THE PEMBROKE BREED. 
PLATE II. 
1. BULL, Three Years’ Old, Bred by Robert Innes Ackland, Esq., of Boulston. 
2. COW, Five Years’ Old, Bred by Mr. Innes Ackland. 
The Pembroke Breed of Cattle is proper to the county of that name, which occupies the south-western extremity of the Prin¬ 
cipality. But the breed extends to all the neighbouring districts, and may be said to be the type of the whole Mountain Breeds of 
Wales. It has been seen that the White Forest Breed, by the mere change of colour, becomes similar to the modern Pembrokes, 
and is indeed identical with them. The latter possess the distinctive horns of the Wild Breed, and the yellow, unctuous skin which 
characterizes it. The horns are fine, tapering, turned upwards at the points, and tipped with black, and the yellowness of the skin 
appears as a deep orange, nearly black, on the inside of the ears, the mammae and other naked parts. The skin is soft, and well 
covered with hair,-a character which always indicates a humid climate. The colour preferred by the breeders is black, and, in 
breeding, they adhere strictly to this colour. They regard a mixture of white as a mark of impurity, though it is manifest that it 
is not so, but a tendency to the original character of the race. The size of the Pembroke is that of the larger class of the breed 
of the West Highlands of Scotland. They have naturally a light hind-quarter, which is a character common to other mountain 
breeds, but this is a defect which a due attention to breeding corrects. Their flesh is excellent, the fat being well mixed with the 
muscular parts. They produce a large quantity of tallow, and on this account are esteemed by the butchers ; and great numbers 
of them are fattened in the rich valley of the Severn and elsewhere, for the supply of the market of London. They are hardy, and 
subsist well on scanty food : they are tolerably good feeders, and soon assume an appearance of maturity and age. The females 
have fair milking qualities, and the cows are accordingly esteemed in all parts of Wales for the domestic dairy. The dark orange 
colour of the skin, approaching to black, is deemed an important indication of the milking properties of the cow. 
The Pembrokes are sometimes used for the purposes of labour, and are regarded as trusty and docile for the yoke. But they 
are not equal in action to the Devon and Sussex, and they fall short in strength of the larger oxen of the lower country. 
This breed has been sometimes crossed by the Devon, the Hereford,and the Glamorgan; but a just estimation of the charac¬ 
ters of the breed, will show the error of this species of intermixture. The Pembroke is truly a Mountain Breed, and well adapted 
to the situations in which it is acclimated, and a mixture of foreign blood takes from its hardiness, and fitness for a country of 
mountains and scanty herbage. 
The other races of the Welsh mountains have more or less of an affinity with the Pembroke, and exhibit the traces of a com¬ 
mon origin ; but they are most of them smaller in size, lighter in the hind-quarters, and otherwise of inferior form. Such are 
those of Caernarvon and Merioneth, which are uncultivated in a high degree. The best method of improving these neglected 
breeds would be crossing with the genuine Pembrokes. 
Anglesea is a low insular tract of North Wales, abouktwenty-four miles by seventeen, separated from Caernarvon by a nar¬ 
row strait of the sea. It produces the grasses, but yet is of only moderate fertility. It rears a considerable number of cattle, 
which used to be forced to swim across the straits of Menai, until the noble iron-bridge which now connects the island with the 
main was formed. During this transit, the younger cattle were often carried several miles by the current, or drifted seaward; and 
yet the Roman cavalry swam across this strait, when, under Paulinus Suetonius, they attacked this last stronghold of British 
liberty and Druidical worship. The native cattle of this island are allied in their essential characters to the Pembroke, and 
manifest a common origin; but they are of larger size and coarser form, having acquired the characters suited to a lower 
country. The genuine Angleseas are distinguishable by the upright position of the horns, and the orange-yellow colour of the 
skin. This breed has been much mixed with Long-horns, chiefly from Ireland, and various attempts have been made by indivi¬ 
duals to improve the breed by crosses of different kinds. These attempts seem to have been made without system, perseverance 
or knowledge of the characters of the native race. They may be said to have produced no beneficial effect upon the cattle of the 
country, the best of which are manifestly those which approach the nearest to the ancient type. The main end to be aimed at in 
the improvement of the breed of Anglesea, is to remove that coarseness of form which is characteristic of the race; and this could 
be effected by a fitting selection of individuals for breeding, from the best and purest of the native breed. 
