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 perhaps extravagant praise, shows that the stock possessed remarkable properties 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 Dumfriesshire, 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 13, 1788, to a heifer which had been presented to him by the proprietor of Dunlop House, as "the finest quey in Ayrshire." Mrs. Dunlop, it will be recollected, was a special friend and correspondent of the poet. As a further explanation of the preference given by Burns for the "west country cows," it may be mentioned that the writer, when visiting Scotland for the purchase of Ayrshire cattle in the year 1858, had several interviews with the poet's sister, the late Mrs. Begg, of Ayr, in one of which she stated that her brother, during his occupancy of the farm of Ellisland, near Dumfries, "kept a dairy and made considerable of cheese." His efforts to procure the Ayrshire cows show that they had, even at that time, a high reputation for this object. Colonel Le Couteur, in a paper on the Jersey or Alderney cow, published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, refers to a statement by Quayle, that the Ayrshire was a cross of the Short-horn and Alderney, and adds, himself, that "there is considerable affinity between the two breeds"-meaning the Ayrshire and Alderney. Rawlin also says, in reference to the Ayrshire breed: "It is said to be a mixture by bulls brought from the Island of Alderney with their own, or the old race of cows." Martin says: "At some period or other there has evidently been a cross with the Durham or Holderness, and perhaps, also, with the Alderney breed." Professor Low, in his "Illustrations of British Quadrupeds," says: "From all the evidence of which, in the absence of authentic documents, the case admits, the dairy breed of Ayrshire owes the characteristics which distinguish it from the older race, to a mixture of the blood of the races of the continent, and of the dairy breed of Alderney." In addition to the foregoing evidence respecting the origin of the Ayrshire cattle, it should be stated that the present leading type of the breed was formed in part by an infusion of the blood of the Kyloe or West Highland breed. This appeared in the first instance, probably, in what has been called the Swinley variety. The facts, as authentically obtained by myself in Scotland, on this point, are substantially as follows: Theophilus Parton, of Swinley farm, near Dalry, Ayrshire, about forty-five years ago, took great pains to establish a herd of what were deemed the best Ayrshire cattle, into which he infused a strain of the West Highland blood, the particular degree of which is not publicly or generally known. The Swinley stock differs from the older Ayrshire in having a shorter head, with more breadth across the eyes, more upright and spreading horns, more hair, and that of a more mossy character, and generally better constitutions. They are also somewhat smaller boned than the old stock, though from their superior symmetry and greater tendency to fatten they are fully equal to the former in weight of carcass when slaughtered. The following points given by the Ayrshire Agricultural Association in 1853, "as indicating superior quality," will give an idea of the standard of Ayrshire cattle as recognized by the leading breeders: Head short; forehead wide; nose fine, between the muzzle and the eyes; muzzle moderately large; eyes full and lively; horns widely set on, inclining upwards, and curving slightly inwards; neck long and straight from the head to the top of the shoulders, free from loose skin on the underside, fine at its junction with the head, and the muscles symmetrically enlarging towards the shoulders;, shoulders thin at the top; brisket light; the whole fore-quarter thin in front, and gradually increasing in depth and width. backwards; back short and straight; spine well defined, especially at the shoulders; short ribs arched; the body deep at the flanks; and the milk-veins well developed; pelvis long, broad. and straight; hook (or hip) bones wide apart, and not much overlaid with fat; thighs deep and broad; tail long and slender,. and set on a level with the back; milk-vessel (udder) capacious, and extending well forward; hinder-part broad, and firmly attached to the body; the sole or under surface nearly level; the teats from two to two and a half inches in length, equal in thickness, and hanging perpendicularly; their distance apart. at the sides should be equal to about one-third the length of the vessel, and across to about one-half of the breadth; legs short, the bones fine, and the joints firm; skin soft and elastic,. and covered with soft, close and woolly hair; the colors preferred are brown, or brown and white, the colors being distinctly defined; weight of the animal when fattened about forty imperial stones (that is 560 pounds), sinking the offal. As to the annual returns of Ayrshire cows in dairy produce, Professor Low says: "Healthy cows in good pastures give 800 to 900 gallons of milk in a year." Aiton says "600 gallons a year may be deemed about an average of this breed." And the author of "British Husbandry" says, in reference to this yield: "If equaled, we believe it will not be found excelled by any other breed in the kingdom." Martin says: "The milk of a good Ayrshire cow will afford 250 pounds of butter, or 500 pounds of cheese annually." Milburn's estimate is, that cows of this breed will give from 600 to 800 gallons of milk in the course of the year, and as much as 260 pounds of butter. Haxton cites many statistics, from which it appears that in one dairy of thirty cows the average annual yield of milk was 632 gallons; that 94 quarts afforded a pound of butter, amounting to an aggregate of 274 pounds in a year. He adds: "From these data, it appears that the milk of the Ayrshire breed of cows is not only abundant in quantity, but also rich in those substances which constitute excellence of quality, and when with these qualities is considered the small amount of food consumed, the result is so favorable to this breed that few thoroughly acquainted with the subject, will refuse to rank the Ayrshire cow among the most valuable for dairy purposes in the United Kingdom." In the competition at Ayr in 1861, for a prize offered by the Duke of Athol, the average weight of milk per day, for two days, from six cows, was about 50 pounds each, the cows being milked twice a day. The cow which took the first prize gave an average of 57 pounds per day. On this occasion, the Duke of Athol stated that the cow (then in his possession) which received the first prize of the previous year had given an average of upwards of twelve quarts of milk per day for a year, actual measurement having shown a product of 1,110 gallons in something less than twelve months. Comparatively few accurate trials have been made with specimens of the breed in this country. One of four imported Ayrshire cows, owned several years since by the late J. P. Cushing, of Watertown, now Belmont, Massachusetts, gave in one year 3,864 quarts of milk, beer measure. One of the cows, imported by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, in 1837, while kept by the late E. Phinney, Esq., of Lexington, Massachusetss, was said to to have afforded sixteen pounds of butter per week, for several weeks in succession. The imported cow, Jean Armour, owned by II. H. Peters, of Southboro', Massachusetts, in 1862, gave an average of 49 pounds of milk a day for 114 days, commencing June 1st; and for the month of July her average was 51 pounds 13 ounces per day. Her milk for three days in July yielded six pounds of butter. weight at the close of the trial was 967 pounds. Her live It will be understood, from what has already been said, that the dairy is the leading object with the breeders of Ayrshire |