71 
ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 
VI. Ayrshire Cattle. 
The origin of these cattle cannot be distinctly traced. That Ayrshire, 
in England, has long been noted for a very superior breed of milking 
cows, is indisputable ; yet anything like what were known as Ayrshires, 
fifty yearn ago, did not exist one hundred years prior to that time. 
That the present breed was not produced by a cross of Alderney , on 
the native cattle of Scotland, as has been asserted, is evident enough 
from their form and characteristics; that they were not produced by 
selection, is equally as well grounded. They may have originated in a 
happy cross, and careful breeding thereafter. 
That the Ayrshire owes much of its superiority to crosses of the bet- 
ter milking strains of the old Short-Horn race, would seem to be borne 
out, not only by tradition, but particularly by unmistakable character- 
istics of both these breeds. 
Ayrshire indeed is eminently adapted to the production of superior 
milicing cows. The climate is moist, with plenty of soft rains ; conse- 
quently, the grasses would naturally be succulent, and tend to produce 
the greatest flow of milk of which a cow might bo capable. 
Of the three divisions of Ayrshire — Garrick , Kyle, and Cunningham—" 
the latter is regarded as the true home of this most valuable breed. 
Indeed, they once went by the name of Cunningham cattle. 
Ayrshires of the Last Century. 
Mr. Alton, an old English writer, who has written more largely and 
intelligently than perhaps any one else of this breed, lias given much val- 
uable information concerning them as they existed in Ayrshire early in 
the last century. Speaking of them, he says : 
“ The cows kept in the districts of Kyle and Cunningham were dimin- 
utive in size, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and they yielded but a scanty return in 
milk ; they were mostly of a black color, with large stripes of white 
aloim the chine or ridge of their back, about the flanks, and on their 
faces. Their horns were high and crooked, having deep ringlets at the 
root, the plainest proof that the cattle were but scantily fed ; the chine of 
their backs stood up high and narrow ; their sides were lank, short and 
thin ; their hides thick, and. adhering to the bones ; their pile (skin) was 
coarse and open ; and few of them yielded more than six or eight quarts 
cf milk per day, when in their best plight ; or weighed, when fat, mors 
than from twelve or sixteen to twenty stone avoirdupois, sinking offal.” 
The Husbandry of Ayrshire, published in 1793, states upon the 
authority of Mr. Bruce Campbell, that the introduction of the improved 
breed was made by the then late Earl of Marehmont, and Mr. Youatt 
Chinks that i.t must have happened between 1724 and 1740. 
