Chapter XXV. 



AYRSHIRES. 



The Ayrshire breed which takes its name from the county or 

 shire of Ayr, Scotland is of comparatively recent origin; in Cully's 

 work on Live Stock (1790) it is not even mentioned. Aiton in 1825 

 mentioned it, but described an entirely different animal from the present 

 improved Ayshire. Even as late as 1842 Prof. Low closes his history 

 of their origin as follows: 



"We may assume, then, from all the evidence which, in the absence of authentic 

 documents, the case admits of, that the dairy breed of Ayrshire owes the characters which 

 distinguish it from the older race to a mixture with the blood of races of the continent, 

 and of the dairy breed of Alderney." 



"^v* 3 



-..s^aam/^iKmrfHUS^---.: . :::. .:E-i:-=iir;r^^r^-=5*^ 



AYRSHIRE BULL, SIR HUGH, 2582. 



Property of H. R. C. WATSON, West Farms, N. Y. 



Afterwards, in the same chapter, he gives us a pretty definite idea 

 as to how the later improvement was effected in the statement that 

 "some breeders in Ayrshire have begun to cross the breed with the 

 Shorthorns." Allen (American Cattle) makes a shrewd "guess" as to 

 how the improvement was brought about. He says : 



"It could be from no other than the direct cross of small, compact Shorthorn bulls, 

 descended from the best milking cows in the northeastern counties of England, on the 



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