, r UC-NRLF $B 711 b3T ^i:- /I'l^^ /^0^t^lt>^ (7)^:.^.^^^.^ .^ ^''"^ y^^^^C^^ ^r^j^^^^^j /T"^^ ^ U-^ii^^^ X^ /V ^V THE CATTLE, SHEEP AND PIGS OF GKEAT BRITAIN: SERIES OF ARTICLES VARIOUS BREEDS OP THE UNITED KINGDOM, THEIR HISTORY, MANAGEMENT, &c. Edited by JOHN COLEMAN, Editor of the Farm Department of " The Field," and formerly Professor of Agriculture at the Eotal Agricultural College, Cirencester. With Illustrations from the Original Drawings by Harrison Weir. LONDON : HOEACE COX, *'THE FIELD" OFFICE, 346, STRAND. 1887, iirr> impAUY LONDON : PBINTED BY HORACE COX, 346, STRAND, W.C. PREFACE. N issuing a Second Edition of The Cattle, Sheep, and Pigs of Geeat Beitain, it lias been thought desirable to combine the whole in one volume, which, much handier in form and reason- able in price, will it is hoped prove useful to both the student and those about embarking in a business which, to conduct with success, requires much more thorough study and training than has as a rule been given to it. Most of the original articles reappear in amended form, and it is believed that the information as to the various breeds accurately describes their present position and influence. The original drawings, by Mr. Harrison Weir, have been reduced in size by a photographic process in order to adapt them to the smaller pages of the present volume. As in the original books, it has been thought desirable to introduce the articles on the different breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs, by observations on management, which IV PREFACE. are based upon tlie Editor's practical experience extending over a period of more than forty years. The Editor desires to express his sense of obligation to those who have so willingly aided him in the work of reproduction. JOHN COLEMAN. York, March, 1887. CONTENTS, THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. Chapter I. Introductory pa^e 1 Chapter II. Breeding and G-eneral Management 12 Chapter III. Principles of Feeding, and Value of different kinds of Food 31 Chapter IY. Buildings, and the Management of Manure 59 Chapter V. Dairy Management, the Milk Trade, &c 82 Chapter YI. Shorthorns. By John Thornton 104 b CONTENTS. Chapter VII. The Hereford Breed of Cattle. By T. Duckham . . . 2)age 1 12 Chapter VIII. Devon Breed of Cattle. By Lieut.-Col. J. T. Davy.. .. 125 Chapter IX. The Longhorns. By Gilbert Murray 132 Chapter X. The Sussex Breed of Cattle. By A. Heasman 139 Chapter XI. Norfolk and Suffolk Eed-Polled Cattle. By Thomas Fulcher 144 Chapter XII. Galloway Cattle. By Gilbert Murray 151 Chapter XIII. The Angus-Aberdeen Cattle 158 Chapter XIV. The Ayrshire Breed of Cattle. By Gilbert Murray ... 168 Chapter XV. West Highland Cattle. By John Eobertson 176 CONTENTS. VU Chapter XYI. The Glamorgan Breed of Cattle. Bv Morgan Evans . . . page 188 Chapter XYII. Pembrokeshire or Castlemartin Cattle. By Morgan Evans 195 Chapter XVIII. The Anglesea Cattle. By Morgan Evans 206 Chapter XIX. The Kerry Breed of Cattle. By the late E. O. Pringle ... 213 Chapter XX. The Jersey Breed of Cattle. By John M. Hall 219 Chapter XXI. The Guernsey Breed of Cattle. By " A Native " 227 VIU CONTENTS. THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. Chapter I. Introductory ^age 241 Chapter II. The Management of Ewes up to Lambing 247 Chapter III. Preparations for and Attention during Lambing 257 Chapter IV. Management from Birtb to Weaning 265 Chapter V. From Weaning to Market 269 Chapter VI. On Wool 276 Chapter VII. Leicester Sheep 283 Chapter VIII. Border Leicesters. By John Usher 289 CONTENTS. IX Chapter IX. Cotswold Sheep page 297 . Cha-ptee X. Long- Woolled Lincoln Sheep 304 Chapter XI. The Devon Longwools. By Joseph Darby 310 Chapter XII. Eomney Marsh Sheep 324 Chapter XIII. Southdown Sheep 327 Chapter XIY. The Hampshire or West Country Down Sheep. By E. P. Squarey 335 Chapter XY. Shropshire Sheep 341 Chapter XYI. t Oxfordshire Down Sheep. By Messrs. A. F. M. Druce andC. Hobbs 351 Chapter XYII. The Eoscommon Sheep. By the late E. O. Pringle 357 CONTENTS. Chapter XVIII. Negrette Merino Sheep ^age 363 Chapter XIX. Exmoor Sheep ^ 369 Chapter XX. The Black-faced or Scotch Mountain Sheep 376 Chapter XXI. Cheviot Sheep. By John Usher 387 Chapter XXII. Dorset Horned Sheep. By Joseph Darby 395 Chapter XXIII. Welsh Mountain Sheep. By Morgan Evans 408 Chapter XXIV. The Radnor Sheep. By Morgan Evans 414 Chapter XXV. Herdwick Sheep. By H. A. Spedding 417 CONTENTS. THE PIGS OF GREAT BRITAIN. Chapter I. Introductory ... page 425 Chapter TI. The Berkshire Pig 446 Chapter III. Black Suffolk Pigs 455 Chapter IV. The Large White Breed of Pigs 459' Chapter V. Small White Pigs 465 Chapter VI. Middle Bred White Pigs 470 Chapter VII. The Black Dorset Pig 473^ XU CONTENTS. Chapter VIII. The Tamworth Pig... ;page 4)76 Index 479 %fit Cattle, Si^eep, atttr figs OF (BxtKt Britain. THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY. OENED CATTLE have been cultivated in this country from the earliest times. We are told that the Britons neglected the art of cultivation, so well known to the Romans, and contented themselves with looking after cattle, living on their flesh and milk. No doubt breeds were kept up by a process of natural selection. Little care would be bestowed upon the selection of sires, but the stronger animals would be reserved as males, and, running out with the cows, lived in a condition of semi-wildness, of which we see instances now in the white cattle of Chillingham Park. It is probable that the descendants of the original cattle are those which we see in Sussex, Devonshire, Wales, and Scotland, and it would not be difficult to trace a certain likeness. They are all middle-horned type, but climate and food have doubtless caused great changes. The Longhorns, which were originally derived from Ireland, first took root in Lancashire, and from thence spread to the midland counties, where for a time they formed the prevailing breed, being superseded by the Hereford, which probably were derived from the same stock as the Devon. B 