yb&ife' 
Vol. XLV. No. 1923. 
NEW YORK. DECEMBER 4, 1886. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
*2.00 PER YEAR. 
• Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1S36, by the Rural New Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
authorities to have contributed either by direct 
crosses on the original rough, but hardy, stock, 
or by “dashes of blood” to the formation of 
the breed, and some of the distinctive traits 
of all these breeds occasionally, by atavism, 
crop out in the modem Ayrsliires. 
Medium in size, short in the legs, excellent 
foragers, with clean, strong bones, and not a 
pound of superfluous flesh, cows of this breed 
thrive ami give large messes of milk where less 
hardy auimals, with less activity and more 
fastidiousness, would hardly pick up a living, 
Ayrsliires are considered specially valuable 
where the pasture-laud is uot of first-class qua 
lity. for their mouths seem to lie harder than 
those of Short-horns and most other breeds, 
and they do well on dry, wiry pastures on 
which the more aristocratic cattle would 
starve. On second or third-rate land heavy, 
costly cattle require much extra care and arti¬ 
ficial food or they will certainly lose money; 
but on such land Ayrsliires do well. But. 
although these cattle manage to thrive on poor 
pastures and scanty fare, they make a gener¬ 
ous return for abundant food and good treat- 
content with the proceeds of their herds of this 
breed, although it is true their reputation for 
cheese is still higher. 
When in milk, the Ayrshire is an excellent 
machine for converting all her food beyoud 
the economical requirements of her system in¬ 
to milk. She lays on little or no flesh; all that 
goes into the mouth, beyond what, is needed 
to run the machine, is poured into the milk 
pail. When dry, however, and well fed, she 
readily takes on flesh of an excellent quality, 
iu which fat and loan are much more evenly 
intermingled than is generally the case in the 
distinctively beef breeds. Although the meat 
is not laid on so thickly in the choice parts as 
in the Short-horn, Hereford, or black polls, 
yet it always brings a good price, and, as a 
rule, the carcass weighs considerably more 
than the appearance of the live animal would 
indicate 
At Fig. 442 is shown a typical Ayrshire cow. 
The favorite color is a light brown, or brown 
and white; some few are fouud black, or black 
and white, and now and then even a pure 
white is seen. Red and white, however, is the 
without projecting too far, filling up well the 
space between the legs. It should not be fleshy, 
nor should it hang down loosely. The quarters 
should be alike in size, aud the teats be set on 
widely and equally apart, not hanging down 
like a bunch of carrots under a loose, flabby 
bag. The head is preferably short; the fore¬ 
head wide; the eyes rather small, but lively 
and intelligent; the horns set on wide, but in¬ 
clining upwards and curving slightly inwards; 
the neck loug and straight from the head to 
the top of the shoulder, free from loose skin 
on the under side, tine at its junction with the 
head, the muscles enlarging towards the shoul¬ 
der: forequarters thin in front, generally in¬ 
creasing in depth and thickness backwards; 
skin rather thick, but soft and elastic; general 
form of the body, when viewed from the side, 
wedge-shape. This peculiar wedge-shape form, 
more noticeable on the Ayrshire than on any 
other breed, is due less to deficiency forward 
than to the large bulk of the carcass aft. 
Great attention has been given of late years 
to the improvement of the breed in Scotland. 
An Ayrshire Herd Book has been established, 
milking competition, 
have been held, and 
an annual exhibition 
of cows called the 
“Ayrshire Derby,” 
has attracted to Ayr¬ 
shire many visitors 
from other parts of 
the United Kingdoms 
. \ aud the competition 
Ai \ for the 38 prizes offer- 
ed at the‘“Derby” has 
been very keen. 
/ large uumbers of 
It Ayrs hires are an- 
| ; . nually importeded 
into England and 
• Ireland, and the Cork 
I , ' and Kerry Agrlcul- 
tural Societies have 
pi | eudea cored to pro- 
fiyjCi mote the importation 
. aud breeding of these 
I' cattle by offering 
“JB tr ‘ A"?-"- : special prizes for 
fcfc them. A y r s h i r e s 
j Jjj were first imported 
jjjfc 1 / into the United States 
' in 1831; but the breed 
tt'Li has changed consid.* 
Mq erablv iu appearance 
y - a. sincf then, especially 
in color. At first 
w their flow of milk was 
Xless than in their na- 
tive home, where the 
moist, uniform cli- 
X ' mate—cooler in Sum- 
, ^ mer and warmer in 
Winter — making 
N fresh, green pastures, 
■ - / c/ A Jil h. was doubtless more 
favorable for milk 
secretion. The Ame¬ 
rican Ayrshiresof to¬ 
day. however, are 
thought to be fully as good as those iu the Old 
Country, while the milk is said to be richer. 
