352 
Cross-breeding of Cattle. 
time is not far distant wlien our breeds will be so mixed that 
it will be difficult to distinguish one from the other. Rut 
there is no fear of this result ; for the persons who chiefly 
resort to crossing arc those who have up to the present time kept 
but a very inferior description of stock, which they generally 
fattened at as early an age as possible ; so that the only change 
which has taken place as far as they are concerned is, that, from 
using a pure bull, they breed an animal that attains a greater 
weight at an earlier age than formerly. Such breeders, who are 
mostly the occupiers of dairy farms, will find that a few pounds 
laid out on a good bull will be an act of strict economy. 
At Woburn Abbey, where a herd of from thirty to forty 
pure Herefords is kept, and still a large quantity of mi'lk and 
butter required, I have found it quite impossible to improve 
tlie herd in milking and fattening or flesh-producing qualities at 
the same time, and have had oiten to sacrifice a very fine cow 
because she gave no milk, or others that were good milkers but 
imfit to breed a show ox. Finding out, then, that it was almost 
impossible to unite the truth of form and aptitude to fatten, 
according to our present standard, with a profitable dairy, I 
thought it desirable to keep two herds ; one for breeding 
purposes (the dams only rearing their own calves) and the 
other for dairy purposes. Being a Norfolk man, and knowing 
what good milkers the polled cattle of that country are, 1 
was led to try them, and have for the last three years had 
twenty of these cows, which 1 'put to the Hereford bull, and 
fatten all the produce. These half-breds far exceed my most 
sanguine expectations, as they are much larger than the pure 
Herefords of their own age ; and if they do not show quite so 
much quality, bear a very close resemblance to their sire, so 
that I look forward to their making some very good butcher's 
animals indeed, and am satisfied they will make quite as much 
money, if not more, than a pure Hereford of the same age. 
At our annual sale of fat stock, held here every Christmas, I 
find if I have a crossed ox it invariably makes 21. or 3Z. more 
than the pure-bred ones ; and the reason is that, the butchers 
tell me, they weigh so much better, are more fleshy, and give 
their customers greater satisfaction from the fact of the fat being 
better mixed with the lean. I have had cross-bred steers three 
years old making from 30/. to 40/. each, their dams being small 
Ayrshire cows and the sire a pure Hereford bull. 
I have been often asked if 1 would go in any farther than the 
first cross between two distinct breeds. I think it best not to do 
so, as I have always found the produce of the cross-bred cow to 
be very inferior to herself, even if she has been put to a pure 
bull. They neither fatten so well nor do they attain so great a 
size at so early an age as the first cross ; and therefore my plan 
