CHAPTER XXXVII 



THE AYRSHIRE 



The native home of the Ayrshire is in southwestern Scotland 

 in the county of Ayr, from which the breed derives its name. 

 Ayr is triangularly crescent in its shape, its southern tip just 

 touching latitude 55 north, its western boundary somewhat in- 

 dented and bordering the Irish Sea and river Clyde, its other 

 sides skirted by the counties of Renfrew, Lanark, Dumfries, 

 Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown. There is an extreme length of 

 about 80 miles, with an area of about 1 150 square miles. Rather 

 poor and sandy land occurs in the southern part toward the sea, 

 while much beautiful rolling pasture land of fair soil is found 

 more inland, and some rougher land on the eastern borders. On 

 the better lands, which are clayey, grass, oats, and wheat are. 

 largely grown and there is abundance of summer grazing. The 

 climate is very moist, but the bitterness of a northern winter is 

 somewhat tempered by the sea. 



The origin of the Ayrshire has been in the main a complex 

 one. Alton, the first and almost only early authority on the 

 breed, wrote A Survey of Ayrshire about 1811. He regarded 

 it as the native breed of Ayr, improved by certain other stock. 

 Some time about 1770 Teeswater cattle, Shorthorn, or similar 

 stock were introduced into Ayrshire. John Dunlop of Dunlop 

 is credited with importing cows of large size, of either Teeswater, 

 Dutch, or Lincoln breeds, and in 1805 Dunlop stock is referred 

 to by Forsythe as having been established in the parish of that 

 name for over a century. Other writers claim that the cattle of 

 the Channel Islands crossed with Shorthorns were early used in 

 Ayrshire. About 1818 West Highland cattle were used by Mr. 

 Parton near Dairy, Ayr, on a superior herd of Ayrshires. Devon 

 and Hereford blood are also said to have been used by other 

 breeders. The earliest accounts of the cattle of Ayrshire show 



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