80 



Imported Stock. 



Vol. XL 



of manufacturing into butter or cheese, or 

 to sell in the market. Let the farmer set 

 off the expense of keeping against his six- 

 er twelve cents a day income from his seve- 

 ral cows, and lie will see but a small chance 

 of acquiring wealth from the income of his 

 dairy. But let liim have a stock that, with 

 the same keeping, will yield a daily average 

 produce of six or eight quarts of milk, and 

 he will find the produce of his dairy, which 

 before gave him hardly enough to pay for 

 the feed of his cows, now affording him a 

 net profit, which will more than meet the 

 extra expense which he may incur in the 

 purchase of his improved breed of cows. 



It may be said that the expense of keep' 

 ing the improved breed will be greater than 

 that of the native cows. This may or may 

 not be the case. But the question with the 

 farmer should not be, which will require the 

 most food? but rather, which will give the 

 greatest net profit on what they consume ? 

 it is the greatest capacity which the animal 

 possesses of converting her food to milk, 

 which ought, in the estimation of the judi- 

 cious farmer, to constitute her relative value. 

 It was with a view of introducing among 

 our farmers a dairy stock that should, with 

 proper care and management, remunerate, 

 and more than remunerate, the expense of 

 keeping, that the trustees were induced to 

 appropriate so considerable a sum to this 

 object. 



What they have now done forms but a 

 nucleus or starling point, from which, with 

 the aid and countenance of a liberal public, 

 they hope in due time to diffuse among the 

 farmers of Massachusetts, not only an im- 

 proved race of animals, but also an ambition 

 to excel in everything that relates to this 

 important branch of rural economy. 



The breeds of cattle which the trustees be- 

 lieved, under all the circumstances, to be best 

 adapted to this country, best calculated to 

 promote the object they had in view, and to 

 subserve the wishes and wants of the farmer, 

 were the Ayrshire and North Devon. 



The Ayrshire cows have been, for nearly 

 or quite a century, distinguished as deep 

 milkers, and at the same time are known to 

 be a hardy, mild-tempered, and docile race, 

 easily kept, with a disposition to fatten when 

 not in milk, and having a capacity of con- 

 verting their food to milk beyond that pos- 

 sessed by any other breed of cows in Great 

 Britain. 



The venerable Alton, who may be justly 

 styled the pioneer and champion of improved 

 husbandry in Scotland, and particularly of 

 that branch which relates to dairy stock, 

 says: "The Ayrshires are the most improved 

 breed of cattle to be found in the island, not 



only for the dairy, in which they have no 

 parallel, under similar circumstances, but 

 also in feeding for tiie shambles. They are, 

 in fact, a breed of cows that have, by judi- 

 cious selection, cross coupling, feeding and 

 treatment, for a long series of years, been 

 brought to a state of perfection which fits 

 them, above all others yet known, to answer 

 in almost every diversity of situation where 

 grain and grass can be raised to feed them, 

 tor the purposes of the dairy, or for fattening 

 them for beef." 



In the dairy establishment of Mr. Harley, 

 at Glasgow, consisting of 150 cows, they 

 were principally of the Ayrshire breed, to 

 which he gave a decided preference over 

 any other breed. The average quantity of 

 milk given by the cows in his establishment, 

 for the year, was eleven quarts per day from 

 each. 



In the famous dairy establishment kept by 

 Mr. Rhodes, near London, of 400 to 600 

 cows, " he had tried the Ayrshires, to the 

 number of 150 at a time, and by him they 

 were highly approved — affording a large 

 quantity of rich milk — fattening in a very 

 short time, when they left off giving milk — 

 and producing beef which was more highly 

 valued, and sold for a higher price in the 

 market than that of the Short-horns." 



Alton asserts that many of the Ayrshire 

 cows, in their best condition, and well fed, 

 will yield at the rate of 1000 gallons of milk 

 in a year, or over ten quarts per day. Ran- 

 kin, however, states his opinion that Alton 

 had given the daily average produce too 

 high, and thinks that few herds of twenty 

 cows or over will average more than eight 

 hundred and fifty gallons, or about nine 

 quarts per day. He also states that he had 

 seen thirty-six quarts of milk drawn from a 

 cow in one day, and that he had a three-year 

 old quay that once for six weeks after calv- 

 ing gave twenty-eight quarts per day. The 

 dairymaid predicted that " there had been 

 o'er-muckle talk about her for ony luck to 

 come of her," and he states that she soon 

 afterward received an injury which caused 

 one of her quarters to become dry of milk. 

 The characteristic points of the Ayrshire 

 cow, when Alton wrote, were: "Head small, 

 but rather long and tapering at the muzzle ; 

 the eye small, but smart and lively; horns 

 small, clear and crooked, and the roots at 

 considerable distance fi"om each other; neck 

 long and slender, tapering toward the head, 

 and no loose skin below; shoulders thin; 

 fore-quarters light; hind-quarters large; back 

 straight ; broad behind ; joints rather loose 

 and open; carcass deep, and pelvis capacious 

 and wide over the hips, with round, fleshy 

 buttocks; tail long and small; udder capa- 



