192 MILCH CATTLE THE AYRSHIRE 



support heavier cattle. A breed of dairy cows that will 

 weigh from nine to eleven or twelve hundred pounds are 

 thought the most preferable." 



Wilkinson's definition of a milch cow exactly described 

 the Ayrshire of this period : 



" She's long in the face, she's fine in her horn, 

 She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn, 

 She's clear in her jaws, and full in her chine, 

 She's heavy in flank, and wide in her loin. 1 



" She's broad in her ribs, and long in her rump, 

 A straight and flat back, with never a hump. 

 She's wide in her hips, and calm in her eyes, 

 She's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thighs. 



" She's light in her neck, and small in her tail, 

 She's wide in her breast, and good at the pail, 

 She's fine in her bone, and silky of skin, 

 She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within." 



The improved Ayrshire was taken to Carrick, the 

 division of the county south of the river Boon, by 

 Fulton in 1790; and Ralston established the first herd 

 in Wigtownshire in 1802. They were introduced into 

 Dumfriesshire towards the end of the eighteenth century 

 the estate of Hope Johnston of Annandale being one of the 

 first centres favoured. The poet Burns then at Ellisland, 

 near Dumfries, where he kept a dairy and made cheese 

 refers in a letter, dated 1788, to a heifer presented to him by 

 Dunlop of Dunlop, which he designated the " finest quey in 

 Ayrshire." 



There are indications that although the Ayrshire is now 

 accepted as a pure breed, all the characteristics contributed 

 by the various breeds employed in its formation have not yet 

 been thoroughly distributed and blended. Proof of this may 

 be seen in the fact that the strains of Ayrshires which are 

 most successful as prize-winners in the " eild " 2 classes (for 

 bulls and heifers), seldom produce animals which are very 

 successful when shown " in milk." These cows may give as 

 much milk as those belonging to the strains celebrated for 

 producing successful winners in the classes for animals in 

 milk, but their udders are rarely symmetrical enough to 



1 The Ayrshire pronunciation of loin, i.e. " line," rhymes with chine. 



2 "Eild" or "yeld," the Scotch expression to indicate cattle, whether 

 male or female, that do not yield milk. 



