48 



dams the opportunity of selecting the best milkers to build up a 

 milking strain does not often occur, although heavy-milking cows 

 occasionally appear. 



HEREFORD CLASSES AT THE SMITHFIELD SHOW, 1902-1911. 

 (a) Average Ages, Live Weights, and Daily Increases. 



(b) Highest and Lowest Daily Increases. 



THE ABERDEEN-ANGUS.* 



This breed of black polled cattle is native to Forfarshire 

 (Angus), Aberdeenshire, and the surrounding districts. The 

 origin of the breed is somewhat uncertain, but the existence of 

 hornless black cattle in these north-eastern counties was recorded 

 as early as the middle of the sixteenth century. 



Improvers of the Breed. The first great improver of the breed 

 was Hugh Watson, tenant of Keillor (Forfarshire), which he 

 entered in 1808. He received from his father six of his "best and 

 blackest " cows, and he followed this up by purchasing in the local 

 markets the best cattle obtainable. While perhaps collectively the 

 greatest part of the early work of improving the breed was carried 

 out by Forfarshire breeders, individually they were all eclipsed 

 by William McCombie (1805-1880), of Tillyfour, Aberdeenshire, 

 who did more than any other single person to secure for the 



* See History of Aberdeen-Angus Cattle, by J. Macdonald and J. Sinclair.. 

 London : Vinton and Co., 1910 