Many experienced dairy farmers thiuk no cow 
is equal to an Ayrshire for milk or cheese, 
especially under adverse circumstances—on 
hilly land, with scant herbage, aud a climate 
subject to sudden aud extreme changes of tem¬ 
perature. 
Auy faults? Yes; what is there in this sub¬ 
lunary world without some? The teats of 
young cows are generally too short for con¬ 
venient handling; but with skillful milkiug 
they become quite loug enough after the sec¬ 
ond or third calf. The sleepless bellgerency 
of the cows is also a drawback; and knobs or 
other devices should be fastened to the ends of 
the horns to lessen the danger from this cause 
AYRSHIRE CATTLE. 
mono the various breeds 
m^>9lXvV s AC of cattle whose merits for 
'\'\ too shambles or the dairy 
Sr0/y J have justly won them 
g) Afmc; popularity, the Ayrshire 
WY j/J is of the most recent L'or- 
)V\VJq) ni; dion. The nineteenth 
\ century was from lo to Id 
<3o y wirs old before the catt le 
-Ayrshire, which have 
j since become known by 
oC=a~ 3 toe name of the county 
in they originated, 
^ me known to have poss- 
cssed those distinctive 
characteristics aud that power of transmitting 
them with certaiuty to their progeny, which 
would entitle thorn to bo considered a breed. 
The changes effected in the appearance of the 
Ayrshire within the last 50 years have been 
considerably greater 
than in cattle of any 
other well known 
breed; for In this 
period the improve- / 
nients made in Ayr- & 
shires have been of a V 
more radical nature 
than those effected on ]§[$\ 
any other breed. As r,-' * 
may be inferred from r 
its recent formation, -% 
it is preeminently a 
breeders’breed, 
owing its origin less 'LliA 
to environ!nont—sur- 
rounding conditions 
—and more to care 
and judicious selec¬ 
tion than any of the 
other well known 
breeds. More than a 
century ago, it is 
true, the rough eattle 
of Ayrshire bad a , 
local reputation for 
hardy and deep-milk¬ 
ing qualities, but the 
meagre descriptions 
that have comedown . 
to us from those days 
show that they differ 
greatly from the Ayr¬ 
shire's of to-day. It VvVySS'M; 
is geuendly believed > V 
that the cows from 
which both they aud 
the Short-horns are 
descended were the '' 
country cows belong- 
ing to the district be- ' V\V 
tween the Wear and — . ✓ ' 
the Tees, and it is 
quite probable that 
some of these cows— 
immemorially good 
milkers were bought by Scotch dealers or 
drovers when returning north after disposing 
of their “drives” of black cattle iu England. 
On the cows thus introduced, it is very likely 
that West Highland bulls were used for cross 
iug; for cows of that breed have always been 
good milkers, and the Ayrsliires of to-day 
often in color, and always iu the size and shape 
of their horns, afford clear evidence of West 
Highland blood. Moreover, both breeds are 
spiteful and pugnacious iu disposition, and 
ever ready to gore or rip up each other when¬ 
ever a chance offers, even when bred together. 
The Jersey, Guernsey, Short-hum, and oven 
the Holstein are all supposed by different 
TYPICAL AYRSHIRE CONY. Fig. 442 
ment. Under such circumstances, the milk 
records of Ayrsliires compare very favorably 
with those of auy other breed, anil iu com pa. 
ristm with the amount of food consumed, good 
judges, speaking from experience with this 
and other breeds, declare that cows of no other 
breed can compete with these. Under the 
microscope their milk is fouud to be rich iu 
easeine, and the cream globules are numerous 
but very unequal in size. This is considered a 
defect iu the Ayrshire as a butter-cow, for the 
cream doesn’t rise well when the globules are 
uuequal iu size, and it requires skillful churn¬ 
ing to get all the butter out; yet on both sides 
of the Atlantic many butter-makers are quite 
most common color; though there are a con¬ 
siderable number of red, or mostly red, some 
white and red, aud a few flecked, but seldom 
or never is a roan-colored Ayrshire met with. 
The colors rarely mingle together, the line of 
separation being generally quite distinct. 
Some years ago an Ayrshire was hardly con¬ 
ceded pure unless it had a black nose, but now 
a white nose is not looked upon as a drawback, 
though dark-ml or black noses are still the 
favorites. The udder is the chief point from 
which we eau infer the milking capabilities of 
any cow, and especially of mi Ayrshire. It 
should reach well forward, and be firmly at¬ 
tached to the body; it should be broad behind, 
