Herd Record of the Association of Breeders of Thorough-Bred Neat Stock

Herd Record of the Association of Breeders of Thorough-Bred Neat Stock - Short Horns, Ayrshires and Devons

The breed of cattle now know as the Ayrshire, undoubtedly originated in the county of that name, in Scotland; but by what special means it was formed cannot be particularly told. Youatt (1835) says, "A century ago there was no such breed in Ayrshire or in Scotland;" and he asks, "Did the [present] Ayrshire cattle arise entirely from a careful selection of the native breed?" adding, "If they did it is a circumstance unparalleled in the history of agriculture. The native breed may be ameliorated by careful selection; its value may be incalculably increased; some good qualities may for the first time be developed; but yet there will be some resemblance to the original stock." A comparison of the modern breed with the description given by Aiton of the cattle which he says occupied Ayrshire fifty years before the time when he wrote (1806), will show that the difference is great. He says, "The cows kept in the districts of Kyle and Cunningham [districts of Ayrshire], were of a diminutive size, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and they yielded but a scanty return in milk; they were mostly of a black color, with stripes of white along the chine or ridge of their backs, about their flanks and on their faces. Their horns were high and crooked, * * * their pile [hair] was coarse and open; and few of them yielded more than three or four Scotch pints [six to eight wine quarts] of milk a day." Those who are acquainted with the Ayrshire cattle of to-day, will[4] readily admit that they present a wide contrast with the old stock, according to the above description of the latter; and the suggestion of Youatt, that the present breed could not have arisen entirely by selection from the old, seems reasonable. It follows, then, that the Ayrshire, like the modern or "improved" Short Horn breed, originated in crossing. The question as to the breeds from which it was derived, will be briefly considered, although the attempt will not be made to give precise details on this point. Various accounts represent that the Earl of Marchmont, some time between 1724 and 1740, introduced to his estates, in Berwickshire, some cattle, conjectured (their history was not positively known) to be of the Holderness or Teeswater breed, and that, not long afterwards, some of the stock was carried to estates belonging to the same nobleman, in that part of Ayrshire called Kyle. But, perhaps, the main nucleus of the improved breed was the "Dunlop stock," so called, which appears to have been possessed by a distinguished family by the name of Dunlop, in the Cunningham District of Ayrshire, as early as 1780. This stock, it is said, was derived, at least in part, from animals imported from Holland. The Dunlop cows soon became noted. Rawlin (as quoted by Youatt), who wrote in 1794, speaking of the cattle of Ayrshire, says, "They have another breed, called the Dunlop, which are allowed to be the best race for yielding milk in Great Britain, or Ireland, not only for large quantities, but also for richness and quality." This, though extravagant praise, perhaps, shows that the stock possessed remarkable qualities at that early day. It was, indeed, held in great esteem still earlier. In Youatt's Treatise, it is mentioned, when speaking of the cattle of Dumfrieshire, that the poet Burns, when he occupied a farm near the city of Dumfries, "not content with the Galloway breed, introduced some of the West-Country cows, which he thought would produce more milk." In the poet's published correspondence, allusion is made, in a letter dated November 13th, 1788, to a heifer which had been presented to him by the proprietor of Dunlop House, as "the finest[5] quey in Ayrshire." Mrs. Dunlop, it will be remembered, was a special friend and correspondent of the poet.[A] ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 35448
Author: Various
Release Date: Mar 2, 2011
Format: eBook
Language: English