2 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. The Shorthorns are evidently of very mixed origin, possibly owing some of their merits to foreign blood. They were at firs^ restricted to Yorkshire and Durham, bnt have, from their superior qualities as rent-paying cattle, pushed their way in all directions, and become established wherever climate and soil are sufficiently good. Different breeds differ considerably in aptitude to feed, the more cultivated sorts — those which differ most from the original types — are as a rule the quickest feeders. Thick-skinned animals are proverbially slow, although the quality of flesh is good because more compact. The less highly cultivated sorts thrive upon harder keep, and can be kept with a profit when the better sorts would starve. And this to a certain extent limits the utility, and points out the localities best suited for the different breeds. The Shorthorn above all other breeds exercises an influence on quality. Ireland affords the most telling example of this fact. Only a few years ago Irish was a term of reproach as applied to cattle, and the hard-skinned, big- boned mongrels exhibited in our fairs were distinguished at a glance from home-breds. Now, thanks to the prepotency of Shorthorn sires, the best lots of Irish are quite equal in appear- ance, and often higher in price, than good stock bred here. The marvellous change that has been made proves how great the value of good sires, and how important it is to use well-bred and well-shaped animals. But it is not necessary to go to Ireland for examples of Shorthorn influence. Compare the character of the stock in any of our markets now with what it was thirty years since. The change is entirely attributable to the influence of good bulls. Whoever travels through the length and breadth of this country cannot but be struck with the general quality of the cattle which everywhere meet his eye, and, if he can look back for thirty or forty years, the progress that has been made will appear in a very favourable light. North, south, east, and west, with few exceptions, it is the same, some counties being better off in this respect than others, those in which the holdings are the largest being the best. Whilst we may well be proud of the progress that has marked the present century, and which has given us up to the present time a leading position as breeders of INTRODUCTORY. tte most valuable and purest animals in the world, thereby giving us a market for a large portion of the cattle-breeding countries of the world; we must not rest upon our laurels, and imagine that, because our leading breeders have done such great things in the past, therefore we can afford to leave things as they are. The watchword should be progress. We must take care that nothing is wanted on our part — the great meat and milk producing community — to make the most of our opportunities, and take care to maintain, and, if possible, increase, the leading position that has been won for us by the energy, enterprise, and skill of our leading breeders. In con- sidering to whom merit is chiefly due for the work that has been done, it would be base ingratitude to overlook the great encouragement that has been afforded by those landlords who, truly realising the duties as well as the privileges of their position, have devoted time and money to cultivate the best animals of their particular kinds. The influence of such centres has been most marked upon the cattle of surrounding districts. Eecent troubles have (for a time only, we trust) checked such enterprise ; but the good seed has been sown, and a more correct appreciation generally exists as to the importance of using good sires — not only animals of undeniable lineage, by which alone we can hope for the transmission of hereditary qualities, but animals that exhibit in themselves all the best characteristics of their respective lines of blood. There was a time, during what may now be styled the breeding mania, when, both here and in America, pedigree, almost regardless of personal qualities, carried the day, and what is known as line-breeding was regarded as of vital importance. If only there was no bar sinister in the scutcheon, personal defects were overlooked. The closer an animal's ancestry had been allied, the greater its value, although constitution and real utility had been seriously injured in the process. Experience has now happily dissipated erroneous notions, and, whilst the value of blood is justly appre- ciated, it is felt that the best test of that value is the possession of personal excellence, and the necessity for an occasional out- cross of new, though it may be distantly-allied, blood, by which (if judiciously used) vigour and good points are maintained and increased, is fully recognised. We remember the time when a B 2 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. single cross of blood, introduced, it may be, several generations back, most seriously affected market value, although the possessor had every personal merit to justify the innovation. Fortunately for our future prosperity as cattle breeders, more sensible views are now held, and it is generally allowed that, in order to main- tain and improve our best breeds, there must be from time to time a dash of fresh blood brought in. Although much has been done in the way of improving our breeds of cattle, there still remains a very great deal to do. For example, in several of our principal dairy countries the quality of the cows is not as good as it might be ; and, as it is from these districts that much of our store stock comes, it is through their medium that we must look for an improvement in the general quality of the stock spread over the surface of the country. Too often the cows kept have no tendency whatever to make flesh, even when dry and well fed. No amount of good food could render sueh animals fat, and their offspring must inherit their bad pro- perties. An idea prevails that, by improving the quality and meat-producing properties of dairy