CATTLE. 



CATTLE. 



taper, with a bunch of hair at the end ; the 

 skin is very elastic, mellow, and rather thin ; 

 some have smooth hair, which should be fine 

 and glossy; some curly, and these are rather 

 the most hardy and fatten the best ; red is the 

 most favourite colour; many, however, are 

 brown, and others are approaching to chest- 

 nut. Those of a yellow colour are reported to 

 be subject to the steal (diarrhoea.) The draw- 

 ing, Plate 12, fig. 3, is taken from Low's splen- 

 did work upon British animals. It represents a 

 young Devon bull, two years and nine months 

 old, of a deep red colour. 



The Devon cow is much smaller than the 

 bull; she has a full, round, clear eye, the 

 countenance cheerful, the muzzle orange or 

 yellow, the jaws free from thickness, and the 

 throat from dewlap. On all soils, except the 

 very heavy, the Devon ox is very superior at 

 the plough, for its quickness of action, docility, 

 good temper, stoutness, and honesty. It is 

 always worked in yokes. Four Devon oxen 

 are considered equal in their work to three 

 horses : they are commonly worked from two 

 years old until they are four, five, or six, and 

 then in ten or twelve months, on grass and 

 hay, they are fit for market; neither corn, 

 cake, nor turnips are needed for them during 

 the first winter. They fatten faster and with 

 less food than most others ; their flesh is ex- 

 cellent. Some comparative experiments be- 

 tween the Devon and other cattle were made 

 by the Duke of Bedford, of which the following 

 table gives the result : they were fed from No- 

 vember 16, 1797, until December 10, 1798. 



There is much difference of opinion with re- 

 gard to the fitness of Devon cows for the dairy, 

 it being pretty generally asserted that their 

 acknowledged grazing qualities render them 

 unfit for the dairy, that their milk is rich, but 

 deficient in quantity ; but there are many very 

 superior judges who prefer them even for 

 the dairy. Of the calves, those "which are 

 dropped about Michaelmas time are preferred 

 to those which are calved in January or Feb- 

 ruary. They allow the calf to suck three 

 times a day for a week ; then new warm milk 

 is given it for three weeks longer ; then it has 

 warm scalded milk mixed with a small portion 

 of finely divided linseed cake, and its meals 

 are gradually lessened, and at four months 

 old it is entirely weaned. (Youatt On Cattle, 

 p. 725.) 



The Hereford. The oxen of Herefordshire 

 are much larger than the Devon, and of a 

 darker red, some are dark yellow, and a few 



Jndled; they generally have white faces, 

 lies, and throats. They have thicker hides 

 n those of Devonshire, and they are more 

 hardy, and shorter in the carcase and leg ; are 

 286 



higher, heavier, and broader in the chine ; 

 have more fat, and are rounder and wider 

 across the hips ; the thigh is more muscular, 

 the shoulders larger. (Ibid. p. 31.) Marshall 

 long since described them pretty correctly as 

 follows : " The countenance pleasant, cheer- 

 ful, open; the forehead broad; eye full and 

 lively; horns bright, taper, and spreading; 

 head small ; chap lean ; neck long and taper- 

 ing ; chest deep ; bosom broad, and projecting 

 forward ; shoulder-bone thin, flat, no way pro- 

 tuberant in bone, but full and mellow in flesh ; 

 chest full ; loin broad ; hips standing wide, 

 and level with the spine ; quarters long and 

 wide at the neck ; rump even with the general 

 level of the back, not drooping nor standing 

 high and sharp above the quarters ; tail slen- 

 der, and neatly haired; barrel round and 

 roomy, the carcase throughout deep and well 

 spread ; ribs broad, standing close and flat on 

 the outer surface, forming a smooth even bar- 

 rel, the hindmost large and of full length; 

 round bone small, snug, not prominent ; thigh 

 clean, and regularly tapering; legs upright 

 and short ; bone below the knee and hough, 

 small; feet of middle size; cod and twist 

 round and full ; flank large ; flesh everywhere 

 mellow, soft, yielding pleasantly to the touch, 

 especially on the chine, the shoulder, and the 

 ribs ; hide mellow, supple, of a middle thick- 

 ness, and loose ; coat neatly haired, bright, 

 and silky ; colour of a middle red with a bald 

 face, characteristic of the true Herefordshire 

 breed." 



"They fatten," says Mr. Youatt, "to a much 

 greater weight than the Devons, and run from 

 fifty to seventy score ; a tolerable cow will 

 average from thirty-five to fifty score ; a cow 

 belonging to the Duke of Bedford weighed 

 more than seventy ; an ox of Mr. Westcar's 

 exceeded one hundred and ten score. The 

 Hereford ox fattens speedily at an early age. 

 They are not now much used for husbandry, 

 although their form adapts them for the hea- 

 vier work, and they have all the honesty and 

 docility of the Devon ox, and greater strength, 

 if not his activity. 



" The Hereford cows are worse milkers than 

 those of Devon, but then they will grow fat 

 where a Devon would starve. The beef is 

 sometimes objected to from the largeness of 

 the bone, and the coarseness of some of the 

 inferior pieces, but the best sorts are generally 

 excellent. Mr. Youatt gives an account of an 

 experiment in feeding, made in the winter of 

 1828-9, between the Herefords, and the im- 

 proved short-horns, which, although by no 

 means decisive of the merits of either breed, 

 yet is worthy of notice by the grazier. 



"Three Herefords and three short-horns 

 were put together into a straw yard, December 

 2d, 1827, and each had, in the open yard, a 

 bushel of turnips per day, besides straw, until 

 May 2, 1828 ; they then were weighed, and 

 sent to grass : i 



No. cwts. qrs. Ibs. 



I.Hereford 830 



2 730 



3 700 



No. cwts. r;n. Ibs. 



1. Short-horn 920 



2. 820 



3. 900 



When taken from grass, November ?, they 

 weighed 



