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THE NORTH DEVON. - - General Appearance of the Breed. The 

 North Devons, (i) the " Red Rubies " of the west, spring from a hilly 

 region of limited area in the north of Devonshire. Like the Aberdeen- 

 Angus in Scotland, they. are almost perfect in symmetry, and pro- 

 duce beef of the finest quality. While nearly related to the Here- 

 ford they most strongly resemble the Sussex breed, and might even 

 pass for a small variety of it, although the general colour is a 

 brighter shade of dark cherry-red. The whole-red colour of the 

 hair is frequently varied by distinct dappled markings ; the skin is 

 generally orange-yellow, but inside the ears orange-red. 



Value of the Devon Breeds for Semi-tropical Climates. As a 

 ranching breed the Devon comes next to the range Hereford and 

 the Shorthorn. It is smaller in size than either of those two breeds, 

 and has been found specially suitable to the conditions prevailing 

 in Uruguay and Brazil. In South Africa it is equally successful. 

 Its introduction into Australia in the early days was checked on 

 account of the excessive use of the stockman's long thonged whip. 

 The temper of the breed would not submit to the cruelty perpe- 

 trated, and under its influence whole herds became wild and 

 unmanageable. With modern humane methods of handling stock 

 no such difficulty need now be feared, and the North Devon breed 

 will find a place of importance which it can fill to best advantage 

 in competition with other breeds in all the great cattle-rearing 

 countries outside the tropics. 



The colour of its skin and hair supplies a degree of natural 

 protection against the sun, which makes the breed more suitable 

 for semi-tropical countries than light coloured breeds. 



Milking Qualities. The original North Devons were a working 

 and grazing breed, but many of the cows in the Somerset and 

 Dorset dairies belong to the larger local types. Although the 

 average cow is only a moderate milker, animals with excellent 

 milking properties now and then appear to indicate that, if and 

 when necessary, the material is there, from which to develop a dairy 

 breed, or, more correctly, a good general purpose cow. The milch 

 cows at present retain their flesh well and fatten into good beef 

 after dropping their fourth or fifth calt. 



THE SOUTH DEVON. The South Devon differs so much from 



(i) See History of the Devon Breed of Cattle, by [ames Sinclair. London : 

 Vinton & Co., Lid., 1893. 



