Report on some features of Scottish Agriculture. 20!) 
IV. — Highland Cattle and Sheep Farming. 
The breeding of Highland Cattle was one of the subjects to 
which my attention was directed by the Council ; but it is now very 
difficult to find what was in former days known as a " Black Cattle 
farm," except perhaps on the islands off the west coast. The 
displacement of cattle by sheep in the Highlands of Scotland 
has often been the text of political economists, most frequently 
in connection with the extensive depopulation of that part of the 
United Kingdom. There can be no doubt of the fact that of late 
years the tendency in Scotland has been towards the extinction of 
" crofts " and other denominations of small farms by a process 
of absorption ; and the result has been the formation of larger 
hill-farms and the replacement of cattle by sheep. Several causes 
have combined to produce this result, but they may all be 
resolved into one, namely, that sheep-farming is more remunera- 
tive. Therefore comparatively few large breeding herds exist in 
the Highlands at the present day, a considerable proportion of the 
Highland cattle being bred by the small farmers and crofters who 
still remain ; and whereas twenty or thirty years ago it was not 
uncommon to see a fold of twenty or thirty cows, such a thing 
can rarely be met with now. Hill-farms have of late years been 
sought for by lowland farmers, who prefer to breed sheep, and 
thus to work a farm in the Highlands in connection with one in 
the arable districts, where they finish off the wedders of their own 
breeding. 
As an example, however, of Highland cattle-breeding, I ven- 
ture to give the following short account of the system pursued 
by Mr. McKechnie, near Ford, on the hills bordering Loch Awe, 
in Argyllshire. 
This gentleman's sheep stock is something over 4000 in 
number ; so his occupation cannot be regarded as exclusively a 
Highland cattle-farm. Nevertheless, as he keeps a herd of about 
20 cows, his system will no doubt be a fair index of the usual 
practice. Two bulls are kept on account of the extent of the 
farm ; they are turned out on the hill with the cows about the 
beginning of May, and remain with them all the summer. 
Heifers are not sent until three years old, as otherwise their 
growth would be stopped ; and calves drop from the beginning 
of the year until June. Previous to calving, the cows get 
nothing but hay or perhaps a little straw, but afterwards, espe- 
cially in bad weather, they may get a few boiled oats, and for 
two or three weeks are kept entirely in the house. Calves are 
not let out until the beginning of June; so that, until that date, 
they do not run with their dams ; and, even when first born, it is 
found necessary to keep them in a separate house, letting them in 
VOL. VIL — S. S. P 