cows, their value as milkers will be lessened ; but this need not be the case if proper care be taken in selecting bulls of well-known milking families to cross with the existing stock. There are, even among the very highest- bred Shorthorns, cows which give as much milk and butter as common ones ; and, where milking powers have not been disturbed by unnatural feeding, and due care has been exercised in the choice of bulls. Shorthorns yield more milk than any other pure breed. It should also be kept in mind that we breed oxen as well as cows. If a dairy fanner buys a bull simply because it has a pedigree and is a bull, without any reference to the milking properties of the family from which he springs, such a man does not deserve to be lucky in his purchase. Farmers should take more pains to inquire into these matters before purchasing, and then breeders of bulls would find it conduce to their benefit to pay more attention than they do now to the milking properties of their stock. The results of the use of high-bred bulls with rough cows are sometimes astonishing, the calves partaking so much of their sire's quality, being smarter-looking and having far better coats than their mothers. IXTEODTJCTORY. The great loss of cattle from the first attack of cattle-plague from 1864 to 1866 led gradually to a great increase of rearing, and, although this desirable feature was seriously checked from time to time by the prevalence of contagious diseases, especially pleura and foot-and-mouth disease, yet of late years there has been a gradual and steady increase in numbers, until at the present time (1886) our stock of cattle has nearly reached the numbers previous to 1864 ; how large the increase has been since 1866 will be seen by the following figures, extracted from the statistics published by the Agricultural Department of the Privy Council : England. Wales. Scotland. Ireland. Islands. Total. 1866 1885 3,307,034 4,713,101 541,401 708,859 937,401 1,176,004 3,746,157 4,228,751 37,700 42,045 8,569,693 10,868,760 A few years since, the high rates for store cattle and the remunerative sales of dairy produce encouraged those whose circumstances were favourable to go in more for breeding and rearing. Production was greatly stimulated, and, as a conse- quence, supply has overtaken demand, and during the last year or two, and especially in 1885, reaction occurred. Store cattle fell considerably, though commanding prices which a few years ago would have been considered fairly remunerative. It may be that for a time the business of rearing may not prove so remune- rative as buying store animals that others have bred. Yet, wherever the conditions are favourable, we strongly advise breeders and rearers to stick to their system, believing that, with increasing population and more spending capacity by the wage-earning class, there will be room for profitable manage- ment. And it is quite certain that the use of good bulls on dairy stock will so improve the progeny that, whether reared at home or sold at birth, the outlay in a good male animal will be amply repaid. Everyone who has had any experience in rearing must know that a mongrel-bred calf is much dearer at IZ. than a good one at 21. When they are both a year old, the one will be a very different animal from the other. We must impress upon farmers generally, and young ones in particular, the importance to be attached to colour in choosing THE CATTLE OP GREAT BRITAIN. animals to breed from. More stress should be laid on this point than would at first appear, so-called colour j stock finding a much readier sale than when the predominating colour is white. It may be prejudice, but graziers do not like white stock, and will not have them if possible. They are not con- sidered so hardy as reds and roans, and as store stock, especially if it is intended to do them roughly, they have many disadvan- tages. It is a fact that white animals seem more liable to para- sites than their richer- coloured companions. How this is to be accounted for we cannot vouch, but there can be no doubt as to its truth. Cattle will be found to detoriate, so to speak, in colour, i.e., they will, generation after generation, become lighter. In order to obviate this, it is necessary to keep the colour up to the mark by the introduction of fresh blood of the desired colour, and descended from stock of a similar colour. As regards shorthorns, blood-red sires are now very much more in demand than roans, though the blending may be rich, and it is evident that this results from experience. Eeds are more likely to beget stock like themselves in colour, or at least of a roan colour; whereas roans will often produce white animals. Animals exer- cise influence on their offspring in proportion to the purity and length of their descent ; therefore a pure white bull will be likely to beget more white calves than coloured ones, although all the cows put to him were red ones, always supposing the cows not to be of equal purity of blood. If we start with red as a foundation colour, we can easily get the stock lighter, and there- fore this colour will be found the best. The use of red bulls bred from red stock will, in a short time, influence very greatly the colour of a herd. As farther evidence in the same direction, we may remind our readers that the breeders of Charolais cattle in the centre of France, which should be of a creamy white colour, have introduced English Shorthorn bulls from time to time with great advantage to quality of flesh and early maturity and little risk as to colour, so long as they used only white animals descended from white parents. It is a mistake to suppose that well-bred animals require more food, and that of better quality, than rough ones. No doubt a Welsh runt will do well where an average-bred beast would com- paratively starve ; but between the common black-nose, hard- INTEODTJCTOEY. skinned, light-fleshed cow so often seen and one with two or three crosses of pure blood, there is no difference whatever in this respect. We will