98 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



(3) THE SHORTHORN CATTLE. 



The Durham, or Shorthorn, is not an ancient breed. It cannot lay claim 

 to such antiquity as theLonghorn ; for while the Longhorn seems to have 

 been the aboriginal cow of Ireland, the Shorthorn is a cow of modern 

 days. 



" Diversities in appearance, shape, habits, and produce," says a well- 

 known writer on cattle breeds, u have arisen, partly from modern artifi- 

 cial breeding, but chiefly from the prolonged and combined influences 

 of soil, climate, pasturage, and general treatment." The centuries that 

 have elapsed since the dispersion of the ancient breed of cattle, and their 

 long-continued location in different districts, under such varied condi-. 

 tions of climate and pasturage, have produced great changes in the ap- 

 pearance of members of the same race. Especially is this so in the case 

 of the cattle whose home has always been in the more civilized and more 

 highly cultivated parts of England. Originally of a shy and nervous 

 disposition, spirited and active, of hardy constitution, and with a tend- 

 ency to roam at will, they have, during the course of so many years of 

 intercourse with their owners, lost much of their hardiness and activity, 

 and also much of their nervousness and fear. Eich pasturage, mildness 

 of climate, protection from the winter storms, the increasing use of grain 

 and artificial foods, and the general improvement in cultivation, has had 

 a most marked effect on the appearance and general characteristics of 

 the cattle 4 brought within such influences. This is shown in the devel- 

 opment of a surprising bulk of flesh on a much larger frame. The suc- 

 cessive conquerors of Britain the Eomans, Saxons, Danes, and Nor- 

 mans it must be remembered, all brought with them cattle from their own 

 countries, and these, becoming domesticated, were mixed and crossed 

 with the above, and were finally lost in the resulting race. The con- 

 quered area provided an improved breed of cattle, while the more re- 

 mote and inaccessible parts of the Kingdom, remaining free, bred the 

 same animal as existed in the early days of British history. 



About the year 1640 a bull and some cows were brought into Holder- 

 ness (East Yorkshire) from Holland. They had large shoulders, flat 

 sides, coarse necks, thick heads ; their valuable points were small and 

 their coarser points large; yet these cattle were of larger bulk and the 

 cows better milkers than were then known, and on this aecount they 

 were greatly esteemed and used for crossing with the native cattle. 

 The cross soon showed great and lasting improvement. Holderness is 

 a rich grazing district, and the native cattle found there at that period 

 were of the best in the land. The new breed thus formed by the admix- 

 ture and crossing of these imported animals soon asserted their superi- 

 ority over all other races. Such was the origin of the Shorthorn. 



Another source of the Shorthorn, and in some degree passing the prior 

 claim to being the original, was a race of cattle which from time imme- 

 morial had existed in Durham, in the basin of the Tees, whence they 

 were named the Teeswater. In color and appearance they resemble 

 the breed of the present day ; they had a good, mellow touch, and in 

 butcher's parlance "killed well;" were light of offal, had wide carcasses 

 and deep forequarters, and were greatly esteemed by all who were ac- 

 quainted with them. About the same period, or a few years later than 

 their introduction into Holderness, the Dutch cattle were also imported 

 into the valley of the Tees and were crossed there with the native breed, 

 giving rise to the Teeswater Shorthorn, or Durham. At a still later date 

 numerous bulls were imported from the Continent, principally from Hol- 

 land. The native cattle in Yorkshire and Durham were crossed with 



