146 CATTLE GLAMORGAN AND GLOUCESTER 



Red Devons and Herefords, although as a breed one of the 

 oldest and one of the best for the production of milch cows 

 and draught oxen it is now extinct. According to Youatt : 



" They were of a dark brown (the bull almost black) with 

 white bellies, and a streak of white along the back from the 

 shoulder to the tail. They had clean heads, tapering from 

 the neck and shoulders ; long, white horns, turning upwards ; 

 with a lively countenance. Their dewlaps were small, the 

 hair short, and the coat silky. If there was any fault, it was 

 that the rump, or setting on of the tail, was too high above 

 the level of the back to accord with modern notions of true 

 symmetry," a common original defect in Welsh and in 

 some other British breeds. 



A Welsh writer, about one hundred years earlier, " describes 

 the cows as being of a large size, some red and some pied." 

 There were two strains, as in the Devon breed. 



Lowe says : " The Glamorgans of the lower country fall 

 short of the ordinary size of the Durhams and Herefords ; but 

 yet they are of the larger class of cattle. Their horns are 

 small, fine, and pointing somewhat upwards ; and in the breed 

 of the hills, the horns have yet more of the upright curvature. 

 The skin is generally orange-yellow, and the individuals are 

 more esteemed in which this colour prevails. The hair is 

 dark brown, usually broken with white. . . . The cows are 

 exceedingly good milchers, giving a rich yellow cream. 

 (The average yield of milk is about 16 quarts a day.) The 

 domestic dairy has always been an important object of 

 attention in this and other parts of Wales. The Glamorgan 

 cattle also produced a rare quality of meat, highly prized in 

 the metropolitan and provincial markets." 



Youatt accounts for the first decline in the quality of the 

 breed, which ultimately led to its extinction, by pressure of 

 the more favoured and more improved Shorthorn, Hereford, 

 and Devon breeds. He says : 



" During the French revolutionary war the excessive price 

 of corn attracted the attention of the Glamorganshire farmers 

 to the increased cultivation of it, and a great proportion of 

 the best pastures were turned over by the plough. Turnip- 

 husbandry necessarily followed ; and then the improvement 

 of their sheep stock became an object of importance, and the 

 cattle were almost entirely neglected." 



The accompanying illustration of a Glamorgan bull is 

 from a photograph of one of the last remnants of the breed, 



