Cross-breeding of Cattle. 
353 
is to purcliase my cows and feed off all their produce, both steers 
and heifers. That no mistake may arise, all the half-bred heifers 
are " spayed," by which means their value as fattening stock is 
increased. By this plan I now am enabled to get more milk 
from twenty cows, selected for their milking properties only, 
than could formerly be derived from double the number of 
Herefords ; so that a considerable gain is realised, as my Here- 
ford calves, being allowed to suck their dams for three or four 
months, are ready for the butcher much sooner than if brought 
up by hand. 
I have of late years noticed that the shorthorn cattle shown at 
many of the Lincolnshire fairs are not so heavy-fleshed as they 
vised to be ; and a very old attendant at these fairs remarked 
to me that this was caused by the breeders going more for 
" pedigree " than formerly. I could scarcely at the time admit 
that this was the reason ; but a little reflection told me that this 
might have something to do with it, for a straight back, nice 
rumps, and other catchy points are now more thought of than 
they used to be : many breeders of all kinds of stock looking 
too much to that which will please the eye rather than pull 
down the scale. This cause, then, may have led to our missing 
the heavj^-fleshed crossed butcher's animals which we had been 
accustomed to see, and finding in their places beasts that showed 
every pound of beef they had about them. 
I am an advocate for cross-breeding where a farmer is not in a 
position to keep high-pi'iced stock, either from want of means or 
of proper shelter for them, since it is of no use for a farmer to- 
try to improve his stock if they have to be left out in the fields, 
all winter. In the Midland Counties many farms afford little 
or no shelter for the stock, so that they become stunted or diseased. 
In such localities nothing will tend more to improve the breed 
of our domestic animals than for landowners to erect suitable 
buildings for their accommodation. I do not at all see the bene- 
fit of crossing together the improved breeds, such as the Here- 
ford or Devon and the shorthorn, as each race has its own 
specialities and uses that would be entirely destroyed by cross- 
ing. But no one who rides through the country can help ob- 
serving that very many of the cattle kept cannot be said to belong 
to any pure breed ; and to the owners of such as these I would 
say, you cannot do better than cross them with a bull of a pure 
breed, and will not have much trouble in finding one that would 
very much improve your stock at a very reasonable price. 
Wohurn Abbey Farm. 
VOL. XXUI. 
