TEE GENESEE FAEMER. 



49 



TKARLIKG DEVOXSniRE HEIFEKS, BEED BY M. VASSAE, SPRINGSIDE, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. T. 



DEVONSHIRE CATTLE. 



The Devons are a valuable and distinct breed, 

 possessing several characteristics peculiar to them- 

 selves, and of which they are very tenacious. They 

 are uniformly red, varying to a bright bay or ma- 

 hogany ; no white on them if pure, excepting the 

 brush of the tail, which is considered a sure test 

 5f the purity of blood. "When calves, the end of 

 the tail which forms the brush is always darker in 

 ?olor than the rest of the body ; but by the time 

 :hey are eight or ten months old, it is purely white, 

 5vhich never fails in a pure Devon, and generally 

 nms with the blood to a very great extent. 



There were originally two varieties of Devons, 

 oossessing diiferent properties of excellence. The 

 South Devons were represented as heavy in the 

 ore-quarters; long and elevated horns; active, 

 vigorous, and lofty in their carriage; but rather 

 ight behind, and their t-aila sometimes heavy; 

 •,heir color a light red. 



The North Devons are small in the bone, fine 

 md clean in the limb, straight on the back, full in 

 ;he chest, prominent a-nd bright in the eyes, keen 



in their looks, sprightly and active, and, as Lord 

 Somerville said, " possess more of the appearance 

 )f what is termed blood in horses, than any other 

 )reed of cattle." Their horns are long, fine, and 

 -apering, and yellow at the roots when young. 

 5kin yellow, soft and silky to the hand, and hair 

 requently curled or wavy. Circle around the eyes 

 md flesh of the muzzle yellow or orange color. 

 Cheir uniform appearance renders them very easy 

 match, for labor, for which none can exceed 

 ,, hem. They are excellent travelers, docile and 

 ■ractable, and always command the highest price 



for working cattle. Their beef is of the very best 

 quality, being what fleshers term "well mixed," 

 with fat and lean, and proves retnarkably good 

 when dressed, and yields as much in proportion to 

 the food they consume as any other breed. 



The Devon GO ws, as a breed, are not generally 

 considered great milkers, so far as quantity is con- 

 cerned ; yet there are some exceptions ; but for 

 butter we hope to prove they are equal to any other 

 breed. Like our native or common cows, there are 

 poor, middling, and good milkers among them. 

 Their milk is remarkable for its richness, eight 

 quarts producing on an average one pound of but- 

 ter, and the butter noted for its richness and fine 

 flavor. Instances are on record of Devon cows 

 having produced an average yield of over 200 lbs. 

 per cow per year, in a dairy of twenty cows. 



We once were the owner of a Devon cow which 

 dropped her calf late in autumn; and from the 

 10th of December to the 10th of January, including 

 both days, there were made from her milk 50 lbs. 

 of well-worked butter — nearly equal to 2 lbs. per 

 day. She was fed with hay, roots, and buckwheat 

 bran. We also had a heifer two years old, from 

 whose milk, in the month of June, was made on© 

 pound of butter per day on grass alone, and not 

 very good at that. 



Mr. Andrews, of Connecticut, says he made from 

 one of his Devon cows 9 lbs. 6 oz. of butter in 

 seven successive days in the month of January. 

 Another cow of his yielded in ten days in June, on 

 grass alone, 129 quarts of milk, making 13 lbs. of 

 butter in the hottest weather of the month. From 

 this circumstance he was induced to try the ten 

 succeeding days, which reached into July, and 

 found the yield to be 139i quarts to a jield of 14 



