FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



callings. Mr. George Tate took up the T in heart brand in 1841, 

 and since then it has been well known among the dairy herds of 

 Illawarra, and in later years in Kangaroo Valley. 



Mr. John McCaffrey's cow, tested under adverse weather condi- 

 tions. gave 28glb of milk, which produced I4lb 407 of butter. She 

 was bred in a remarkable way. Her dam was bred from a cow 

 that was a .half-bred Guernsey and Ayrshire. Her sire was a Dur- 

 ham, and she resembled the dam in every respect. On being mated 

 with a Durham bull her calf also resembled the Guernsey-Ayrshire 

 very much. This goes to show in an unmistakable manner the 

 vagaries a breeder must be prepared to meet when attempting to 

 breed profitable cattle. So long as dairy quality exists in all the 

 animals of the breeds used in these crosses, dairy quality will be 

 preserved, not otherwise. Mr. Roger Murphy's cow, tested 

 from October 13 to 20, 1887, gave milk which produced i;lb 8oz of 

 butter. She was sired by a bull of the Scotch Jock strain, which 

 she resembled very much, her dam being by a bull bred by Mr. 

 James Robb. She was, therefore, a three-quarter bred Ayrshire. 

 During the year 1886 the Kiama A. and H. Society carried out a 

 milking competition. Among the cows tested was one on May 5, 

 bred by Mr. Dan Boyd, of Berry, which gave 58^ Ib of milk in 24 

 hours. She was of the Scotch Jock strain, sire and dam. Mr. 

 Robert Miller's cow, tested October 2, 1886, gave 55lb of milk in 

 24 hours, she was a Shorthorn. Her dam was of the Major strain, 

 and her sire was Coronet, bred by Mr. William Durham. Tambo, 

 Singleton, New South Wales. Mr. James Sharpe's cow, tested 

 December 30, 1886, gave 54ilb of milk per 24 hours. Her dam 

 was bred by Mr. William Colley, of Park Mount, Kiama (who, in 

 those days, had one of the finest herds of Longhorned Durhams to 

 be found, he having purchased the best HO cattle obtainable), and 

 her sire was also bred by Mr. Colley from one of Mr. James Robb's 

 Ayrshire bulls. 



If these test cows were examined critically by the average ex- 

 pert, when they were about seven months milking, he would pro- 

 bably exclaim: "Oh! they are a worthless lot of mongrel-bred 

 brutes; practically useless for breeding purposes." Quite so; but 

 these animals were bred for the purpose cf producing milk and 

 butter, and for such they were admirably adapted. The practical 

 results obtained from these animals were all that could be desired. 

 But when we look back to find the class of animal that their sires 

 and dams were bred from, that class of dairy animal is missing. 

 No interest was taken in preserving the old strains of dairy cattle 

 until it was too late. Even the progeny of those three noted bulls 

 Scotch Jock. Major, and Mr. James Robb's Ayrshire bull were 

 allowed, with few exceptions, to drift out of all recognition dur- 

 ing the beef-Shorthorn craze between the years 1875 and 1885. It 

 is just possible that in 1885 sufficient of the old types of cattle. 

 once the glory of the Illawarra dairymen, could have b~een gathered 

 together and preserved for breeding stud animals as in the pa-t; 

 but wool and beef had so completely claimed the attention of our 

 wealthy breeders that they neglected entirely the raising of stud 

 dairy cattle. The smaller farmers were too busilv engaged paying 

 rrnt, and opening up new country -for themselves and their sons 

 elsewhere, to study the science of dairy cattle breeding. Lands 

 that were originally very rich were being starved, and the larerer 

 breeds of cattle had to give place to the smaller breeds. 



dairymen who settled south of the Illawarra Lake. a-> a 

 rule, began their dairying operations in the forties or fifties, and 

 as they invariably established their dairy herds from stock pur- 

 chased from the aforeim-nti.med breeders, may be placed on record 



214, 



