418 
Old  Gloucestershire  Cattle. 
presently  after  calvina-,  but  will  hold  their  milk,  through  the  summer,  and  the 
lattermath  mouths  ; whereas  in  the  market  they  are  subject  to  chance,  and  the 
deceptions  of  drovers  ; the  most  they  have  to  judge  from  is  the  size  of  the  bag 
at  the  time  of  the  purchase.  In  suitable  situations,  there  can  be  little  doubt  of 
the  propriety  of  every  dairyman’s  rearing  his  own  cows. 
“ The  price  of  a cow  and  a calf  of  the  Gloucestershire  breed  has  been  for 
the  last  ten  years  eight  to  ten  or  eleven  pounds  ; of  the  north  country  sort  ten 
to  twelve  or  thirteen  pounds.” 
Writing  to  Mr.  McRow,  Mr.  Henry  Bruton,  of  Gloucester, 
sends  an  extract  from  the  catalogue  of  a sale  held  in  October, 
1896,  when  “ about  half  the  herd  of  Old  Gloucestershire  Cattle, 
the  property  of  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,”  were  sold.  From 
the  interesting  introduction  we  reproduce  the  following 
remarks  : — 
“ This  breed  has  been  at  Badminton  from  time  immemorial.  It  is  of  the 
same  variety  as  the  once  famous  ‘Glamorgan  breed,’  and  its  characteristics 
and  markings  are  the  same  now  as  described  by  Youatt  in  his  work  on  ‘ Cattle’ 
at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  when  George  III.  had  a number  of  them  brought 
to  Windsor  every  year.  It  is  supposed  that  when  Henry,  the  first  Marquis  of 
Worcester,  surrendered  Raglan  Castle  to  the  Cromwellian  forces  about  1146, 
and  the  estates  were  sequestrated,  some  of  the  cattle  found  their  way  to 
Badminton,  which  was  purchased  from  Nicholas  Boteler  in  1613.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  present  century  the  breed  was  generally  kept  in  the  county,  and  up 
to  184.5  a herd  was  kept  at  Kingscote  and  also  at  Leonard  Stanley.”  At 
Badminton  the  herd  has  been  kept  up  to  about  one  hundred  head. 
The  account  goes  on  to  say  that  through  inbreeding  the  cattle  “ began  to 
deteriorate,  and  inquiries  were  made  in  Glamorganshire.  A small  herd  was 
found  at  Llantrissant,  belonging  to  Dr.  William  Price,  from  whom  two  cows 
and  two  bulls  were  purchased.  His  herd  when  seen  in  October,  1886,  after 
the  animals  had  been  bought  for  Badminton,  consisted  of  four  cows,  four 
heifers  and  one  bull.  Dr.  Price,  an  eccentric  gentleman  who  called  himself  a 
Druid,  then  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  said  that  the  breed  was  originally  kept  by 
his  father,  a clergyman  at  Pontypridd,  and  they  were  the  only  pure  descendants 
of  the  old  Glamorgan  breed.  As  Dr.  Price  only  lived  on  milk  and  eggs,  bread, 
butter  and  cheese,  flavoiu'ed  with  sage,  they  were  kept  for  the  dairy,  and  were 
good  milkers,  milking  through  from  calf  to  calf,  a point  he  greatly  studied. 
They  were  very  docile  and  gentle,  but  smaller  in  size,  though  of  the  same  type 
as  the  Badminton  cattle. 
‘‘From  10  to  14  quarts  daily  is  the  milk  yield,  and  they  live  in  the  park  all 
summer  and  in  open  yards  in  winter.  The  calves  suck  for  ten  days  and  are 
then  put  on  a little  skim  milk,  and  turned  out  into  the  park  without  any 
artificial  food.  They  are  put  to  breeding  when  two  years  old  from  December 
to  Jul}'.  The  herd  under  Mr.  Tucker’s  careful  management  has  during  the 
last  fifteen  years  been  carefully  drafted,  but  no  record  of  the  breeding  or  milk 
yield  has  been  kept.  Cows  are  rarely  retained  over  eight  years  old.  With 
better  selection  and  management  they  appear  to  have  somewhat  increased  in 
size.  They  weigh  when  killed  from  800  to  1,000  lbs.,  and  are  excellent  beef, 
the  local  butchers  preferring  them  to  others  as  they  are  simply  fed  on  hay  and 
water  and  ‘ die  well.’  ” 
We  learn  further  that  at  this  sale  thirty  head  averaged 
18Z.  3s.  Mr.  Bruton,  whom  we  have  to  thank  for  the  trouble 
he  has  taken  in  connection  with  supplying  information,  writes 
to  Mr.  McRow  in  a subsequent  letter  : “ I have  seen  Mr.  Carter, 
of  Harescombe,  on  whose  farm  there  was  an  old  herd  of  these 
