THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 63 



horns of various crosses, and of little beauty, being angular 

 and ill-formed, with thin thighs, a wide loin, and a light fore- 

 quarter; but the udder was large, and its veins very apparent, 

 the belly deep, with prominent milk-veins. Some of these 

 lean angular cows have been known to yield twenty-four 

 quarts of milk per day, but only for a short time ; the average 

 is eight or ten quarts, of which four quarts return a pound of 

 cheese, while it takes twelve or fourteen quarts for the pro- 

 duction of a pound of butter. It is estimated that there are 

 100,000 cows in Cheshire, each of which gives two-and-a-half 

 hundred weight of cheese in the course of the year, making 

 an annual total of 1250 tons. 



Kecently improvements on this breed have been attempted, 

 and many short-horns introduced ; but, after all, a pure race 

 is not much sought after, quantity and quality of milk being 

 the great desideratum. Indeed it is not clear that a total 

 alteration of the old breed, inured, as it is, to the climate and 

 pasturage, and modified, by a combination of circumstances, 

 in such a manner as to meet the views of the dairy-farmer, 

 would lead to any benefit ; nor that the quantity and quality 

 of the cheese, yielded by the short-horned breed, would equal 

 that obtained from the old stock. Nay, there are complaints, 

 as it is, that the cheese of Cheshire is not quite what it used 

 to be. Artificial grasses, cabbages, and Swedish turnips, are 

 greatly cultivated in Cheshire, as winter-fodder, for the cattle, 

 which, during the colder months, are housed in sheds, or kept 

 in sheltered yards, and supplied with straw and hay as their 

 ordinary food. If, however, the weather is not very severe, 

 they are generally turned out daily into the adjacent fields ; 

 from which, having picked up but little, they gladly return 

 to their stall, and feed heartily. Previously to calving, in 

 February or March, the cows are dried, and fed with straw 

 arid hay, and after calving, with crushed oats, brewers' grains 

 (where accessible), and green fodder. When the grass is 

 ready, they are turned out into the meadows; and, if the 

 winter management has been judicious, and not too much 

 dry food, as straw, given, they soon yield milk in abundance. 

 The calves are generally suffered to subsist exclusively on the 

 mother's milk for three weeks ; then they are weaned, and fed 

 upon warm whey, buttermilk, skimmed milk, oatmeal gruel, 

 and gradually introduced to vegetable aliment. During the 

 first winter they are fed largely on hay. 



While speaking of the cattle of Cheshire, we must not for- 



