20 



CATTLE 



breeding which was pursued by Mr Quartly and his 

 brother, ' the clergyman who interests himself 

 much in live-stock. The ideal animal which the 

 Quartlys kept before them and bred up to exactly 

 corresponds to the typical Devon of to-day ; and 

 there is no doubt that their sound and systematic 

 method of breeding imprinted an indelible stamp 

 upon the race through which the blood of their 

 stock has freely permeated. In former times, wnen 

 cattle were beasts of burden, the Devons were 

 greatly esteemed for their agility and hardiness. 

 Now that the yoke has fallen upon other shoulders, 

 the 'Rubies of the West,' as the plump little 

 Devons have been called by their admirers, are 

 holding a high position as beef -producers. The 

 quality of their meat is excelled by none ; and 

 while they are small in size, they give a good 

 return for the food they consume. Garrard, writing 

 in 1800, attributed the excellence of Devon cattle 

 mainly to the mildness of the climate and high dry 

 ground, calcareous soil, and sweet pasture where 

 they were bred ; but he considered it might be rJbo 

 to some extent due to an admixture of finer blood 

 from the still warmer continent of Europe. There 

 may have been some slight foundation for this 

 latter suggestion ; but it is undeniable that the 

 main forces and features now existing in Devon 

 cattle are distinctively native to the south-west 

 of England. This idea is strengthened by the 

 recollection of the estimate of Devon cattle formed 

 by Bake well, who declared that they could not be 

 improved by any cross. From the first and greatest 

 of all our early improvers of farm live-stock this 

 testimony is weighty. The dairy properties of the 

 breed are not of a high order. The yield of milk is 

 comparatively small, but its quality is exception- 

 ally rich. Some rare specimens of the breed have 

 reached 19 cwt. live-weight at four years old, but 

 the average is much below that. At the London 

 Christmas Fat Stock Show in December 1887 the 

 class of two-year-old Devon steers (averaging 681 

 days) gave an average live- weight of 1235 Ib. ; 

 steers over two and under three years old ( averag- 

 ing 996 days), 1489 Ib. ; and steers over three years 

 (averaging 1320 days), 1734 Ib. each. 



The Red Polled cattle of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 are supposed to bear a close affinity to the polled 

 breeds of Scotland through the circumstance that 

 formerly Scotch cattle were freely transported tc be 

 fattened on the Norfolk pastures. Be this as it 

 may, the red polled breed has been sufficiently 

 long associated with Norfolk and Suffolk to enable 

 these counties to claim them as natives. Marshall 

 in his Political Economy of Norfolk, published 

 in 1782, tells us that the native cattle of Norfolk 

 were 'a small, hardy thriving race, fattening as 

 freely at three years old as cattle in general do at 

 four or five. They are small boned, short legged, 

 round barrelled, well loined ; the favourite colour 

 a blood-red with a white or mottled face. ' Arthur 

 Young, writing in 1794, says the Suffolk breed of 

 cattle ' is universally polled, that is, without horns ; 

 the size small ; few rise when fattened to above 

 50 stone ( 14 Ib. ) ; the milk veins remarkably large ; 

 cows upon good land give a great quantity of rich 

 milk.' These are the progenitors of the modern 

 red polls, and all the good features of the old breed 

 have been retained and developed. The cattle 

 are now relatively larger, still blood-red in colour, 

 but with no white face, good meat-producers, and, 

 taken as a whole, perhaps the best of all the 

 native English breeds from a dairying point of 

 view. Individual shorthorn cows will be found to 

 exceed them in yield of milk, but red-polled cows 

 are distinguished for high average milking pro- 

 perties. The breed has found much favour in the 

 United States of America and elsewhere abroad. 

 Its uniformity of colour, absence of horns, and 



usefulness both as beef and milk producers have 

 won for it many hearty admirers in America. 



Sussex cattle are also uniformly red in colour, 

 with strong spreading horns, larger in size than 

 the Devons, heavy meat-producers, but deficient 

 in dairying properties. Marshall is probably right 

 in stating (1796-98) that the Sussex, Devon, Here- 

 ford, North Wales, and Gloucestershire cattle had 

 all sprung from the same aboriginal stock ; and that 

 in fact they were ' varieties arising from soils and 

 management of the native breeds of this island.' 

 Formerly Sussex cows were highly esteemed for 

 their milking properties, but in the rage for beef- 

 production these have unfortunately been destroyed. 

 Sussex cattle mature early, grow to great weights, 

 and in late years they have been improving in 

 quality. They have also found -supporters in 

 foreign countries, chiefly in the United States of 

 America. Young Sussex steers (averaging 659 

 days ) at the London Christmas Fat Stock Show in 

 1887 reached an average live- weight of 1436 Ib., 

 and three-year-old steers (averaging 1349 days), 

 2030 Ib. each. 



Longhorn cattle are now in few hands ; so few 

 indeed that the breed may be said to be approach- 

 ing extinction. They are big, rough, ungainly 

 cattle, with long drooping horns which are often 

 so shaped as to make it difficult for the animals to 

 graze short pasture. The cows give a fair quantity 

 of very rich milk, and the bullocks grow and fatten 

 to great weights. But for general utility they are 

 being ousted by smaller, finer, and more rapidly 

 maturing varieties. Peculiar interest attaches to 

 this breed from the fact that it was upon it that 

 the past great improver of farm live-stock, Robert 

 Bakewell ( q. v. ) or Dishley, tried his earliest experi- 

 ments. The improvement of live-stock upon scien- 

 tific principles dates from 1755, when Bakewell 

 began his great work with longhorns. These cattle 

 were at one time widely diffused through England, 

 and also obtained a footing in Ireland, but were 

 many years ago supplanted by shorthorns, Here- 

 fords, Devons, or other varieties. 



Welsh cattle present considerable variety of 

 type and character, yet there is all through a 

 noticeable family likeness, arising of course in 

 their common origin in the aboriginal cattle of the 

 principality. They are black in colour, with long 

 horns, hardy in constitution, good milkers, slow in 

 maturing, but able to subsist and thrive upon 

 scanty fare. In late years they have been con- 

 siderably improved, especially in their fattening 

 properties. They vary greatly in size, but many of 

 them attain great weights at from three to four 

 years old. The average live-weight of Welsh steers 

 at the London Christmas Fat Stock Show in 1887 

 was 21 11 Ib. each, their average having been 1286 

 days. 



Amongst the four Scotch breeds of cattle the 

 Polled Aberdeen- Angus is well entitled to pre- 

 cedence. Descended directly from the ancient 

 polled cattle of Angus ( Forfarshire ) and Buchan 

 ( in Aberdeenshire ) two varieties of the same type, 

 known in the former as ' Doddies,' and in the latter 

 as ' Humlies ' this valuable beef -producing breed 

 has made great strides in public favour since 1878, 

 when, with five plump black polls the late Mr 

 William M'Combie (1805-80) of Tillyfour carried 

 off the champion prize for the best group of ' meat- 

 making ' cattle at the Paris Exhibition, where no 

 fewer than sixty different varieties of cattle were 

 represented, including the best of the English 

 breeds. That remarkable triumph has been fol- 

 lowed by great achievements at home, the breed 

 having in 1881, 1885, and 1887 won the 100 Cham- 

 pion Plate at the London Christmas Fat Stock 

 Show. The improvement of the breed was begun 

 before the advent of the 19th century, and all 



