8o My Little Farm 



feed a calf worth 10. With the Department's 

 pedigree shorthorn sires in reach, I wanted the 

 cow which, in the conditions described, could 

 produce the most economic results from these, 

 but what cow was that, and where could I find 

 her? 



The end of breeding solely from native stock 

 and pure shorthorn sires would be a most un- 

 desirable variety of shorthorns, in a region by no 

 means fit for them, and I noticed that the calves 

 from such breeding came generally either too good 

 (after the sire) or too bad (after the dam) with a 

 small minority of happy accidents and no sign of 

 raising a type to suit the conditions. That was 

 the problem, and it applies still to large regions in 

 Ireland. I claim to have solved the regional 

 problem, having produced a cow that can thrive 

 on land worth less than 55. an acre, and can justify 

 herself on land worth $. Having seen her on 

 both, I need not depend on mere opinion. 



I came to the conclusion that my best cow to 

 begin with would be a composite, judiciously 

 blent. The indigenous hardiness of the native 

 would make a useful element in the mixture, but 

 between the native and the pure shorthorn a gulf 

 remained to be bridged. Add size and stomach 

 to the native, without diminishing milk, and the 

 missing link is in view, an animal fit to mate with 

 the pure shorthorn in the necessities of the 

 situation. At this stage a lucky thing happened. 

 I found an in-calf heifer that embodied several 

 generations towards my purpose, bred exactly as 



