1018 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



dairy breed of Ayrshire is, that, after they have yielded very large quantities of milk for several years, 

 they are as valuable for beef as the Galloway cow, or any other breed of cows known in Scotland. They 

 fatten as well, and their beef is not inferior to that of any other breed of cattle known in Britain." {Aiton.) 



6795. The cattle of the Highlands of Scotland are divided into a number of local varieties, some of which 

 difler materially from others, probably owing to a difference in the climate and the quality of the herbage, 

 rather than to their being sprung from races originally distinct, or to any great change effected either by 

 selection or by crossing with other breeds. It is only of late that much attention has been paid to their 

 improvement, in any part of this extensive country ; and in the northern and central Highlands the cattle 

 are yet, for the most part, in as rude a state, and under management as defective, as they were some centuries 

 ago. These cattle have almost exclusive possession of all that division of Scotland, including the Hebrides, 

 marked off by a line from the Frith of Clyde on the west, to the Murray Frith on the north, and bending 

 towards the east till it approaches in some places very near to the German Ocean. Along the eastern 

 coast, north of the Frith of Forth, the Highland cattle are intermixed with various local breeds, of which 

 they have probably been the basis. There are more or less marked distinctions among the cattle of the 

 different Highland counties ; and, in common language, we speak of the Inverness-shire, the Banffshire, 

 &c., cattle, as if they were so many separate breeds ; but it is only necessary in this place to notice the 

 two more general varieties, now clearly distinguishable by their form, size, and general properties. 



6796. The most valuable of these are the cattle of the Western Highlands and Isles, commonly called the 



ggl Argyleshirc breed {fig. 861.), or the breed of the Isle of 



, Skye, one of the islands attached to the county of Ar- 



'' gyle. The cattle of the Hebrides are called kyl'oes, a 



name which is often applied in the south to all the 

 varieties of the Highland cattle, not as a late writer 

 {Dickson's Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 1124.) has 

 imagined, from the district in Ayrshire called Kyle, 

 where very few of them are kept, but from their crossing, 

 in their progress to the south, the kt/loes or ferries in 

 the mainland and Western Islands, where these cattle 

 are found in the greatest perfection. {General Report of 

 Scotland, vol. iii. p. 26.) 



6797. The cattle of Orkney and Zetland are of a most 

 diminutive size; an ox weighing about sixty pounds a 

 quarter, and a cow forty-five pounds. They are of all 

 colours, and their shapes are generally bad : yet they 

 give a quantity of excellent milk ; fatten rapidly when 

 put on good pastures : and, in their own district, are considered strong, hardy, and excellent workers, 

 when well trained to the yoke, and so plentifully fed as to enable them to support labour. 



6798. Of the Fifeshire cattle, Culley observes, " You would at first imagine them a distinct breed, from 

 their upright white horns, being exceedingly light-lyered and thin-thighed ; but I am pretty clear that it 

 is only from their being more nearly allied to the kyloes, and consequently less of the coarse kind of short 

 horns in them. {Culley, p. 69.) Notwithstanding this opinion, the cattle of the north-eastern counties of 

 Scotland require, for every useful purpose, to be mentioned separately from the Highland herds ; and as 

 all of them have a general resemblance, it will only be necessary in this place to notice the Fife cattle in 

 particular. There are various traditions about the origin of this variety. It is said to have been much 

 improved by English cows sent by Henry VIL to his daughter, the consort of James IV., who usually 

 resided at the jwlace of Falkland, in that county; and as there is some resemblance between the cattle of 

 Fife and Cambridgeshire, they are supposed to have been brought originally from the latter county. 

 Others ascribe the origin of the present breed to bulls and cows sent by James VI. (James I. of England), 

 in payment of the money which his obliging neighbours in Fife are said to have advanced for his equijj- 

 inent, when he went to take possession of the English throne. {Report of Nairn and Moray, p. S05.) 



6799. The prevailing colour of the Fife cattle is black, though sometimes spotted or streaked with white, 

 and some of them are altogether grey. The horns are small, white, generally pretty erect, or at least 

 turned up at the points, bending rather forward, and not wide spread like the Lancashire long-horned 

 breed. The bone is small in proportion to the carcass; the limbs clean, but short; and the skin soft. 

 They are wide between the hook-bones ; the ribs narrow, wide set, and having a great curvature. They 

 fatten quickly, and fill up well at all the choice points ; are hardy, fleet, and travel well, and are excellent 

 for labour, both at plough and cart. A good cow of this breed gives from eighteen to twenty-four 

 quarts of milk per day, yielding from seven to nine pounds of butter, and from ten to twelve pounds of 

 cheese per week (twenty-four ounces to the pound), for some months after calving- {Fife Report, 

 p. 251. and 253.) 



6800. The cattle of Aberdeenshire, the largest of which are said to have been produced by crossing with 

 Fife bulls, have been long highly esteemed in the southern markets. It is observed, that every succeeding 

 generation of them has increased in size for the last thirty years ; and that the native breed has doubled 

 its former weight since the introduction of turnips. {Aberdeenshire Report, p. 468.) The colour is 

 commonly black, but there are many of a red and brindled colour. They are thinner in the buttock, in 

 proportion to their weight ; and deeper in the belly, in proportion to their circumference, than the west 

 Highlanders, and they yield a much larger quantity of milk. Many of them are brouglit to the south of 

 Scotland, and kept during winter in the straw-yards, for which they suit better than smaller cattle, as 

 they are not so impatient of confinement. The ordinary weight of middle-sized oxen, at from three to 

 five years old, is from forty to fifty stone ; but after being worked for some time, and thoroughly fattened, 

 they have been known to reach double this weight. 



862 6801. Of the Welsh cattle {fig. 862.) " there seem to 



be two distinct kinds. The large sort are of a brown 

 colour, with some white on the rump and shoulders, 

 denoting a cross from the long-horns, though in shape 

 not the least resembling them. They are long in the 

 legs, stand high according to their weight, are thin in 

 the thigh, and rather narrow in the chine; their 

 horns are white and turned upwards; they are light 

 in flesh, and next to the Devons, well formed for the 

 yoke: have very good hoofs, and walk light and 

 nimbly. 'Ihe other sort are much more valuable; 

 colour black, with very little white; of a good useful 

 form, short in the leg, with round deep bodies ; the 

 hide is rather thin, with short hair; they have a likely 

 look, and a good eye ; and the bones, though not very 

 small, are neither large nor clumsy; and the cows are 

 considered good milkers." {Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 135.) 



6802. The Alderney cattle are to be met with only about the seats of a few great landholders, where 

 they are kept chiefly' for the sake of their milk, which is very rich, though small in quantity. This race 

 is considered, by very competent judges, as too delicate and tender to be propagated to any extent in 

 Britain, at least in its northern parts. Their colour is mostly yellow or light red, with white or mottled 

 faces ; thev have short crumpled horns, are sinall in size, and very ill-shaped ; yet they are fine-boned m 



