AYRSHIRE CATTLE. 1 07 



(4) It is also claimed that because of even quality and 

 well balanced constituents it is growing in favor as a food for 

 children in cities and towns. 



V. Early maturing qualities. 



(1) These are not more than average, but 



(2) The heifers, as with those of the Holstein, come into 

 milk at the age of from twenty-four to thirty months, and 



(3) Since Ayrshires have been less inbred and less arti- 

 ficially reared than some dairy breeds they are productive to 

 a greater age. 



VI. Grazing qualities. 



(1) Ayrshires will give more milk than Holsteins^ Guern- 

 seys, or Jerseys when they have to travel over considerable 

 areas when gleaning food. 



(2) Although well adapted to rich pasture lands, their 

 active disposition and somewhat light development of form fit 

 them admirably for grazing on abruptly undulating and hilly 

 or broken lands. 



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. VII. Feeding qualities. 



(1) These are much the same as with the Holsteins, with 

 the difference that the Ayrshires are much less in size than 

 the former. 



(2) When not in milk, like the Holsteins, they take on 

 flesh better than the Guernsey, or Jersey. 



(3) The plump form and good hindquarters of the Ayr- 

 shire calves fit them for good meat production up to the age of 

 nine to, say, eighteen months. 



VIII. Value in crossing and grading. 



(1) Ayrshires when crossed upon "the grades of certain 

 other breeds and upon common cattle of good size produce a 

 fine dairy animal. 



(2) Excellent results have been obtained by crossing Ayr- 

 shires upon Shorthorn and Holstein grades, but 



(3) Such crosses shorld not be made when the conditions 

 of adaptation suited to the Ayrshires are not present. 



IX. Breeding qualities. 



(1) The breeding qualities of Ayrshires are excellent. 



(2) This is largely the outcome of the absence of in-and- 

 in breeding, of undue pampering, and of the extent to which 

 they are grazed in the fields. 



