FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



" They were of the improved Craven or new type of Leicester breed 

 and amounted to many hundreds^ and for regularity and size and gene 

 ral contour were immeasurably superior to any similar number of 

 cattle to be seen in any part of the world. Johnny Ritchie, that 

 prince of bush riders, was often seen busy with Billy Broughton and 

 others collecting them, or those of them that carried the DW Went 

 worth's brand. That these Longhorns, on the testimony of the old 

 hands, who used to milk their strawberry, yellow, and brindled bailies, 

 no better cattle ever entered Australia. The dairy men neglected the 

 breed in their first attempt to follow fashionable breeding in Xew 

 South Wales. 



After the description just given of the several Durham and Ayr 

 shire bulls that were so successfully mated with the Ayrshire and 

 Durham, and even crossbred cows to be found in Illawarra, it may 

 be inferred, by the novice breeder that all any man or woman had to 

 do was to obtain Ayrshires and Durhams and mate them by cither 

 using Durham bulls on Ayrshire cows, or vice versa, to get good 

 results. But the " cocksure" man (in the absence of the 

 Longhorned Durhams of the past) finds out to his sorrow oooner or 

 later that he has to contend against Nature's difficulties. Those who 

 have had opportunities of observing the present type of Shorthorn and 

 Ayrshire very close must often have been struck with the vagaries they 

 cast irom time to time in the form of calves. The Shorthorn especially 

 closely must often have been struck with the vagaries they cast from 

 time to time in the 'form of calves. The Shorthorn especially 

 when two rich roans are mated, is very liable to throw calves snow 

 white, with, red or black ears and a black muzzle. Take, for example, 

 Royal Windsor, bred by and the property of Mr. E. B. Woodhouse, 

 of Mount Gilead, Campbelltown. No purer bred Shorthorn could be 

 found, yet he was snow white with jet black ears, horn tips, muzzle, 

 and hoofs. Turn to Landseer's picture of the semi-wild cattle of 

 England and Scotland, and compare them with modern photos of our 

 Ayrshire, and we see a most striking resemblance. Then, again, take 

 the Scotch Kyloe, with its ear marks, and we find those marks re- 

 peated to this day, together with the dollar spots. These marks can 

 be found also in the most carefully bred modern Shorthorn. And these 

 colors and markings are not new to the breeds, as we find th.it some 

 of the best bulls bred in Australia for the past sixty-five years, 

 whether Durham or Ayrshire, had the same tendency to revert to 

 their ancient ancestors. This " atavism" is, in the writer's opinion, 

 fatal in the majority of cases to the axiom that " like produces like." 

 Nature hates extremes, and it is therefore only natural for some types 

 of the Ayrshire and Durham breeds of cattle to blend together 

 better than others. This law can be observed and -followed with profit 

 in connection with the crossing of breeds generally. 



After having passed judgment on the several bulls which played 

 such important parts in the formation of our dairy herds, we will 

 glance a.t the performances and breeding of a few cows that have 

 been raised from those bulls. It must not, however, be inferred from 

 what follows that this or that bull or cow, whether Ayrshire or Short- 

 horn, or Jersey and Ayrshire being good, all such crosses are good. 

 Far -from it. It has been proven over and over again that in order 

 to get good results from cither an Ayrshire-Shorthorn cross, or a 

 Jersey-Ayrshire cross, the blood of one or the other must predominate, 

 and. turther, the blood of both sire and dam must be extremely good 

 quality. When we talk of a Shorthorn-Ayrshire cross, or vice versa, 

 or of any other cross or blend, we mean a cross of blood between 

 sires and dams of good milking strains. For example. Theodore 

 (30,145, C.H.B.) was not bred for dairy purposes, nor was he im- 

 ported by Mr. R. L. Jcnkin>, of Xepean Towers, to mate with any 

 tiling but cattle raised for beef purpose- Vet sons of that famous 

 bull proved good sires for both milk and beef. The Theodores bred 



208. 



