybackey, Co. Antrim. 



The Strafifan herd of Dexter-Shorthorns was originated 

 about 1860 by Major Barton, on his estate in Ireland, when a 

 Dexter heifer was put to a pedigree Shorthorn bull. For 

 many years all the male calves were castrated, and a well- 

 bred Shorthorn bull of a short-legged compact type was used. 

 About thirty-five years after this experiment began, Shorthorn 

 bulls were discontinued ; but the progeny of the crosses then 

 eligible for the Herd Book> which had tended in succeeding 

 generations to become shorter in the leg, were mated 

 together with satisfactory results. The type has been 

 retained and perpetuated, and the cows continue to be 

 excellent milkers, with a wonderful tendency to put on flesh 

 if a short time idle. If an occasional calf comes rather long 

 in its legs, it is not bred from. There is a curious blending 

 of certain distinguishing characteristics of the two originally 

 very distinct breeds. Cows yield 18 to 22 quarts of very 

 rich milk daily. This property and the stature remain 

 Dexter, but the great substance and the faculty for beef 

 production are unquestionably of Shorthorn origin. The 

 colours are those of the darker Shorthorn strains : the black 

 of the Kerry on the one hand, and the white of certain types 

 of Shorthorn on the other, are both absent. Indebtedness for 

 those facts is acknowledged to Thomas Milne, who manages 

 the herd at Straffan, Co. Kildare. 



Lincolnshire Red Shorthorns. Low's statement in 

 Domesticated Animals of the British Isles (1845), under the 

 heading " Shorthorned Breed," appears to throw light on the 

 origin of the Lincoln Reds and their well-known aptitude as 

 dairy cattle : 



" In the fens of Lincolnshire, and the other tracts of 

 alluvial country towards the Wash, the cattle were of great 

 bulk and coarse figure, and had usually a dingy colour of 

 skin, and short blunt horns. More inland, and following the 

 course northward of the Vale of Trent, and thence across the 

 Ouse, through the central plains of Yorkshire, to the river 

 Tees and beyond it, the cattle assumed a less gross and 

 unwieldy form, but were still a very tall race, of varied 

 colours, with horns of medium length, but which might be 