not say that the better- bred cow will do better on very poor food, because we believe such not to be the case ; but, if the quality of the food be improved, then the well-bred animal will soon show a marked superiority, and, when store animals are brought to market, the difference in the value between good and bad stock, either barren or in calf, cannot but be of vital importance to the farmer. In the case of poor-bred, barren cows there might be very considerable difficulty in selling them at all, whereas in the other they will command a very good price indeed, a really good cow being often worth almost as much barren as in calf. We have endeavoured to explain how it is possible easily and speedily to enhance the value of a herd without being at any great expense. Shorthorn bulls may be bought at a moderately low price as yearlings, or at a more mature age, either at sales or by private contract. At sales the purchaser, unless he have a previous knowledge of the herd, must remain more or less in the dark in regard to their qualities and their probable utility for his purpose. Against this he must set the chance of securing a cheap bargain. Bulls of from four to six years old may often be bought at a butcher's price, and, providing they will get stock, will often answer the dairyman's purpose better than a younger one. For this reason, young animals of fashion- able blood will always command good prices, whereas older ones will be sold cheap. It must not be inferred, because a bull has failed to get show animals from high-bred cows, that he will not answer when used upon rough ones. The better his quality, the more marked his effects. The Shorthorn, with its capacity for early development, com- bining, when properly selected and carefully bred, milking and feeding properties, yielding for a given quantity of food a larger return than any other breed, is the animal that seems to offer the greatest advantage to the breeder, and it is not exceeding the truth to say that, when circumstances are suitable. Short- horns will be patronised. The very fact that, originating a century since on the banks of the Tees, in a comparatively small district, they have become distributed through the length 8 THE CATTLE OP GREAT BRITAIN. and breadth of the land, and penetrated to the far distant shores of America and Australia, speaks volumes for the merits of this breed. Ireland, once remarkable for its mongrel stock, owes the vast improvement of its herds to Shorthorn influence. In parts of Scotland the Shorthorn is to be found, and, if he does not displace the aborigines, he blends with them, and pro- duces magnificent cross-breeds. The Shorthorn, however, requires good and abundant food, and is not suited to exposure in a severe or very moist climate. The young animals must be well cared for, as after-growth greatly depends upon a supply of nutritious food during early Hfe. Another remarkable illustra- tion of the spread of these cosmopolitan cattle is to be found in Cumberland and Westmoreland. Half a century since they were scarcely known, and we were told by a farmer still living that, forty years since, he had to go to Darlington market to buy calving heifers ; now and for a long period Penrith has been one of the best marts in the kingdom for well-bred stock. The influence of good bulls in our dairy districts has been very marked. We have heard it said by a successful breeder in Gloucestershire that thirty-five years since, when he commenced breeding, there was not a Shorthorn within many miles ; now it would be an exception to find a herd that is not three-parts pure, and many of the farmers possess pedigree stock. The animals that have been displaced were great at filling the cheese- tub, but so coarse and slow-feeding that, although the produce may have been to some extent sacrificed, the total return is better and quicker. The draft cows, which formerly were sold poor at low rates, are now finished off with a little cake and roots, and com: mand good prices. The young stock also sell well, calving- down heifers making 251. to 28Z. at three years, and steers coming out fat at the same figure when between two and three years old. Shorthorns are more subject to sterility than less- cultivated breeds. This arises from the unnatural condition in which high-bred animals are too frequently reared, and may be guarded against by giving our young stock plenty of exercise and keeping them from fat-producing food. The researches of physiologists have demonstrated that excessive fatness of the carcase is accompanied with deposition of fat in the tissues, and when this is the case the breeding tendencies in both sexes are INTRODUCTORY. seriously compromised. Wherever tlie stock is treated naturally and tlie bulls selected with care, barrenness is not present in the Shorthorn to a greater extent than in other cultivated breeds. The Herefords, a much older breed, have never become so thoroughly scattered although they have pushed their way towards the circumference of a wide circle, and have displaced or become mixed with the native breeds. Thus we find them in Shropshire, Warwict, Stafford, Monmouth, and several of the Welsh counties. G-reat attention has been paid to this breed of late years, and in many points of general utility the Herefords are unrivalled. The quality of the beef, and the capacity of the beast to lay it on rapidly and in beautiful proportions of fat and lean, are remarkable. The springy firm touch of a well-fed Hereford is due to the distribution of the fatty globules. It is this combination of hardy and grazing properties that has of recent years created such a demand for well-bred animals from American breeders, and has given a great stimulus to breeding and great care as to the registration of pedigrees. So important is the breed considered in the States, where many breeding stations have been founded, that at the present time English cattle are subject to a duty, and this and the bad times have greatly affected the foreign trade. The Hereford