62 



THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. 



"The form of the Ayrshire," writes Mr. Housman, "is in strictest 

 agreement with the generally recognised ideal of the true dairy type. 

 It is the wedge, thin-end forward, in a certain sense, but this should 

 not be understood to mean tapering to the front so as to allow no play 

 of vital organs. The fore-legs, on the contrary, are not close together, 

 nor is the chest too narrow, but granted sufficient space for the main- 

 spring and other principal works of the machine, the power acts in the 

 direction of the udder and its tributaries. In the t} r pical dairy cow 

 let us call her the Ayrshire we have no ungainly hollows and slack- 

 nesses, no rude unevennesses of outline, but head, neck, breast, and 



Fig. 19._ Ayrshire Cow, ''Bertie 2nd" (3217). 



The property of Sir Mark J. Stewart, Bart., M.P. 



body all cleanly moulded and neat, the fore-quarters shallow as com- 

 pared with the perpendicular depth from immediately before the hips, 

 and the top-line straight. The udder has its size in its great length 

 forward under the body and its rise up the twist, and in its true pro- 

 portion of width to length, and not so much in -downward develop- 

 ment, which always is, when out of due proportion, an unsightly form 

 never seen in a typical specimen of this breed." 



The high importance of the Ayrshires as a dairy breed is evidenced 

 by the fact that they enjoy almost a monopoly of the great dairy 

 country in the West and South-west of Scotland. 



The Dunlop cattle are said to have been produced by the introduction 

 of some Dutch or Teeswater cows about the middle of the last century. 

 Their colour varies from a dark brown, approaching that of a Devon, 

 to the cream colour of the Guernsey, and in both cases it is generally 



