i88 WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE, 1800— 1900 



So great was the popularity of Shorthorns about 1875 that it is 

 related in one parish near Appleby there was not a single pig to be 

 found in it ; the sties had all been turned into calf-hulls, and from 

 the early seventies to about 1886 it was a regular practice to record the 

 births of calves from Shorthorn cows in the weekly county press. 



The only other pure breed of cattle kept in the county is a herd 

 of Jerseys at Sedgwick. It was started in 1874 by the tenants 

 presenting Mrs. Wakefield with the second prize female from the 

 Royal Show, to which other pure animals were added. 



Sufficient has been said to indicate the extent of pedigree Short- 

 horn breeding in Westmorland ; the non-pedigree Shorthorn breeders 

 are to be found on every farm in the county. At a sale at Burneside 

 HaU in 1865, 38 cows belonging to Antony Barnes brought from £15 

 15s. to £24 15s., and an average of over £18 los. On a gentleman 

 remarking to the owner that he had had as good a sale as if they had 

 been pedigree cattle, he repUed, " Pedigree, I kna nowt aboot pedigree ; 

 the'd o'ther pedigrees i ther feaces heddent tha ? thets what I ga be." 



The county is now completely dominated by the Shorthorns, on 

 very many farms where the stock kept is not eligible for the " book " 

 a good pure shorthorn bull is kept, and in some cases a pedigree bull 

 is kept for tenant farmers' use by the landlord, a nominal service fee 

 being charged, as low in some instances as 5s. H. J. Little, in his 

 report on the prize farm competition when the Royal was at Carlisle 

 in 1880, wrote : — " Even on the smaller farms, though no pedigree be 

 recorded, the use of certified bulls has so long been adhered to, that a 

 breeder need have no uncertainty about their unstained character. The 

 result is probably the grandest race of cattle which, apart from show 

 and fancy herds, can be found in any quarter of the kingdom." 



The prices at Penrith Spring Fair in 1850 were : Calving cows 

 £g los. to £12, and young buUocks for grazing £5 to £8, showing no 

 increase in price upon what they had brought 10 years previously. 

 At Brampton Appleby Fair in 1852 West Highland bullocks brought 

 £g los. to £11, Irish cattle £5 to £g. Galloway cows £11 to £15, yearling 

 buUocks £4 los. to £6, two-year-old bullocks £y to £8 los., three and 

 four-year-old heifers £6 los. to £g. 



The great cattle wealth of the county lies in the non-pedigree 

 Shorthorns, the improvement in which is steadily proceeding, and 