is very hardy, capable of doing upon poorer fare than the Shorthorn, not requiring such careful attention whilst young, and thriving in exposed situations. The pasture lands of the old red sandstone suit them well ; here they rear their produce, but are not, as a rule, large milkers ; perhaps the tendency to make beef is too prominent to allow of large dairy produce. A well-bred heifer or young cow will, on good food, fatten whilst milking, and no feeding stock will pay so well as Hereford cows about five years old. The great object in the district is to rear the produce and bring it forward, so as to sell either as yearlings or two-year- olds ; they are bought for grazing principally by the farmers of the midland and eastern districts. Formerly a good trade existed for working bullocks; but latterly the great value of young beef has caused everything good to go that way, and it is only the inferior lots, and very few of them, that go into harness. The Hereford is a hardy healthy animal, with many valuable qualities. 10 THE CATTLE OP GREAT BRITAIN. Since the first edition of this work was published the Polled Angus Aberdeen cattle have come prominently into notice, principally on account of their great success either as pure stock or as crossed with Shorthorns in our fat shows, whereas they were up to a recent period confined mainly to the counties in Scotland from which they are named ; there are at the present time a good many herds in England, and every year they are acquiring greater publicity. Like the Herefords they have been found to exercise a great and rapid influence on ranche cattle, and they have been largely exported of late years. They are noted for hardy character, ability to winter in exposed situa- tions, extraordinary aptitude for feeding, combined with better dairy properties than the Herefords. The champion heifer at both Birmingham and London in December, 1885 — Mr Clement Stephenson's Luxury — yielded the extraordinary and hitherto unexampled proportion of 78| per cent, of dead meat, and the young class at Smithfield showed a greater weight for age than any other breed exhibited, not excluding the Short- horn. Wherever the climate or food approaches to the character of our mountainous districts, we shall find that local breeds are the most desirable to keep, We may improve them by care, or even by judicious crossing; but we cannot dispossess them without certain loss. Thus the North Devon cattle are admir- ably adapted, from their active habits and hard nature, to feed over the exposed ranges of Exmoor and similar districts ; whilst both in Wales and Scotland we find distinct breeds modelled, as it were, by the force of circumstances, into forms best suited to withstand the climate. Still in many of these cases, as our system of management improves, we may be in a position to make use of a more cultivated animal, and either improve the originals by careful selection and good treatment, or try the eifect of crossing. We have said enough to show that the subject requires general rather than particular treatment. At the same time, as it is necessary to have some type of animal before our eyes, we shall describe the management suitable to any of the more cultivated breeds, and especially to animals of the Shorthorn type. INTRODUCTORY. 11 We do not propose to treat of high-bred animals, as such are not generally desirable for the rent-paying farmer ; or, at any rate it is not wise to commence by a heavy outlay in cows with long pedigrees, unless we have time, taste, pluck, and money to go in for breeding prize stock — a more interesting than profit- able affair with most. Good-looking roomy animals, got by a pure-bred bull out of ordinary cows, or animals whose length of pedigree does not materially affect their price, must be sought for. It is bootless to describe those points that indicate the dairy animal — such knowledge can only be acquired by expe- rience and observation ; and the young farmer may very reason- ably doubt his own judgment, and will do well to commission a respectable dealer, who is generally able to make a more profit- able selection and obtain the animals on better terms than the farmer himself ; the practice of employing a middle man, both for buying in and selling out, is increasing in our grazing districts. CHAPTEE II. BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. GOOD lot of young cows having been secured, the next point is to select a bull, and the wiser policy is to obtain a thoroughly good animal with a sound pedigree, even if we pay handsomely for the same. The first male will have a most important influence on the herd, and a few pounds therefore should not be grudged. Generally a good yearhng can be had for between thirty and forty guineas. We are not venturing into an exhaustive treatise on the prin- ciples of breeding, or intend more than briefly to touch upon this point ; but we must urge upon all young farmers the value of quality, and the improvement of their stock by the use of good bulls. This, be it remarked, is quite apart from keeping highly-bred stock. Pedigree breeding is a business for the few, requiring special conditions to render success even pro- bable ; but everyone who breeds, whatever the class of animal he selects, should aim at quality, by which we understand the qualification to mature at the earliest possible period, and accumulate the maximum weight from a given quantity of food. What the difference is in this respect, according to quality, has never been accurately tested, but we believe it is quite sufiicient to determine profit and loss. Now, as a rule, the influence of the male preponderates ; consequently, whilst careful to select good-looking females, we must spare neither money nor time in finding the right sort of bull. Suppose we require milking stock (and whatever the particular direction in which we farm, milk must always be an important consideration), not only should we select heifers that give promise, but we must seek a sire that comes of a good