THE UNITED KINGDOM. , 101 



says Mr. Dun, have of late years been very generally looking to beef 

 rather than to inilk. 



How to form Shorthorn dairy herds. Some sensible and far-sighted 

 breeders have seriously demurred to the neglect of the milking proper- 

 ties of the Shorthorns. Mr. Bates was opposed to overfeeding, kept his 

 stock in a very healthy natural state, and some of his best cows were 

 deep milkers. Mr. Whittaker for nearly forty years maintained the 

 dairy superiority of his Shorthorns, which not only reared their calves, 

 bu-t supplied the people of his extensive factory with milk. He never 

 used bulls excepting from cows which reached a high standard of dairy 

 excellence. Although his famous bull, Fairfax, was the most shapely 

 he ever brea, he was hired to go to Warwickshire, became the sire of 

 many good steers and of a Smithfield gold medallist, but Mr. Whitaker 

 would not use him at home, as he did not consider his dam a sufficient 

 milker. The late Lord Ducie was equally anxious to preserve the milk- 

 ing qualifications of his herd, and was a staunch opponent to over- 

 feeding. The forty-nine cattle at his great sale in 1853 were in very 

 ordinary condition and many were exceedingly good milkers. From 

 these, and other such tribes, where reasonable pains have been system- 

 atically taken to maintain milk, pedigree Shorthorn cows can bo ob- 

 tained which will compare with any dairy stock. From such herds 

 young bulls can be selected which may be trusted to produce vigorous, 

 good, thriving animals, with early maturity, good all round, and which 

 will not detract from the dairy profits of the herd with which they are 

 mated. By the use of such sires good thriving young stock are pro- 

 duced, which make the best of their food and time, which, whilst they 

 milk as well as their dams, probably acquire, when dry, greater capa- 

 bility rapidly to lay on beef. I need not here enlarge on the enormous 

 boon it is to the dairyman to have his cows maintain their condition 

 while milking, readily to lay on beef as they are dried, and if required 

 shortly to go to the butcher at about the price they were valued for 

 calvmg. This combination of good qualities this milking liberally for 

 eight or nine months, and making, if needful, three or four months later, 

 a good carcass of beef is pre-eminently secured more rapidly and ef- 

 fectually by Shorthorns than by any other breed. 



A very valuable herd of pure-bred dairy Shorthorns could be inex- 

 pensively founded in a few years by attending Shorthorn sales, se- 

 lecting animals merely for their dairy qualities and without regard to 

 fashion or tribe, and mating them with a bull carefully chosen from a 

 heavy milking cow of a well-known dairy sort, such, for example, as the 

 Knightleys. My herd contains animals that have milked twenty-four 

 quarts per day each without any special forcing and milked only twice 

 a day. With more stimulating food and an extra milking even larger 

 results might be obtained. I am inclined to the opinion that pure-bred 

 Shorthorns give richer milk than common-bred cows of no particular 

 type, but no doubt the proportion of cream is affected by the kind of 

 food and quality of land. Bean meat is a favorite "licking" for milk 

 cows with the Yorkshire men; cotton-cake stands next ; grains, distill- 

 ers' wash, and other like articles, whilst increasing the flow, diininisii 

 the quality of the milk. Twenty years' experience in milk-selling and 

 Shorthorn breeding brings me to the conclusion that 500 invested in, 

 pure-bred Shorthorns, selected solely as dairy animals, and kept to yield 

 milk for sale, weaning and rearing the calves, and selling off the dams as 

 fat when no longer serviceable in the dairy, would in ten years leave bet- 

 ter profit than the same amount laid out on any other breed for similar 

 purposes. 



