THE OX AND THE DAIKY. 105 



and disappoint the hopes of the grazier. Within late years 

 this breed of stots has been improved, by crossings with the 

 kyloes of the western isles and the Argyleshire strain ; and 

 excellent cattle are sent to the south, to be fattened in 

 congenial pastures. 



In Ayrshire, and the adjacent portion of the Lowlands, 

 there is an admirable breed of milch cattle, independently 

 of those that are grazed there for the butcher, which, 

 from whatever source they originated, owe much to the 

 care and selection of judicious breeders. At some period 

 or other there has evidently been a cross of the Durham or 

 Holderness, and perhaps also of the Alderney. This breed, 

 which became established from the middle to the close of the 

 eighteenth century, has found its way not only into England, 

 but also into Ireland and Wales ; recommended by the excel- 

 lency of the cows as milkers, although they are under the 

 middle size. It has been estimated that a good Ayrshire 

 cow will yield, for two or three months after calving, five 

 gallons of milk daily; for the next three months, three gallons 

 daily ; and a gallon and a half for the following three months. 

 This milk is calculated to return about two hundred and fifty 

 pounds of butter annually, or five hundred pounds of cheese. 

 The foregoing estimate is, however, somewhat exaggerated ; 

 and, perhaps, during the best of the season, four or four and 

 a half gallons of milk is the average product daily of a good 

 cow, kept in fair condition. Every thirty-two gallons of un- 

 skimmed milk will yield about twenty-four pounds of cheese, 

 and ninety gallons, twenty-four pounds of butter. We are 

 supposing a good farm, and a first-rate stock of Ayrshire cows; 

 and, considering the size of the cattle, this return from each 

 cow is very considerable. The mode in which the cows are 

 treated by an enterprising and successful farmer of Kirkum, 

 is thus detailed : He " keeps his cows constantly in the 

 byre (or shed), till the grass has risen, so as to afford them a 

 full bite. Many put them out every good day through the 

 winter and spring, but they poach the ground with their feet, 

 and nip up the young grass as it begins to spring ; which, as 

 they have not a full meal, injures the cattle. Whenever the 

 weather becomes dry and hot, he feeds his cows on cut grass 

 in the byre, from six o'clock in the morning to six at night, 

 and turns them out to pasture the other twelve hours. When 

 rain comes, the house feeding is discontinued. Whenever the 

 pasture grass begins to fail in harvest, the cows receive a sup- 



