108 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER BOOK i. 



portion being the black Welsh, and by using pure Shorthorn bulls for 

 three or four generations he produced from them a very respectable 

 herd of Shorthorns, and entirely lost the black colour ; yet I doubt not 

 that, if he had ventured to use one of the bulls bred by himself, the 

 black colour of his Welsh ancestors would have appeared again." 



A very important point connected with the life of the bull is the 

 age at which he should commence to propagate his kind. This is 

 alluded to at the commencement of this chapter, and the age is 

 named a year old at which he may be used moderately for this 

 purpose. It is an invariable practice, not only of ordinary breeders, 

 but even of the best breeders of pedigree stock, to give yearling bulls a 

 fair and reasonable amount of service, and they are found to thrive just 

 as well as though they were kept completely celibate. In the same way 

 breeders of pedigree draught horses will regularly give even their most 

 valuable two year old colts as many as 30 or even 35 mares to serve, 

 and they will grow and thrive just as well with that amount of work as 

 though they were fed " at haick and manger." 



The reader may here be referred to an instructive paper, " The 

 Value of Pedigree," by Colonel Sir Nigel Kingscote, K.C.B. (Journal 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. iii., 3rd series, 1892, page 31). 



CHAPTER V. 



OF THE Cow. 



COWS are purchased with a view of either being fattened for sale, or 

 for breeding, or for the purposes of the dairy, the two latter 

 being generally combined. In the first case it will be advisable to 

 attend to the kindliness of their skins, and the disposition to fatten. 

 With those that are intended for breeding, care should be taken to 

 select the best of the particular stock that is to be raised ; and, for the 

 dairy, those that yield the most and the richest milk. The desirable 

 qualities of a dairy cow are, that she should give an abundant supply of 

 milk, fatten readily when milking is over, and turn to good account in 

 the shambles. As the dairy constitutes, in many parts of the kingdom, 

 an object of great importance, it is worth much consideration whether 

 a particular breed should be kept for that purpose, or whether it is 

 preferable to have stock partly adapted for the butcher and partly 

 for the dairy. " It is probable," observes Sir John Sinclair, " that,- by 

 great attention, a breed may be reared, the males of which might be 

 well calculated for the shambles, and the females, when young, might 

 produce abundant quantities of good milk; and when they reached 

 eight or nine years of age, be easily fattened. This," he justly 

 remarks, " would be the most valuable breed that could be propagated 