inilking stock, for these qualities are BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 13 to a great extent hereditary. We must, moreover, take care that the qualities that existed in the ancestry have not been weakened or destroyed by injudicious breeding or feeding. Many an animal with a natural tendency to milk has been ruined by early forcing. Whilst, as we hope to show, in the following pages, generous diet from birth is necessary to quick and healthy development, undue forcing, such as is resorted to in order to develop abnormal growth in show animals, weakens and often completely destroys milk-producing qualities. It is in this way, principally, that discredit has been thrown on certain families of Shorthorns as milk-producers, and thus the race that were originally noticeable for the quantity of their yield are now frequently unable to rear their produce, and choice animals require foster-mothers to supply their wants. The folly of forcing young animals for show purposes is acknowledged on all sides, and those who possess the most valuable blood will not run the risk of damaging their animals by forcing. It may be allowable to make an animal extra- ordinarily fat for the butcher, in order to show the public of what a breed is capable. The animal is for the shambles, and, provided he lives till ready for the knife, the end sought for is obtained, and the feeder is the only loser, the extra fat costing more to put on than it will yield ; but this extra fat state is not a healthy condition, and animals so fed lose much of their vital energy, as was too evident from the collapse of the beasts at the Smithfield Show of 1873. Lean stock would not have su-ffered to the same extent. Shorthorns, especially, suffer from the disease known as fatty degeneration of the heart, which may be explained to the unlearned as meaning a deposit of fat between the muscles of the heart, which greatly lessens and sometimes altogether arrests the expansive and contractive powers. The object of the breeder should be to so treat his young animals as to develop frame and flesh by supplying food containing the constituents of bone and muscle, and allowing of sufficient exercise to develop and strengthen the frame and con- stitution. Very little is really known on the subject of breeding. Mr. J. K. Fowler, who delivered a lecture on the subject before the Central Farmer's Club some years since, considers that the sire 14 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. influences form, the dam tlie internal organisation, and there is some general truth in this, as is proved by the cases of the Mule and the Hinney. The former, which results from connection of the male ass with the mare, has all the external points of the ass, only a rounder barrel to give room for the bowels, which resemble those of the dam. When a stallion is put to the female ass, the result is a modified horse (the hinney), only the barrel is smaller, in form resembling that of the ass. If this is correct, we should be most careful that the dam is sound in wind and of good constitution, being most particular that the sire possesses beauty of form. In the case of Shorthorns, certain sires, such as Hubback, Favourite, and the Earl of Dublin, were noticeably prepotent in their influence on progeny. The last-named bull, in the hands of Mr. Adkin and Sir C. Knightley, impressed deep milking properties in all the animals he was put upon, and this, a result of internal organisation, is due to the influence of Princess, from which he was directly and closely descended. This latter fact rather tells against Mr. Fowler's theory, since the milking properties derived from Princess were transmitted more directly through the male than the female. Prepotency may arise from an intensifying of certain qualities from very close breedings, and this also, to some extent, militates against Mr. Fowler's theory. The influence of the male may be due to his being deeper-bred than the female. Cross-bred cattle offer a good example. It is nearly always possible to find out the sire by the strong likeness to him, and here we have an illustration in support of Mr. Fowler as to external form. Mr. Fowler further illustrated his views by reference to facts noticed in poultry breeding. The Brahma and Dorking fowls were crossed with the following results : When the Brahma cock was used on the Dorking hen, the chickens had four claws generally, feathered legs ; the pullets laid white eggs, and the cockerels, though resembling the Brahma, crowed like the Dorkings. When the process was reversed, the produce likewise followed the change closely ; the cockerels were like Dorkings, but roared like the Brahmas ; indeed the illustration was perfect. The same results were noted when the Epuen and Aylesbury ducks were crossed. Great importance, undoubtedly, is attached to the first BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 15 impregnation, and tlie imagination has a good deal to do with colour ; and it is said that the late Mr. McCombie, the celebrated breeder of black cattle, was most careful to have all his buildings, gates, &c., painted black. The period of the year at which our cows should calve will depend upon circumstances ; if our object is rearing and dairying, the calves should drop from Christmas to March or April ; if we are for cheese, March and April ; and if we are milk-sellers, the cows must come in at all periods. Early calving is best for the offspring. The difference of wintering between a calf dropped in January and May, both receiving equal care, is very great. As to the best age to commence breeding, different opinions exist, and everything depends upon the class of animals we possess, and the quality of our land to favour early maturity. As the question is a very important one, it would be well if experiments were carried out to determine at what age heifers will breed. If conditions are favourable, the calf that drops in from December to April may be brought to the bull when fifteen months old, that