THE AYRSHIRES. 



AYRSHIRE BREED. 



This county extends along the eastern coast of the Firth of Clyde, 

 and the Nortk Channel from Renfrew to Wigtownshire, by the for- 

 mer of which it is bordered on the north, and by the latter on the 

 south, while it has Kircudbright, Dumfries, and Lanark on the 

 east. The climate is moist, but mild ; and the soil, with its produce, 

 is calculated to render it the finest dairy county in Scotland, and 

 equal, perhaps, to any in Great Britain. There is a great deal of 

 permanent pasture on the sides and tops of the hills ; but the greater 

 part of the arable land is pasture and crop alternately. The pasture- 

 ground is occupied by the beautiful dairy stock, a very small portion 

 of it being reserved for the fattening of cows too old to milk. 



Ayrshire is divided into three districts ; — south of the river Doon 

 is the Bailiary of Carrick — between the Doon and the Irvine is the 

 Bailiary of Kyle, and north of the Irvine is Cunningham. This last 

 division lays principal claim to be the native country of the Ayrshire 

 cattle, and, indeed, they once went by the name of the Cunningham 

 cattle. 



Mr. Alton, in his " Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows," thus 

 describes the Ayrshire cattle ; — " The shapes most approved of, are — 

 head small, but rather long and narrow at the muzzle ; the eye small, 

 but smart and lively ; the horns small, clear, crooked, and their roots 

 at considerable distance from each other ; neck long and slender, 

 tapering toward the head, with no loose skin below ; shoulders thin ; 

 fore-quarters light ; hind-quarters large ; hack straight, broad behind, 

 the joints rather loose and open ; carcass deep, and pelvis capacious, 

 and wide over the hips, with round fleshy buttocks ; tail long and 

 small ; legs small and short, with ^rm joints ; udder capacious, broad, 

 and square, stretching forward, and neither fleshy, low hung, nor 

 loose ; the milk veins large and prominent ; teats short, all pointing 

 6utward, and at considerable distance from each other ; skin thin and 

 loose ; hair soft and wooly. The head, bones, hor7is, and all parts of 

 least value, small ; and the general figure compact and well propor- 

 tioned." Mr. Rankine very properly remarks, that, *' compared with 

 other improved breeds, the thighs, or what is called the twist of thi 

 Ayrshire cow, are thin. She is, characteristically, not a fleshy 

 animal." 



The Ayrshire farmers prefer their dairy-bulls, according to the 

 feminine aspect of their heads and necks ; and wish them not round 

 behind, but broad at the hook-bones and hips, and full in the flanks. 

 Experience, dearly bought, led to this, for the consequence of the 

 crossing of the small native breeds with the heavy cattle imported 

 from the south, was a bony, ill-shaped animal, not much improved as 

 a milker, and its disposition to fat lamentably decreased ; it may, 

 however, demand consideration whether the round and compact form 



