



LECTURE NO. 26. 



AYRSHIRE CATTLE THEIR ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



I. The origin of the Ayrshire breed of cattle 

 is involved in much obscurity, but it is generally sup- 

 posed that they are made up largely of the blood of 

 the Holderness, Dutch, Alderney, Kerry and West 

 Highland breeds, engrafted upon the native stocks 

 of the country during the eighteenth century. 



(1) No particular individuals stand out prominently as 

 improvers of the breed. 



(2) Their chief excellences are supposed to have arisen 

 from the peculiar circumstances of climate and soil and from 

 the situation of several of the western counties of Scotland. 



(3) Much attention was drawn to the breed toward the 

 close of the last century by exhibitions gotten up for the pur- 

 pose of improving it, and 



(4) During the first half of the present century, the devel- 

 opment of the wedge shape and hindquarters was much 

 improved and the udder was brought to its present beautifully 

 symmetrical proportions. 



II. Ayrshires are so named from the county 

 of Ayr, where the breed originated, and which is still 

 its principal center. 



(1) They were at one time frequently spoken of as Dun- 

 lop cattle from a family of that name wio had given consid- 

 erable attention to breeding them in the eighteenth century. 



(2) They now form the only class of dairy stock in the 

 counties of Ayr, Wigtown, Bute, Argyle, Dumfries, Kirkcud- 

 bright and Perth. 



(3) They also exist numerously in other counties of 

 Scotland and in England. 



III. Their mixed ancestry is indicated in the 

 following resemblances : 



(1) The wide and deep hindquarter points to Shorthorn 

 blood in the ancestry. 



(2) The fine skin to Alderney blood. 



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