12 AMERICAN KERRY AND DEXTER CATTLE HERD BOOK. 



machine for converting the coarsest cattle-food into rich and 

 nutritious milk and butter.' 



"In 1858, and also in 1859, I visited the native country of 

 the Kerry cattle, chiefly for the purpose of learning their char- 

 acteristics, and purchasing some to send to America. I found 

 the cattle somewhat smaller than I had supposed them to be. 

 but evidently very useful in that locality — living where no other 

 dairy cattle that I have ever seen could live. In several in- 

 stances they were met with at elevations of 1,500 to 2,000 feet 

 above the sea, sharing with the goat the wild herbage of the 

 mountainside. As illustrating their hardiness, the following 

 incident is given : A man led me up a mountain glen to see 

 a lot of three-year-old heifers he had grazing there. It appeared 

 a mystery to me how the cattle could get round and over the 

 rough rocks, and obtain a subsistence, even in summer. Having 

 noticed that the man had several stacks of hay down in the 

 valley, where was the rude habitation which he called his home, 

 I asked him if he was going to take the Kerry cattle there for 

 the winter. He replied, 'No, the hay is for the lowland cattle 

 and the ponies.' He had just been telling of the deep snows 

 which sometimes fall in the mountains, and I asked what the 

 cattle would do in such cases. He said, 'The snow generally 

 softens after a day or two, and the cattle can zvork through it.' 



"It is difficult to estimate the weight of these cattle, com- 

 pared with others, from what I have seen of them. They are 

 generally large bodied in proportion to their height, their legs 

 being short, and the shank-bone very small. Their heads are 

 generally handsome and the countenance lively, but with a mild 

 expression. The best of them are decidedly attractive in their 

 appearance. When taken to the low country and supplied with 

 plenty of nutritious food, they become more bulky, but I had 

 no opportunity to see what would be the effect of breeding them 

 for several generations in a milder climate and on a better soil. 



"I could not generally obtain reliable statements in regard 

 to the yield of milk or butter of these cows. In several instances 

 where they were kept, in the low country, it was stated that 

 they would give, per day, ten imperial quarts of milk, which 

 would afford a pound of butter — certainly a large product, con- 

 sidering the size of the animal. It is stated that Mr. Crosby, 

 of Ardfert Abbey, near Tralee, obtained in his herd, ranging 

 for seven years in succession, from 28 to 80 cows, mostly Kerries, 

 an average of 1,952 quarts of milk in a year, which yielded a 

 pound of butter to eight quarts — or 244 lbs. per cow annually, 

 and that one pure Kerry cow in the herd gave 2,725 quarts of 

 milk in ten months. 



