1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEE. 



417 



AS" AYESHIEE COW. 



This breed of entile has become a favorite one with 

 amateurs, and it is probable that by careful feedin 

 and attention, the largest products of the cow have 

 been developed. These are sometimes surprising, 

 In Middlesex county, we believe, premiums have 

 been paid for butter made from an Ayrshire cow 

 where the product amounted to eighteen pounds 

 per week, and the butter of the very best quality 

 In other counties in this State, and in other States, 

 we have noticed similar returns. 



Mr. Alton, in his "Treatise on the Dairy Breed 

 of Cows," thus describes the Ayrshire cattle : — 

 "The shapes most apj^roved are — head small, but 

 rather long and narrow at the muzzle ; the eye 

 small, but smai-t and lively ; the horns small, clear, 

 crooked, and their roots at considerable distance 

 from each other ; neck long and slender, tapering 

 toward the head, with no loose skin below ; shoul- 

 ders thin ; fore-quarters thin ; hind-quarters large ; 

 back straight, broad behind, the joints rather loose 

 and open ; carcass deep, and pelvis capacious, and 

 wide over the hips, with round, fleshy buttocks; tail 

 long and small ; legs small and short, with firm 

 joints ; udder capacious, broad and square, stretch- 

 ing forward, and neither fleshy, low-hung, nor 

 loose ; the milk veins large and prominent ; teats 

 ghcrt, all pointing outward, and at considerable dis- 

 tance from each other ; skin thin and loose ; hair 

 soft and v/oolly. The head, bones, horns, and all 

 parts of least value, small ; and the general figure 

 compact and well proportioned." Mr. Rankin 

 very properly remarks, that, "compared with other 



mproved breeds, the thighs, or what is called the 

 twist of the Ayrshire cow, are thin. She is, charac- 

 teristically, not a fleshy animal." 



The Ayrshire farmers prefer their dairy-bulls, ac- 

 cording to the feminine aspect of their heads and 

 necks ; and wish them not round behind, but broad 

 at the hook-bones and hips, and full in the flanks. 

 Experience, dearly bought, led to this, for the con- 

 sequence of the crossing of the small native breeds 

 with the heavy cattle imported from the south, was 

 a bony, ill-shaped animal, not much improved as a 

 milker, and its disposition to fat lamentably de- 

 creased ; it may, however, demand consideration 

 whether the round and compact form of the West 

 Highlander and the Galloway have not been too 

 much sacrificed, and even the defects of the short- 

 horn needlessly pei'petuated. 



Mr. Aiton says : — "The qualities of a cow are of 

 great importance. Tameness and docility of tem- 

 per greatly enhance the value of a milch cow. 

 Some degree of hardiness, a sound constitution, and 

 a moderate degree of life and spirits, are qualities 

 to be wished for in a dairy cow, and what those of 

 Ayrshire generally possess. The most valuable 

 quality which a dairy cow can possess is, that she 

 yields much milk, and that of an oily, or butyra- 

 ceous, or caseous nature, and that after she has 

 yielded very large quantities of milk for several 

 years, she shall be as valuable for beef as any oth- 

 er breed of cows known ; her fat shall be much 

 more mixed through the whole flesh, and she shall 

 fatten faster than any other." This is high praise, 