is during the summer of the succeeding year. The first calf will then be dropped when the heifer is about, or a little over, two years old. Of course, we presuppose careful attention and abundance of food. The heifer may be small at this time, but grows rapidly afterwards, and we bring our animal into a productive state at the earliest period. The milk may not be very abundant, but there is plenty for the calf, which should be allowed to suck, at any rate for some time, as the bag is thereby developed and rendered soft ; at six months it is good policy to dry the heifer, as she is thus enabled to lay on flesh and take care of the foetus. These remarks apply, of course, only to cultivated breeds. We could refer to many excellently managed dairies where a number of the best heifer calves are reared, and are so well cared for that the bull is turned with them about mid- summer, and thus the first calf is dropped at about two years, and it is really extraordinary how much milk these heifers will yield. In breeds that are not so forward, or where circumstances are unfavourable for early development, the heifer calves at from two and a half to three years old. In reference to this point, we could multiply 16 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. examples of accidentally early breeding which have turned out well. So fully satisfied are we, from our own experience, that with generous feeding heifers may calve down when two years old, without injury either to growth or milking qualities, that we adopt the plan of taking a calf from animals intended for beef. Those who buy in much of their stock might carry out this practice. We can often buy, during summer or autumn, yearling Irish heifers ; if these were served at once, and done well to through the winter, the plan would answer. Where breeding is carried on, we are quite certain of the profitable nature of this practice. We ascertain at an early period whether the animals are likely to make valuable milkers, and such as are not promising can be fed off after the calf is weaned. An impression prevails that early breeding affects after growth ; but we have not found it so where care was exercised as to food. The late Mr. Edward Bowley, who was -well known as an authority on Shorthorn management, alludes to the subject in his prize Essay in the "Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society." His practice was to bull the heifers dropped from December to the end of February, in July or August of the following year — that is when they range from sixteen to eighteen months old — they thus would calve just before going to grass — when they are about two years and four months old. He says : " I allow their calves to run with them during the summer. When four or five months old I take the calves away, and dry the dams, by which means the heifers get a much longer rest than the older cows before they calve again, thereby encouraging their growth ; and under this system they can produce calves at an early age without interfering with the full development of their forms." He also mentions a case of very early breeding by a heifer that calved at fifteen months, having been served by a six-months old bull calf whilst both were with their dams. The heifer took the first prize as a two-year-old in-calf heifer, and a second prize the following year as a cow in milk, in a strong class, and was afterwards sold at a high price to go abroad. This is important evidence bearing on the point we are anxious to see elucidated. Our own experience is that, so far from early breeding injuriously affecting future size, the heifer, if generously fed, appears to grow out in consequence, BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 17 and we are quite certain that for feeding purposes they are the better for having dropped a calf. We have not, however, had so much experience of early breeding for the dairy. We are quite aware that our suggestions do not meet with universal approval, and we believe that a high authority on animal physiology — Professor Brown — takes a directly contrary view, but we can only give our own experience. Before calving, the cow should be placed in a loose box or shed by herself, and not tied up. It is a most unnatural proceeding to allow cows to calve when tied up in their usual places, among, perhaps, twenty others. The calf runs considerable risk of being injured by the other cows in case it is born when no one is in atten- dance. The plan is simply cruel, and on no account to be followed. Of course, sometimes such a case occurs on the best regulated farms, but in these instances the cow either calves before her time or unexpectedly. After calving, the cow should have warm gruel and a little sweet hay. Chilled water should be used for the first three days, after which, if no unfavourable symptoms occur, all danger ceases. If there is any fear of fever (as is always the case with large milkers), a moderate aperient may be given. Linseed oil is useful for this purpose, and safer than salts and sulphur, which, however, are frequently given. Cleansing drinks should be always at hand, in case the animals do not clean properly. G-reat loss is often occasioned by cows slipping their calves. There seems to be no accounting for this ; as a rule, the food the animals have been fed on gets the blame, but if anyone will be at the trouble to inquire into the matter, they will find that cows slip calf on all kinds of food, and under all sorts of manage- ment. When one cow among a lot of others slips her calf, she should be at once separated from them, and not allowed to be with them again for some time. Unless this is done, and at once, the farmer cannot be sure when it may stop — perhaps not before half his cows have followed the example. Mr. Clement Stephenson, in a valuable paper published in the "E.A.S.E.