200 



farmehs' register— highland breed. 



short-horned breed, which is not uncommon in the 

 border counties of England, is said "to produce an 

 excellent animal, possessing in a great degree the 

 feeding qualities and best points of the short-horn, 

 and the hardiness and docility of the Galloway 

 cattle;" it is yet added, "that although the first 

 cross with the short-horn does produce a wood 

 beast, no good breeder would choose to continue 

 his stock Ironi these crosses;"* and it seeuis to be 

 now generally admitted, that the surest method of 

 improving it consists in adherence to the pure 

 breed. They certamly merit attention, tor they 

 already possess many valuable properties, which 

 may yet be brought to still greater pcrlection. 

 They are a hardy race, subsisting on the coarsest 

 pastures, and increasing rapidly when removed to 

 more favorable situations: they fatten kindly on 

 the best parts: their flesh is of the finest quality: 



and the ioints being of a moderate size, more 

 suitable lor consumption in private ffimilies than 

 those of the larger breeds, they usually command 

 the highest prices at Smhhfield.* 



Of this breed there is a variety termed Suffolk 

 Duns, from their color, which is generally of a 

 yellowish hue, and from the county in which they 

 were chiefly adopted. They are also polled, but 

 possess little of the beauty of the original stock, 

 and are chiefly remarkable for the abundance of 

 milk given by the cows, on which account they 

 are fiworites with the London dairymen; the best 

 milkers beino; said to give as much as eight gal- 

 lons a day alter claving, and six during great part 

 of the season, wherefore much pains are taken to 

 preserve the breed, and horned calves are never 

 rearedf. 



MB 



VIIL The Highland Breed oi" Horned cattle are 

 chiefly reared in the western parts of Scotland. 

 Their horns are usually of a middle size, bending 

 upwards, and their color is generally black, though 

 sometimes brindle, or dun. Their hides are thick, 

 and covered with long hair of a close pile, which 

 nature seems to have intended as a protection 

 against the severity of the climate imder which 

 tlVey are bred, for they lose much of this distinc- 

 tion when reared in this country. In other re- 

 spects they are not unlike the Galloway breed, 

 many of whose best qualities they possess, and 

 more particularly their hardiness of constitution, il 

 having been repeatedly proved that they will thrive 

 with such food and treatment as no tender cattle 

 could endure; but, from bein^ mostly bred ui more 

 exposed and mountainous situations, they rarely 

 attain equal size. 



Of this breed there are several distinct varieties, 

 of \vhich the principal are the Kyloes, — a^ short- 

 horned breed, so named from the district of Kyle, 

 in Ayrshire, — which are chiefly esteemed lor the 

 superior quality of the milk given by the cows: the 

 Y/rg?//es/i(Ve, which are the largest of the real 

 Highland breeds, and possess most of the proper- 

 ties already enumerated, except that they do not 



* Library of Useful Knowledge: Farmer's Series, 

 No. 12; Farm Report of Netherby in Cumberland. 



milk so well as the Kyloes; and the Dunlops, 

 another variety, so called from the estate on which 

 they were originally bred, which has long been 

 celebrated for the excellence of its cheese. 

 These last are said to have been ])roduced from 

 a cross between a Highland bull and an Alderney 

 cow, or, as some say, ii-om an Alderney bull and 

 an Ayrshire cow; but an experienced breeder, who 

 has been, long resident in the county, is of opin- 

 ion that the improvement of the native stock is due 

 to the introduction, about the middle of the last 

 century, of some Dutch or Teeswater cows.f 

 Their color varies from a dark brown, approach- 

 ing that of the Devon, to the cream color of the 

 Alderney, and in both cases generally speckled 

 with white. The head and horns are small; the 

 neck thin; little dewlap; round and straight in the 

 barrel, and perfectly free from any disposition lo 

 rise in the back bone; the loin, and space between 

 the hips, flat and wide; in the leg ratlier short thpji 

 otherwise, bearing a general similarity to the breed 

 from which they spring. In some parts they are 

 known under the name of Cunningham catile, also 

 from a district so called in Ayrshire. § 



* See p. 34. 



t Yonng-'s Survey of SufTolk. 

 X W. Alton: Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows, 

 p. 22. 



§See the Agric. Surv. of the Isle of Man, p. 107. 



