WHITE CATTLE. 



friends in England immediately afterward sent him a present of a 

 consignment of choice Durham cattle, which he depastured on an es- 

 tate of 2oco acres near Parramatta that he had obtained by firing 

 a few pistol shots during a riot, extravagantly termed " the Irish Re- 

 bellion of Botany Bay." These were the cattle he sent to Illawarra 

 in 1816, which were so much prized in the past by many of the early 

 pioneers. Many of these animals reverted back to white, but were 

 prized just the same. 



One could go on enumerating instances of the white Shorthorns i* 

 it was necessary ; but it is just as well to state that in mo^t cases, 

 whtie good results have been obtained from a dairyman's point of 

 view, the bulls were not milk-white. As a rule, the most favored white 

 bulls had a yellow skin, with the hair full of yolk, with blue-roan pat- 

 ches on the neck and about the head, or, perhaps, distinct brown, red. 

 or blue spots about the neck, cheeks, and red inside the ears. 



Shorthorns of the above description were not considered pure bred 

 by the breeders of the early seventies, and in consequence, they were 

 passed out; probably never to be revived again. The same may be 

 said of the Rev. Parson Marsden's cream and dun-colored polled 

 breed. Many of these cows were bred white, with pale yellow spots, 

 and had also small horn? that were loose on the hoatl. The horns 

 bung down, held by the skin to which they were attached. The cows 

 \v.er ; e .called, snail-horned, or humlies. Dr. McKenzie had many 'of 

 these o'i his estate, in one of the Shoalhaven valleys, 'from whence they 

 were often driven north to the more northern districts, and sokl to 

 the dairy farmers, during the fifties and sixties. 



Notwithstanding, however, that in Africa a large percentage of the 

 various Buffalo breed of cattle are of a whitish or cream colour, the 

 moment Shorthorn breeders notice a Shorthorn bull throwing white 

 calves, there is another introduced instead, as a rule the Devon. 



Among the objections that have been urged against white cattle, if 

 has been stated that they cannot withstand our climate, and are not 

 prolific. This may or may not be true as regards extremely hot cli 

 mates, as our experience does not extend to tropical regions. But if 

 we first take the white Shorthorns of England, and compare them 

 with our Australian Shorthorns, we will find that these charges cannot 

 be substantiated generally. With regard to England, there is an un 

 doubted record that the ancient Studley Royal breed, preserved by the 

 Aislabie family, was a white breed, together with the distinct existing 

 evidence that the Shorthorns are largely indebted to that breed, as one 

 of the main foundations of their race. These facts, under ordinary 

 circumstances would be held as sufficient evidence to account for the 

 tendency of the Shorthorn to revert to white, under so many varying 

 conditions. 



Setting aside the white breeds of other countries, which do not a,p 

 pear to be discarded, on account of quantity and quality oi production, 

 or lack of hardiness, and taking a glance at our Shorthorns, with and 

 without pedigree, one cannot remember ever having heard of tests be- 

 ing conducted to prove any of the charges against the white colour in 

 cattle. From my own observations, extending over -forty years, many 

 of those years being spent visiting some of the best Shorthorn herds 

 in Australia, and also the dairy farmers' herds, I do not remember 

 meeting with any proofs sufficient to support sweeping charges being 

 levelled at white Shorthorn cattle, outside the common, every-day ex- 

 pression, " We don't like them." Take up Coates' " Herd Book," and 

 we find "Pearl," the foundress of the Pearl tribe of Shorthorns, "Fair 

 Frances," from which the celebrated "Comet" descended; "Miss Rose," 

 from which "Moss Rose" descended; and last, but not least, "Old 

 Sweetheart III.", one of the finest Shorthorn cows ever raised in Eng- 

 land. These three cows were white, yet they were both prolific and 

 hardy that is to say, they all three propagated sufficient offspring to 

 be designated tribes. 



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