108 DOMESTIC ANIMAJLS. 



annual supply of the stock-in-trade of his farm — his cheese — than to 

 get a few pounds more or less when she is sold. Indeed a smaller dif- 

 ference really takes place than may be at first imagined. The rich 

 Leicestershire grass enables the farmer, on a large scale at least, to sell off 

 his cattle fat, which would have been disposed of for the dairy. Hence 

 as old cows of any kind are not expected to be very valuable grazers, 

 he does not expect her to do wonders ; and if he succeeds in getting her 

 moderately fat, he is satisfied to take a smaller price per stone for her 

 beef than is received for a primer animal. 



The Cheshire Breed is, like that of Gloucestershire, or even more so, 

 becoming rapidly extinct. The old breed of the county was, like that 

 of most dairy districts, a long-horned variety ; but the vicinity of the 

 largo-town dairy system, introduced into the country by the springing 

 up of large towns, has brought here, as elsewhere, the short-horn cow 

 of Yorkshire into competition with the native breed ; the extra quan- 

 tity of milk they produce has been regarded somewhat more than its 

 quality, and, in consequence, the character of the Cheshire cheese has 

 somewhat deteriorated in the markets. 



The Dorsetshire Breed. — In this, as in most dairy districts, the milk is 

 rather an object than either form or fat, and hence a somewhat coarse, 

 ill-shapen class of cattle prevails. The cattle are of a long-horn breed, 

 large, and coarse, principally of a red color, with flat chests and buttocks. 

 Attempts have been made to cross this also with the Devon, Hereford, 

 and Ayrshire breeds, but this does not appear to have succeeded ; and 

 the only advance the dairymen have been enabled to make in this coun- 

 ty has been to introduce one Alderney cow to a dairy for every ten or 

 twelve of the native breed ; this is found to have a very beneficial ten- 

 dency, to increase the quantity of cream, and to improve much the 

 quality of the butter. 



The Kerry Breed. — Crossing the Irish Channel, there is a hardy small- 

 sized cow celebrated as a cottier's dairy-cow — the neat pet-like cow of 

 Kerry. Her placid countenance, patient, meek deportment, fine head 

 and legs, her small tail, fine shoulders, breast, and quarters, and her 

 skinny udder and large milk-vein, bespeak the characteristics of the 

 milker, and well they may, for she is a treasure to the cottage farmer! 

 — so hardy, that she will live where other cattle will starve ; she will 

 yield milk at the expense of her own muscles, nay, will yield it abund- 

 antly when they seem all but gone; and will give it also of quality so 

 rich, that she is a perfect machine for converting the hardest and coarsest 

 cattle-food into rich and nutritious milk and butter. 



FAT-PR()1)UCING BREEDS OF CATTLE.— Whatever theoretical objections 

 may be raised against overfed cattle, and groat as may be the attempts 

 to disparage the "mountains of fat," as highly-fed cattle are sometimes 

 designated, there is no doubt of the practical fact, that the best butcher 

 cannot sell any thing but the best-fatted beef; and of whatever age, 

 size, or shape, a half-fatted ox may be, he is never selected by judges 

 as fit for human food. Hence a well-fatted animal always commands a 

 better price per pound than one imperfectly fed, and the parts selected 

 as the primest beef are just the parts where there are the largest de- 

 posits of tat. The rump, the crop, and the sirloin, the very favorite 



