THE AYRSHIRE. 



Granted that this is true, light-brown, or yellow spotted with white, 

 was certainly not the colours of the improved Shorthorns of that 

 period. But, on the other hand, that colour, as has been shown, was 

 to be found in the Ayrshire breed for above a century previous to 

 these reported Teeswater importations of the Earl of Marchmont 

 time. 



The Ayrshire cattle of Aiton's, or even Yotiatt's day, could not have 

 had the same appearance as, say, so lie few years later, as their only 

 food in winter and spring was oat straw, and what they could pick up 

 in the fields, to which they were turned out every day, with a mash of 

 a little corn wtih chaff daily for a few weeks after calving; even in 

 summer, the pasture was in those days of poor quality. 



The matter of pasture and feeding must always be taken into ac- 

 count when attempting to trace the origin of a breed of cattle, for, 

 provided the animals have antiquity of birth to point to, it is surpris- 

 ing what remarkable alterations and improvements can be worked in 

 any breed of cattle with good pasture and feed, in the space of a few 

 years, especially so in our climate. 



The Ayrshire in New South Wales to-day has the " dollar spot" and 

 the nick in the ear peculiar, 'tis said, to the West Highland breed 

 of cattle as strongly defined as in the beginning of last century, which 

 is a strong indication of their antiquity. 



127. 



