FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



this difference of opinion the world over has given rise to the scores 

 of breeds to be found to-day. Ancient author* inform us that certain 

 breed- obtained for centuries back altered from time to time accord- 

 ing to fancy or requirement, with an occasional cry back to their 

 prototype*. As t.) the history of the cow in the service of man, suffice 

 it to say that every writer of note covers up his shortcomings by stat- 

 ing that "the origin of this breed is lost in antiquity." Mo^t of,tlu- 

 wealth of the (Vim- King.* of Ireland consisted of cattle. The very 

 word "chattel*" comes from this root. One of the fiercest battles 

 fought in tho*e my*tic centuries prior to the birth of St. Patrick was 

 over the exchange of a while for a brown bull. 



While on this point it is interesting to note that it was the crowned 

 heads of Kurope that were largely instrumental in preserving for us 

 the foundations of the herds and flocks we are so proud of to-d:iy. 

 Spain, besides the merino sheep, gave us the Spanish cow, Holland 

 the Friesian, Scotland the Ayrshire and Polled Angus, England the 

 Shorthorn, Hereford, Devon, Red Sussex, Ireland the Longhorns and 

 Kerry cattle, Wales the Pembroke, France and the Channel Isles those 

 splendid specimens the Normandy, Brittany, Jersey, and Alderney. 



Any attempt to fix a common origin for various breeds cannot fail 

 to prove confusing. Study serves only to convince one that our herds 

 have sprung from at least two semi-aboriginal breeds. Take, fo~ 

 cxample, the Fri&sian, Durham, Holderness, Pembroke, Longhorn, and 

 Normandy cattle, and compare them with the Ayr*hire. Suffolk, Kerry, 

 Jersey, and Brittany breeds; a moment is enough to notice the vast 

 difference in size, character, and temperament between the larger and 

 smaller breeds, though they may be raised generation aiter generation 

 on practically the same food. No amount of feed or change of climate, 

 so far as we know, could change a Kerry into, say, a Durham, or a 

 Durham into a deer-like Jersey cow in the course of a few genera- 

 tions. We cannot fail to notice something remarkable about all well- 

 known and tried breeds. As a celebrated authority puts it : 



'' There are three systems, to which all the organs are directly or 

 indirectly subsidiary, and are united in the plan in which the d iiry 

 cow is formed. There is the nutritive system, composed of stomach, 

 intestines, liver, pancreas, glands, and vessels by which food is 

 elaborated, effete matter removed, the blood manufactured, and the 

 whole organisation nourished. Then there is the nervous system, 

 which co-oH'natcs all the organs and functions, and enables the ani- 

 mal to entertain relations with the world around it, directing it what 

 to avoid and what to approach, and without which so much comp' 

 of structure as finds place in her organisation would be constantly 

 at fault. There is, again, the reproductive system by which a succes- 

 sion of animals is secured, and the hold of the race on the earth as 

 sured." The breed of cow that we should desire must Irivc these 

 system- each in health and order. 



The cow in nature lives to one end, the keeping alive the race, as 



plants have all their energies concentrated to produce seed. The 



domesticated cow, on the other hand, lives to continue her ra ,-c and 



to nourish human beings, so that every support must be given to what- 



: will tend to develop her whole organism into the form and 



activity that conduces to this double service. " Bicliat" h:i* defined 



Irie to be organisation in action. The most productive cow, like the 



most productive man in mental and physical labor, lives an intense 



Life, in the -i-nsc of motion birth and death of cells in the 



organism j. ]j\rd doubly when the activity is of double me:i*ure. 



This quickened liie \\- c - conceive to be one of the marked character 



of the .\yr*hire. Hrittany. Jersey, and Kerry COWS, It i>. 



fore, the animal that unites this vitalitv in a form that favour* 



