THE HERD BOOK AND CROSSES 177 



go back to such breeds as the Galloway to recruit the ebbing 

 strength of some of the greatest sufferers from the conse- 

 quences of the practice. Tuberculosis, which is both pre- 

 valent and on the increase in some breeds, is one of the 

 signs that should warn breeders of the peril of a heedless 

 course of in-and-in breeding. The disease is almost unknown 

 among Galloway cattle. 



As dairy cattle Galloway cows are not noted. The calves 

 are generally allowed to follow their mothers. The quality 

 of the milk is excellent, but the quantity, as a rule, is deficient. 

 Individual instances of cows giving large quantities of milk 

 occur, but as a breed they have never been managed like 

 dairy cattle. Proof of this is seen in the rare occurrence 

 of but three teats in place of four on the udder the third teat 

 being located midway between where two teats should have 

 been. 



The increase in the feeding of crosses and half-bred sheep 

 and the remarkable extension of dairying during the latter 

 half of the nineteenth century have brought about a great 

 diminution in the numbers of this breed, and a concurrent 

 increase in the deeper milking Ayrshire. It is asserted, too, 

 that in spite of increased attention during that period, the 

 best animals of the present day have only begun to show 

 improvement on those of former times. 



The establishment of a Galloway Herd Book in i%77 1 

 has given an impetus in the direction of improvement, and 

 the qualities of the breed for ranching purposes in the 

 Canadian North-west and in the United States, with Iowa and 

 Illinois as the centre, are fully realised. 



A Cross bred from a Galloway cow by a bull of one of 

 the favourite flesh-producing breeds, such as Shorthorn or 

 Hereford, is usually an excellent butchers' animal. 2 The 



1 The editor is the Very Rev. Dr John Gillespie, Mouswald Manse, 

 Dumfriesshire, who is also the writer of a valuable article on "The 

 Galloway Breed of Cattle " in the Transactions of the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society for 1878, and another on "Famous Galloways" in 

 Vol. xviii., 1906, as well as various notices in different years in the Live 

 Stock Journal Almanac. 



- The champion ox, exhibited by Sir John Swinburne, at the Smith- 

 field Club Show, 1892, was a light blue-grey cross, between a Galloway 

 cow and Shorthorn bull, which at the age of 1250 days weighed 2276 

 Ibs., an average daily gain from birth of 1-82 Ibs. 



M 



