42 PROFITABLE DAIRYING 



Ayrshires have for many years been highly es- 

 teemed both in this country and in Scotland as milk 

 and butter producers. Their natural hardiness and 

 muscular development, increased by breeding and by 

 lives spent in a hilly country, have adapted them for 

 foraging on all sorts of land; their feeding and di- 

 gestive powers and hardiness have fitted them for 

 most parts of the United States. While capable of 

 enduring the hardships that would overcome cows 

 of most other breeds, they respond readily to good 

 treatment in an increase of production of both flesh 

 and milk. Cold and storms affect Ayrshires less 

 than most other breeds. For persistence of flow un- 

 der adverse conditions they are surpassed by none. 



Ayrshires, like all other well-bred milch cattle, are 

 of a nervous temperament; under kind usage they are 

 docile and tractable but are quick to resent insult 

 or abuse. Bulls when properly managed rarely be- 

 come ugly. The Ayrshire cow has been bred and 

 developed with a view to the production of an ani- 

 mal which will economically convert feed into milk 

 and butter. She is a good feeder, and is an example 

 of the Scotch adage : " The cow gives her milk by the 

 mou." She is well adapted to the production for 

 town market, where a liberal flow of milk reasonably 

 rich in butter fat and solids is desirable. 



Usually the color is red and white, occasionally 

 brown. Canadian breeders have bred toward the 

 white; Americans have preferred red. Among dairy 

 cattle, Ayrshires are of average size. The bulls attain a 

 weight of from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds, 1,500 to 1,600 

 being the desirable sizes. The larger types are prone 

 to develop beef tendencies. The cows weigh from 



