DAIRY CATTLE THE AYRSHIRES. 739 



the established cattle of Ayrshire ; they are increasing in the neighbor- 

 ing counties, and have found their way to most parts of Britain. 



III. The Ayrshire as a Milker. 



The quantity of milk yielded hy the Ayrshire cow is, considering her 

 size, very great. Five gallons daily, for two or three months after calv- 

 ing, may be considered as not more than an average quantity. Three 

 gallons daily will be given for the next thi'ee months, and one gallon and 

 a half during the succeeding four months. This would amount to more 

 than 850 gallons ; but, allowing for some unproductive cows, ()0() gallons 

 per year may be considered as the average quantity obtained annually 

 from each cow. 



IV. Quality of the Milk. 



The quality of the milk is estimated by the quantity of butter or 

 ^cheese that it will yield. Three gallons and a half of this milk will 

 yield about a pound and a half avoirdupois, of butter. An Ayrshi?e 

 cow may be reckoned to yield 257 English pounds of butter per annum, 

 or about tive pounds per week all the year round, besides the value of tiie 

 buttermilk and her calf. 



V. Mr. Youatt's Opinion. 



Mr. Youatt, writing in the early part of the century says : They will 

 feed kindly and protitably, and their meat will be good. They will fatten 

 on farms and in districts where others could not, except supported by 

 artificial food. They unite, perhaps, to a greater degree than any other 

 breed, the supposed incompatible properties of yielding a great deal of 

 milk and beef. It is, however, on the inferior soil and the moist climate 

 of Ayrshire, and the west of Scotland, that their superiority as milkers is 

 most remarkable. On their natural food of poor quality they give milk 

 abundantly and long, and often until within a few days of calving ; but 

 when they are moved to richer pasture, their constitution changes, and 

 they convert their food more into beef. It cannot be denied that even in 

 this tendency to fatten when their milk begins to fail, or which often causes 

 it to fail, the Ayrshires must yield to their forefathers, the Highlanders, 

 and to their neighbors, the Galloways, when put on a poor soil ; and they 

 will be left considerably behind their Short-Horn sires when transplanted 

 to luxuriant pasture. It will be long, perhaps, before they will be 

 favorites with the butchers, for the fifth quarter will not usually weigh 

 well in them. 



VI. Quality of the Flesh. 



Their fat is mingled with the flesh rather than separated in the form of 

 tallow ; yet this would give a more beautiful appearance to the meat, and 



