CHAP. i. KERRY AND DEXTER CATTLE. 75 



Half a century ago (in 1841) David Low, in his work " The Breeds 

 of Domestic Animals of the British Islands," wrote as follows : 



" These cattle are hardy and capable of subsisting on scanty fare. 

 Although stunted in size when brought from the bogs and barren 

 pastures on which they are reared, they make a wonderful advance in 

 size, even though several years old, when supplied with suitable food. 

 The fat of their beef is well mixed with the muscular parts, or, in 

 technical language, marbled ; and they fatten well in the inside, a 

 character which renders them valuable to the butcher, and distinguishes 

 them, in a remarkable degree, from the long-horned breeds of the lower 

 country. 



" But the peculiar value of the Kerry breed is the adaptation of the 

 females to the purposes of the domestic dairy. In milking properties 



Fig. 27. Dexter Bull, "Paradox." 

 The property of Mr. Martin J. Sutton, Holme Park, Sonning. 



the Kerry cow, taking size into account, is equal, or superior, to any in 

 the British Islands. It is the large quantity of milk yielded by an animal 

 so small which renders the Kerry cow so generally valued by the 

 cottagers and smaller tenants of Ireland. She is frequently termed the 

 poor man's cow, and she merits this appellation by her capacity of 

 subsisting on such fare as he has the means to supply. 



"This fine little breed has been greatly neglected; scarce any 

 means have been used to produce a progressive development of form, 

 by supplying proper nourishment to the breeding parents and the 

 young, and no general care has been bestowed on preserving the purity 

 of the stock. In almost every part of Ireland the breed has been 

 crossed with the Longhorns, and a great proportion of the cows of the 

 country, known under the name of Kerries, are the result of crosses of 

 this kind, and so have deviated in a greater or less degree from the 

 native type, and almost always for the worse. 



