MII-K BIIEEDS.] 



C ATT L E, A N I) T 1 1 i: I K V Alii !• T I ES 



[milk llUl^KUB. 



BiTiftll heads, small lo<;!<, and small bones, alto- 

 gether, are essential nualifioations, and early 

 maturity is equally desirable. Connected with 

 theso points are invariably found a peculiarly 

 quiet and indolent disposition — what physiolo- 

 gists would term a lymphatic tempi-ramtMit — 

 which is denoted by a iineness of the skin — a 

 certain resistance to the touch, so to spi'ak, 

 caused by the development of those membranes 

 immediately under the skin, which serve for 

 the deposition of fat in common with other 

 objects. In cows kept for the purposes of the 

 dairv, where butter and cheese are the sources 

 of profit, the considerations just mentioned, 

 though not altogether to be lost sight of, are 

 yet secondary to others — such as the uevelop- 

 uieut of the lactic system, &c. 



MILK-YIELDING BREEDS. 



The pasture of this country having great 

 variety, means are thereby all'orded for rearing 

 cattle of every description ; consequently, the 

 iat-accumulating, as well as the milk-yielding 

 breeds, have each that kind of pasture beat 

 adapted to accomplish the end which their 

 owners have in view. Tiie scheme of creation 

 is so admirably adjusted to the wants of those 

 living beings which inhabit it, that every race is 

 apparently provided for. The grauivorous and 

 the carnivorous animal has each its destined 

 food. The elephant, that roams the region of 

 Central Africa, has its boundless forest, its 

 thick and long grass, with innumerable herba- 

 ceous plants, provided to satisfy its appetite, 

 and increase and sustain the enormous bulk 

 to wliicli it attains. The lion, in the same 

 region, has countless herds of the eland and 

 the gazelle to prey upon ; whilst the birds of 

 the air are equally cared for. Animals, how- 

 ever, reduced to a state of domestication, have 

 not the same resources placed within their 

 reach. They depend upon man for what they 

 want ; and as the exigencies of a highly culti- 

 vated civilisation press upon him the neces- 

 sity of making provision ibr it, he becomes a 

 rearer of cattle and a producer of milk, that he 

 himself may be enabled to live by the profit- 

 able returns which such labours afford him. 

 Flesh and milk being, to a large extent, 

 essential to human existence, these are sought 

 to be obtained in the greatest abundance, and 

 in the highest state of perfection. For this 



reason, those animals that yield thorn to the 

 largest extent aro mo.st eagerly desired ; and, 

 as nature has decreed that dillereiit races, and 

 different individuals of theso races, aro better 

 adapted than others to the secretion of the one 

 or the other of theso essential products, lio 

 selects such as he deems the most suitable for 

 the object ho has in view. There is no breed 

 of which we are awaro that is equally calcu- 

 lated to produce both to a [)rolilablo extent — 

 the objects of the two secretions being quite 

 different, and the tendencies and qualities es- 

 sential for the production of both being spar- 

 ingly conferred upon the same animal. As tho 

 production of milk is, more or less, charac- 

 teristic of all kinds of animals, it must ne- 

 cessarily have its degrees of proportion, as well 

 as quality, in accordance with the size, num- 

 ber, and nature of tlie progeny which is to bo 

 nurtured by it. Some will give large quanti- 

 ties, but thin and poor in quality ; some smaller 

 quantities, and rich in oily matter; while 

 others will afford a small portion, but abundant 

 in solid matter. For profitable or commercial 

 purposes, the first will be selected by the milk- 

 man near the populous city ; the second by 

 the dairyman, whose product is intended to 

 be butter ; and the third by tho maker of 

 cheese. 



The diffusion of the milk-yielding breeds is 

 more extensive than any other, because they 

 are capable of being advantageously maintained 

 on that description of herbage which is not 

 sufficiently nutritive to sustain the fat-secret- 

 ing breeds. The bulk of tho grass-lauds on 

 the clay soils of this country, on the sides of 

 the uplands, and even on the poorer sands, is 

 sufficient to supply the means of making butter 

 or cheese; but it will not remunerate the at- 

 tempt to feed cattle on herbage so inferior. 

 The rich alluvial feeding-pastures, which gene- 

 rally skirt our rivers, are far more profitably 

 employed in raising summer beef, than in the 

 production of milk or butter. 



llow far is it possible to detect, by external 

 conformation, the capabilities of the individual 

 animal for the secretion of milk? — is a question 

 well worthy the cousideratiou of all those who 

 are cTigaged in dairy husbandry. There are in- 

 stances in every breed, where nature has more 

 bountifully, or more sparingly, bestowed the 

 qualities calculated to produce the secretion 



GGl 



