CATTLE. 



CATTLE. 



Lady, 14 years old, sold for 

 Countess, her daughter, 9 years 

 Laura, ditto 4 years 



Msijor, her son, 3 years 



George, ditto, a calf 



Guineas. 

 206 

 400 

 210 

 200 



In short, at this sale, forty-eight lots produced 

 7115/. 17s., Comet, a six year old bull, selling 

 for 1000 guineas. (See COLLING, ROBERT AND 

 CHARLES.) 



The colours of the improved short-horns arj 

 red or white, or a mixture of both ; " no pure im- 

 proved short-horns" adds Mr. Youatt, " are 

 found of any other colour but those above 

 named." That the matured short-horns are an 

 admirable grazier's breed of cattle is undoubt- 

 ed: they are not, however, to be disregarded 

 as milkers; but they are inferior, from their 

 fattening qualities, to many others as workers. 



"In its points," says Mr. James Dickson 

 (Quart. Journ. of dgr. vol. vi. p. 269), for quan- 

 tity and well laid on beef, the short-horn ox is 

 quite full in every valuable part; such as 

 along the back, including the fore-ribs, the 

 sirloin and rump, in the runners, flanks, but- 

 tocks, and twist, and in the neck and brisket as 

 inferior parts. In regard to quality of beef, the 

 fat bears a due and even preponderating pro- 

 portion to the lean, the fibres of which are fine 

 and well mixed, and even marbled with fat, 

 and abundantly juicy. The fine, thin, clear 

 bone of the legs and head, with the soft mellow 

 touch of the skin, and the benign aspect of the 

 eye, indicate, in a remarkable degree, the dispo- 

 sition to fatten ; while the uniform colours ot 

 the skin, red or white, or both, commixed in 

 various degrees, bare, cream-coloured skin on 

 the nose and around the eyes, and fine, taper- 

 ing, white, or light-coloured horns mark dis- 

 tinctly the purity of the blood; these points 

 apply equally to the bull, the cow, and the 

 heifer. The external appearance of the short- 

 horned breed," adds Mr. Dickson, " is irresist- 

 ably attractive. The exquisitely symmetrical 

 form of the body in every position, bedecked 

 with a skin of the richest hues of red, and the 

 richest white approaching to cream, or both 

 colours, so arranged or commixed as to form a 

 beautiful fleck or delicate roan, and possessed 

 of the mellowest touch ; supported on clean 

 small limbs, showing, like those of the race- 

 horse and the greyhound, the union of strength 

 with fineness ; and ornamented with a small, 

 lengthy, tapering head, neatly set on a broad, 

 firm, deep neck, and furnished with a small 

 muzzle, wide nostrils, prominent, 'mildly beam- 

 ing' eyes, thin, large biney ears set near the 

 crown of the head and protected in front with 

 semicircularly bent, white, or brownish co- 

 loured, short (hence the name), smooth pointed 

 horns ; all these parts combine to form a sym- 

 metrical harmony, which has never been sur- 

 passed in beauty and sweetness by any other 

 species of the domesticated ox." 



An excellent paper by Mr. Dickson on cross- 

 ing the short-horns with other cattle, may be 

 consulted with advantage by the breeder in 

 the Edin. Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. vii. p. 495, 

 and on crossing in general, Ibid. p. 247. 



In the first plate a representation is given 

 of short-horned cows; in Plate 12, fig. 1, i^ a 

 drawing of a short-horned bull, which may re- 

 292 



present the breeds variously termed, Dutch, 

 Holderness, Teeswater, Yorkshire, Durham, 

 Northumberland, &c. The Teeswater breed, 

 a variety of short-horns established on the 

 banks of the Tees, at the head of the vale of 

 York, is at present in the highest estimation, 

 and is alleged to be the true Yorkshire short- 

 horned breed. Bulls and cows from this stock, 

 purchased at most extraordinary prices, are 

 spread over all the north of England and the 

 border counties of Scotland. The bone, head, 

 and neck of these cattle are fine ; the hide is 

 very thin ; the chine full ; the line broad ; the 

 carcass throughout large and well fashioned ; 

 and the flesh and fattening quality equal, or 

 perhaps superior, to those of any other large 

 breed. The short-horns give a greater quan- 

 tity of milk than any other cattle; a cow 

 usually yielded 24 quarts of milk per day, 

 making 3 firkins of butter during the grass 

 season. (Culley, p. 48.) 



The Yorkshire cow. With Mr. Youatt's ac- 

 count of the Yorkshire cow (and this article 

 is, in fact, hardly any thing else but an abridg- 

 ment of his excellent work " On Cattle" in the 

 Library of Useful Knowledge') we shall conclude, 

 The Yorkshire cow is that generally found in the 

 great dairies in the vicinity of London, and in 

 these the character of the Holderness and the 

 Durham unite. " A milch cow good for the 

 pail as long as she is wanted, and then quickly 

 got into marketable condition, should have a 

 long and rather small head; a large-headed 

 cow will seldom fatten or yield much milk. 

 The eye should be bright, yet with a peculiar 

 placidness and quietness of expression; the 

 chaps thin, and the horns small. The neck 

 may be thin towards the head; but it must 

 soon begin to thicken, and especially when it 

 approaches the shoulder. The dewlap should 

 be small ; the breast, if not so wide as in some 

 that have an unusual disposition to fatten, yet 

 should be very far from being narrow, and it 

 should project before the legs ; the chine to a 

 certain degree fleshy, and even inclining to 

 fulness; the girth behind the shoulder should 

 be deeper than is usually found in the short- 

 horn ; the ribs should be spread out wide, so 

 as to give as globular a form as possible to the 

 carcass, and each should project farther than 

 the preceding one, to the very loins. She 

 should be well formed across the hips, and on 

 the rump, and with greater length there than 

 the milker generally possesses, or if a little too 

 short not heavy. If she stands a little long on 

 the legs, it must not be too long. The thighs 

 somewhat thin, with a slight tendency to crook- 

 edness or being sickle-hammed behind; the 

 tail thick at the upper part, but tapering below; 

 and she should have a mellow hide, and but 

 little coarse hair. Common consent has given 

 to her large milk-veins. A large milk-vein 

 certainly indicates a strongly developed vas- 

 cular system, one favourable to secretion gene- 

 rally, and to that of the rnilk amongst the rest 

 The udder should rather incline to be large in 

 proportion to the size of the animal, but not 

 too large ; its skin thin and free from lumps in 

 every part of it ; the teats of a moderate size. 

 The quantity of milk given by some of these 

 cows is very great; it is by no means uncom 



