PEMBROKESHIRE OR CASTLEMARTIN CATTLE. 201 



Wales no more than elsewhere is a white horn considered the 

 "best, but a yellow, mellow, and oily-looking horn, having the 

 unction mark of a predisposition to fatten ; a horn in which the 

 black extends more than a few inches below the tip, or one 

 that has a hard blue colour throughout, is to be condemned. 

 Several writers have remarked on the colour of the skin as being 

 of an orange yellow, and the coat on the barest parts of the 

 body as being of a brownish hue. Some of the best breeders in 

 Pembrokeshire are careful to maintain these characteristics in 

 their herds. These, along with a yellow horn and a wavy coat, 

 almost invariably indicate a beast that will feed well either at 

 grass or in the stall. A short, crisp, coal-black coat is much 

 inferior to one that is long and wavy. The outer covering 

 of hair put on in the winter months should, with outlying 

 cattle, at the end of spring and during the early summer 

 months be of a russet brown. One frequently sees cattle of 

 this breed whose coats are one mass of ringlets ; but experience, 

 I think, shows that they are not the most easily fattened, and I 

 do not know to what source to attribute this peculiarity. The 

 hair on the forehead of bulls is often very much curled, and it 

 is rather to be admired than otherwise for the sake of its 

 picturesqueness, as well as that it indicates hardihood and 

 masculinity. 



The meat produced by these cattle is excellent, and not to be 

 surpassed in texture and quality. The milking properties of 

 the cows are certainly equal, if not superior, to those of most 

 modern improved breeds. I have the authority of eminent 

 London dairymen for stating that Welsh black cows are on the 

 average equal to any class of cows in milk-producing capa- 

 bilities. The only objection to them at dairy farms around 

 the metropolis is their colour. The admixture of black with red, 

 and white, and roan in the herd is not thought fashionable, 

 neither is it pleasant to the eye. 



There is a tradition in Pembrokeshire that the Castlemartins 

 were improved by the importation of Devon bulls, but I do not 

 know on what basis such tradition rests. I do not place much 

 reliance on it, although the red colour of the Devons easily 

 merges into black when crossed with them. The late Mr. 

 Thomas Lewis, of Norchard, Pembroke, many years ago, assured 



