THE WEST HIGHLAND 315 



extraordinarily and came to maturity quite as rapidly as the run of other 

 Shorthorn crosses, but a proportion of them tended to become rather fat at 

 the finish, the land being somewhat low-lying, sheltered, and rich. He then 

 tried the Aberdeen-Angus bull, and with perfect success. Finer beasts for the 

 butcher than the two Aberdeen-Angus and Highland crosses could not be 

 wished. At twenty-four to thirty months old his lordship's Angus and High- 

 land cross steers have generally ranged from 1200 to 1400 pounds live 

 weight. He has also bred many superb animals by putting a white Short- 

 horn bull to cows and heifers' of the Shorthorn-Highland cross. The result 

 in this case from the color standpoint has been a large proportion of roans 

 and reds with a slight frosting of white hairs all over their bodies. Putting 

 the Aberdeen-Angus sires to those first cross cows, he has pretty dark blues 

 and blacks with white hairs. 



The hardiness of West Highland cattle is remarkable. Used 

 to a free life on the Scotch hills, where summer and winter they 

 graze on grass and heather, they seem capable of enduring the 

 roughest climate. In a letter on this breed the Earl of Dunmore 

 wrote in 1887, bearing on their suitability to the more exposed 

 Northwestern American range : 



My average yearly loss has not been three per cent, which in a large fold 

 of some four or five hundred head of cattle is very small. January, February, 

 and March are pretty hard months for them, as they get no food beyond what 

 they pick up on the hills where they are wintered. I have often seen them 

 scraping away the snow to get at the grass; but notwithstanding their being 

 out all winter, they produce in April and May as strong and lusty-looking 

 calves as a man could wish to see, with lots of bone and tremendous thick coats. 

 That, to my mind, is the coming breed for the great Northwestern ranges. 



The breeding qualities of West Highland cattle rank high, 

 though the heifers are not bred the first time until three years 

 of age. Earl Dunmore states that he could quote from his 

 private herdbook several cases of cows, after having their first 

 calves at four years, continuing to produce yearly thereafter up 

 to fourteen years of age one living calf and sometimes twins, all 

 of them being born on the mountain side. 



The distribution of the West Highland breed is mainly in Scot- 

 land, in the regions previously indicated, although herds are kept 

 in England, where steers are also fed to a small extent. Although 

 many owners of large estates maintain this breed for its pictur- 

 esque character and easy keep, yet it is not common excepting 

 in western Scotland. In.^view of the fact that this is strictly a 



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