8 
THE OX. 
THE WEST HIGHLAND BREED. 
likewise to the superior care bestowed in breeding. After the middle of last century, Archibald, Duke of Argyle, a worthy 
and patriotic individual, bestowed considerable attention in improving the cattle of the district surrounding his own seat of In¬ 
verary ; and more recently numerous gentlemen of the Western Highlands have devoted the most sedulous attention to the im¬ 
provement of this breed. On these accounts, the variety of the Western Highlands is usually referred to as the model of the 
breed, just as that of Pembroke is regarded as the model of the Mountain Breeds of Wales. But the West Highland Breed has 
extended to Perthshire and other parts; and in almost every part of the Highlands, are now to be found gentlemen devoting their 
attention to the improvement of this staple production of their country. 
It is well known to all breeders, that a certain class of external characters indicates a disposition to arrive at an early ma¬ 
turity of bone and muscle, and to become easily fat. The most essential of these characters are, a large cylindrical body, de¬ 
pendent upon the greater curvature of the ribs, a body large with relation to the limbs, or, in other words, limbs short with 
relation to the body, a broad expanded chest, a skin soft to the touch and expansile, a relative smallness of the bones, and an 
absence of coarseness in the extremities. In certain breeds of the lower countries, these characters may be developed to a high 
degree; but in a country of mountains and heaths, with a cold, humid, ungenial climate, there must be combined with these a set 
of characters indicative of that hardiness of constitution, without which the animals would be unsuited to the condition in which 
they are placed. That extreme delicacy of form which can be easily communicated by breeding, must be avoided. The hair, 
while it is silky, unctuous, and free from harshness, should be abundant and curling ; the neck should be strong and muscular, 
the forehead rather broad ; and the nose, from the eyes to the muzzle, short; a dewlap should exist as a character of the breed; 
the eyes should be prominent and clear ; the horns should be of good length, without approaching to the coarseness of the long¬ 
horns of the lower country, spreading, and tipped with black. 
Now, in the genuine West Highlanders, we shall find such a combination of these characters, as to show them to be well 
fitted to the country in which they are reared. Their limbs are short, though muscular, their chests wide and deep, their ribs 
well arched, and their backs as straight as in any other breed. The neck, indeed, and dewlap, seem somewhat coarse in the bull, 
but these are characters indicative of their mountain state; and almost all their other points are what breeders would term good. 
They are of various colours. A disposition exists in the breeders of the Highlands to cultivate the black colour, as conceiving it 
to be more indicative of hardiness; and hence the greater number of the cattle of the Highlands are black. But the brown colour 
or the mixed black and brown, or the mouse-dun, as shown in the Cow in the plate, are yet more indicative of a disposition to 
fatten. The brown is attended with that orange tone of the skin which is valued in other breeds, as the Pembroke and the Devon, 
and there is a constant tendency in the best bred cattle of the Highlands to assume it. The breeders, therefore, should look to the 
essential characters of form, without limiting themselves to a black colour of the hair, which is a property altogether secondary. 
The Cows of this breed, like those of many alpine districts, are deficient in the power of yielding milk. The milk they give 
is rich in cream, but it is in small quantity; and they very quickly tend to run dry. They are allowed to suckle their own 
young, and often manifest the wildness of their race, by refusing to yield milk, and quickly running dry unless their young be 
suffered to suck them. 
Attempts have been sometimes made to cross this breed with the cattle of the lower country, with the Ayreshire, and even 
with the Short-horns. Fine animals are produced by first crosses of this kind; and many of the fat oxen sent to be exhibited at 
cattle shows are thus obtained. But the benefit may be said to end with the first cross. The future progeny is inferior to either 
of the parent races; to the larger cattle of the plains in their peculiar characters; and to the mountain breed in their adaptation 
to a sterile country. 
Every consideration founded on our knowledge of the character of the animals, and the nature of their country, indicates the 
propriety of maintaining the purity of the race of the Highlands, and calling forth its useful properties by careful breeding. Over 
all the Northern and Central Highlands, a vast scope for beneficial improvement is open ; and no easier method of effecting it 
presents itself, than the obtaining of bulls from those districts where circumstances have enabled the breeders to bring them to 
the greatest perfection of form. 
