AYRSHIRE CATTLE 401 



cow should look " gay." The colour is very distinct, 

 a white ground splashed with a dark red, or chestnut 

 with a blackish shade in it ; light reds or yellow browns 

 are not esteemed, nor are the brindled or black patches 

 which used to be common enough in the earlier years 

 of the breed. Every year, however, we were told, the 

 colour tends to be less prominent ; in a fashionable 

 herd nowadays the general impression is of white. 

 A black nose is typical, as in the dairy races of Celtic 

 origin, but it is not considered as essential by fanciers, 

 though regarded by many as an indication of a hardy 

 constitution. 



The history of the Ayrshire provides a curious 

 illustration of the tendency of breeders to become 

 obsessed by fancy points, which have no practical 

 value in themselves and indeed when cultivated to 

 excess may prove detrimental. As belonging to a 

 dairy breed great attention was naturally paid in 

 judging the cow to the shape and disposition of the 

 udder the vessel, as it is always called in Scotland. 

 The Ayrshire breeder demanded that it should extend 

 well forward under the body with the teats spaced out 

 and symmetrically placed. Then with neatness and 

 symmetry in his mind the fancier began to insist upon 

 small teats, until smallness grew to be regarded as an 

 excellence in itself, so much so that it became actually 

 difficult to milk the highly-bred show Ayrshire of a 

 dozen years or so back. Milk records have, however, 

 changed the point of view, and the old breeders are 

 now lamenting that the value of external points and 

 a good type of frame are being forgotten because milk 

 performances alone are being studied in breeding. 

 There is little danger, however, of the neglect of external 

 features ; if one may take an analogy from plants, the 

 sugar beet of to-day is just as symmetrical and true to 



