LECTURE NO. 41. 



DEVON CATTLE THEIR LEADING CHARACTERISTICS. 



I. Popularity. 



(1) In all-round popularity the Devons occupy a place 

 not higher than medium. 



(2) Their want of size is against them in rich pastoral 

 and arable sections, and 



(3) Their qualities being only medium in the dairy, they 

 are not often preferred to the distinctive dairy breeds for dairy 

 uses, while 



(4) It is probably true that less effort has been made to 

 popularize them than in the case of other breeds introduced 

 somewhat early. 



II. Adaptability. 



(1) The relatively small bodies of the Devons and their 

 active habits and good grazing qualities adapt them to locali- 

 ties where the land is broken, and the soil possessed of but 

 moderate fertility, and 



(2) Their fair milking qualities fit them for situations 

 where the arable portions of the land are small in proportion 

 to the pastoral, and where at the same time the system of 

 husbandry is of the mixed order. 



(3) They are also better adapted to warm latitudes than 

 the heavier-bodied breeds. 



III. Relative size. 



(1) In size they are considerably less than the Shorthorn 

 and Hereford, less than the Polled Aberdeen, and something 

 less than the Sussex and Galloway, but 



(2) The size is largely dependent upon the strain, the 

 pasture, the breeding and the care. 



IV. Milking qualities. 



(i) Devons are noted rather for the quality than the 

 quantity of their milk. 



^ (2) Their symmetry of form, their proverbial docility, 

 their well-shaped udders, their medium-sized teats, and their 

 good butter making properties all tend to make them favorites 

 in the dairy under the conditions of adaptation named above. 



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