20 



The Kyloe Breed of Cattle, SfC. 



Vol. X. 



Communicated for the Farmers' Cabinet. 



On the Kyloe breed of Cattle— Loss in 

 Feeding very large Cattle lor a long 

 time. 



BY JAMES MEASE, M. D. 



Read before tlie Philadelphia Society for Promoting 

 Agriculture, Feb. 1st, 1843. 



I BEG leave to call the attention of the 

 Society to the portrait of a West Highland 

 Heifer Kyloe, whose breed commends itself 

 strongly to every grazier, and especially to 

 the extensive breeders of stock in New York 

 and the Western States. 



This breed is a native of the Western 

 Islands, and the West Highlands of Scot- 

 land, whence the stock is annually brought 

 to the Lowlands and to Liverpool, and after 

 being kept over winter, are turned out to 

 pasture in the spring, and made fat by the 

 months of August and September. It is the 

 nature of this breed to take on flesh and fat 

 speedily, and produces highly flavoured beef, 

 which is much esteemed, and preferred to 

 that of any other. I was informed of these 

 facts many years since by a gentleman from 

 Liverpool, and I am pleased to find them 

 confirmed by Youatt, in his recent excellent 

 work on cattle. Their hardy constitution 

 enables them also to bear the severe treat- 

 ment they receive during the winter in their 

 native places, from exposure to the elements, 

 and from scanty food. 



The portrait before the Society is a fair 

 specimen of the breed, as to form, and from 

 the account attached, it appears that the 

 heifer was five years old, bred in the Isle of 

 Skye, and fed by Mr. H. Middleton, of New- 

 ton, near Darlington, in the county of Dur- 

 ham, measured only three feet five inches 

 in height, and weighed upwards of 105 stone, 

 8 pounds to the stone, (840 lbs.) 



The necessity of this breed in the United 

 States, and the chance of the profit arising 

 from its propagation, may be judged of from 

 the following fact. When the Society for 

 the Improvement of Cattle was formed in 

 Philadelphia, in the year 1809, our Presi- 

 dent, the late no less extensive grazier than 

 excellent man, Lawrence Seckel, mentioned 

 to me that during the summer and month of 

 September, good beef became scarce, owing 

 to the large cattle of the preceding season 

 having all been killed, and those then graz- 

 ing not having reached the "sticking point;" 

 and that a small breed was much wanted, 

 which would supply the vacancy in the mar- 

 ket with good fresh beef. I at once informed 

 him of the Kyloe breed, as the identical 

 stock, capable of fulfilling his wishes, and a 

 premium of $100 was ofl^ered by the Society, 

 which included the Kyloes, but no one ap- 

 plied for it. 



The introduction of this breed, as before 

 said, commends itself particularly to the 

 great breeders of stock in New York and 

 the Western States, and would pay them 

 well for the expense incurred by any in ac- 

 complishing the useful project. From Liv- 

 erpool, the passage to Glasgow is speedy, 

 and thence to the Highlands, or to the Wes- 

 tern Islands, no less frequent. To any one 

 desirous of undertaking the voyage, useful 

 hints would be given if required. 



The difference in profit from feeding ani- 

 mals which become so speedily ripe for mar- 

 ket as the Kyloes, and the very large cattle 

 that require two or more years to bring them 

 to perfection, — that is, to distend the hide 

 with layers of fat to the utmost possible ex- 

 tent, and to line their interior with loads of 

 it — is immense. In the one case, the ani- 

 mal is kept over winter on hay, beets, pump- 

 kins, or other juicy food, and after four or 

 five months grazing, is next year sold to a 

 butcher, and the first cost returned with 

 profit ; but in the other, two or more years 

 are required before the animal is offered for 

 sale, and if sold, the price obtained is some- 

 times less than the actual cost of feed, to say 

 nothing of the expense of attending to his 

 or their requirements during the long pro- 

 cess of cramming they have undergone. If 

 left on the hands of the owner, as has hap- 

 pened, the outlay for feed to prevent his fall- 

 ing away, will require to be continued, or 

 he must be slaughtered and sold to the best 

 bidders for the account of the owner. 



Another objection to long and over-fed 

 animals is, that the beef is not so sweet as 

 that of others which are rapidly brought to 

 maturity. The first fact I heard on this 

 point was long before I had turned my at- 

 tention to agricultural concerns, and was re- 

 vived in my memory when an occasion re- 

 quired many years after. It was of the very 

 excellent beef made by an old dry cow, from 

 having the exclusive use of a clover field. 

 The secret was the rapid conversion into 

 muscle and fat of the nourishment from 

 which they had been derived. The incon- 

 sistency of some farmers is also strongly 

 evinced in respect to their over-feeding, for 

 the same man who, upon common occasions, 

 discovers the greatest reluctance to part 

 with a dollar, even when obviously neces- 

 sary, will not hesitate to disburse most free- 

 ly for an over-fed animal, which is ultimately 

 to bring him in debt, merely for the gratifi- 

 cation of his pride, to bring a steer to the 

 stalls so loaded with fat, that it is difficult to 

 find a piece sufficiently lean to eat. I do 

 not think that any steer will pay, unless in 

 the best of times, for more than one winter's 

 keep, one summer's pasture, and another 



