ORIGIN OF THE AYRSHIRE CATTLE.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1621, 23 November 1882, Page 3

ORIGIN OF THE AYRSHIRE CATTLE.

Tin: Ayrshire cow, as we have her, is a native of County Ayr, Scotland, where we can trace her history back tor about a centiuy. Mr William Aiton of Hamilton, in a communication made to the Jhitisfi Fia ma .>' Mrrffttzhii., in IS2G. .says : — " The dairy breeds of Scotland have been formed chiefly by skilled management within the last- fifty years, and they aie still improving and extending toother countries. Till after 1770 the cows in Cunningham were small, ill-fed, illshaped, and gave but little milk. Some cow .-5 of a laiger biccd and of a brown and white color were about that time bi ought to Ayi shire from Teeswater and fioin Holland by some of the patriotic noblemen of Ayrshiie ; and these being put on good pasture, yielded mote milk than the nath c breed, and so their calves weie much bought after by the farmeis," The magazine goes on to say :—: — " \\ r e aie vci bally •issiued by old bleeders, that they had received improve* ment fiom crosses with shot thorn bulk for the last halt century, and although they in.iy now be considered a good established bleed in themselves, they are in reality meicly high grade Diuhams." Youatt, in his history of British Cattle, bays, writing in the year 1533 :— " The oiigin of the Ayrshire cow is, even at the present day, a matter of dispute ; all that is known about her is that a century ago there was no such bleed in Cunningham or Ayrshiie, in Scotland." Tlnough •several pages of speculation as to what clones have compassed the breed known as the " Ayrshires," at the time he wrote, and an elaboration of their remaikable yields of milk and butter in the Ayrshire dairies, he leaves the imprcssiou that the piesent bleed has sprung from a succession ot ciosses by shoi thorn bulls upon the native Scotch cow ; that the produce of these crosses' were inter-bred among themselves w ith care and an eye to improvement both in foim and daily quality, which finally resulted in an animal eminently litted to the soil of south-western Scotland, and the best of all they have for dairy purposes. The effort appeals first to have been to introduce shorthorns and substitute them as a dairy cow, which failed, but the cross was successful, and hence the breed. Mr Youatt proceeds to say — " On a first view, by a judge of the different varieties, the Ayrshire would be called a diminutive shorthorn, so nearly in figure, color and prominence do they approach them. They are about the size of our common stock, compact in form, exactly built for a dairy cow, light forward and heavy behind, with an exceedingly home-like domestic appearance. In color they vary from a brown, running in lighter shades up to red, and into a pale yellow, alternated more or less with white, in distinct patches, rarely mingled into roan. There is scarcely that uniformity of appearance with them that there is in the shorthorns, yet they appear to hold true to the dairy qualities throughout, which, like the gentle voice in woman, is an excellent thing in a cow." A much later article in the •' American Agriculturist," 18G8 says, "The Ayrshires have been bred tor milk in a country where quantity and quality were both wanted, where the pa&turos were only moderately lich, lesl they should be disturbed in the exertion, and where rapid fattening for the shambles was also a desideratum. The result is a breed of no more than ordinary size, many being decidedly small, but hardy, easy keepers, yielding a large quantity of excellent milk rich both in butter and cheese. The claim set forth for these cows is that they will give more than any other breed., This, we believe, is noc disputed. Ayrshires have been known in this country since 1522, when we believe, they were first imported. The stock was kept pure, however, only a few generations, «%s it became blended with the shorthorns, , and the blood now flows in some of lX .bur registered shorthorns. In, 1831, other . animals were brought oyer, and, ever since that time the breed has grown' in favor.. The animals are prevailingly of medium size. The cows have great digestive capacity, as -indicated -by their* . deep,*full~ 'bodies. The cojora are, unusually, red,<spotted with ,white, ,tlie sppts lijync ,vejy well f d6finecl, , often ,6 ne And sprinklefl^ovo^ , tfio, body in patches."— Home' jjap^i, ' _ ;> , jU j i