* Journal," 1885, attributes much of our heavy losses fi^om this cause to impure water, and especially water contaminated with sewage and decaying vegetable matters ; and he truly says this is not surprising since such waters not only contain injurious organic c 18 THE CATTLE OP GREAT BRITAIN. matter, but swarm with bacteria and other living organisms which plaj an important part in producing morbid changes and disease ; and, he adds, that whilst non-breeding adult animals may drink such water without visible injury, " In pregnant animals the delicate foetus is like a sensitive barometer, its development and life depending absolutely upon the purity of the maternal blood ; it is influenced by variations and agents against which independent life may be proof." Cases are mentioned by Mr. Stephenson in which abortion has been caused in a herd by the tise of bulls that are not efficient workers, or are actually diseased. Ergotised grass is very generally considered a frequent cause, and there is some colour for this in the fact that abortion often occurs in wet, cold, un genial seasons, which also favour the fungus ; but Mr. Stephenson thinks it is often innocently blamed, and that, instead of being a frequent cause of abortion, it is an exceedingly rare one, If the natural food is unwholesome — i.e., deficient in nutritive properties, which is the case in ungenial summers, the system becomes deranged, and we may have abortion. We think there is little doubt that the disease may be, and is often, spread by sympathetic action set up by the act of abortion and by the smell given off, and in this sense Mr. Stephenson considers it infectious. We quote his remarks on treatment, as they are concise and comprehensive. " Promptly isolate all cows that have aborted, or in which the premonitory symptoms of it are observed. Destroy the aborted calf, membranes, and discharges ; do not bury them in a manure heap or in any place to which cattle have access, but in some place where they cannot possibly do any harm. Disinfect the place where the abortion occurred, and the cow in her seclusion ; this must be continued for some time. Have the floor, bedding, manure, and air saturated with the disinfectant, and if no recognised disinfectant is at hand use quicklime freely. If possible find out the cause of the abortion ; if successful take immediate measures to prevent further mischief. Keep the patient on light sloppy food, attend to her general health, and the condition of the bowels. If the uterine discharges are copious, offensive, or the membranes are attacked, wash out the vagina with tepid water containing Sanitas or Condy's fluid." This may be done once or twice a BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 19 day. On no account should the cow be again served until she is perfectly healthy and regular. We may add that carbolic acid, either as McDougall's disinfectant or Dr. Calvert's prepara- tion, will be found probably the most powerful agent known. The management of the calf is the next point for conside- ration. In the case of the heifer it is well to let the calf suck, and possibly run with its dam, during the summer. In such cases we advise the farmer to procure a second calf, and when the heifer has become accustomed to it, to turn her out into good pasture with her two attendants, who will make good use of their time and pay well for the heifer's milk. With older cows there are two plans open to us — first, to remove the calf at birth, before the cow has noticed or licked it ; this plan is frequently pursued in the north of England with great success. The calf is carried to a warm well-littered house, and thoroughly rubbed with a wisp of straw until dry and warm. The beastlings are then drawn from the cow, supplied to the calf a small quantity at a time, and frequently. The fingers should be introduced and the calf's mouth drawn down to the milk. They will thus readily learn to drink, and the great point is to prevent their drinking too fast. We must imitate as much as possible the process of sucking, by which a good deal of air enters the stomach and assists digestion. Patent feeding-mouths are very useful for this purpose. The calf should be fed three times a day ; many people prefer only twice, but it is too long for the stomach to remain without food, and is contrary to the natural habits of the calf. The second plan is to leave the calf with the mother two or three weeks, or at least allow it to suck night and morning ; but if we have a good cowman who understands the other plan, it is preferable for some reasons. The cow gives her milk down more freely, does not fret at the separation, and is apt to take the bull sooner than when the calf sucks. Adopting the first plan, we may use new milk for a fortnight; then skimmed milk of the same temperature as the new milk, and thickened with linseed jelly or fine dust oil-cake, which supplies the fatty matters removed in cream, besides enriching the food in other ways. Boiled flour porridge is frequently used in conjunction with skimmed milk. We prefer dust cake, provided it be from fresh genuine linseed ; c 2 20 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. great care should be exercised to secure a good article. Care should be taken in all cases that the milk be given warm ; cold milk produces scouring, and all manner of evils. The cake may be soaked in hot water first, or else added to the milk and gently heated ; in either case it produces a rich soup, which is very palatable and nutritious ; a handful of finely- ground oat- meal may be added, and a little later a small quantity of fine pollards. Eock-salt and chalk should always be placed within reach. One great advantage in the plan of separation consists in the earlier date at which the calf eats. As soon as this is accomplished, we may by degrees discontinue the liquid; at first supplying it only once a day, and soon leaving it off altogether. And thus a good cow will rear eight to ten calves, provided her produce is entirely used for this purpose. The greatest trouble in rearing arises from scouring, to which calves are very liable. This may occur from various causes, but it is an evidence that the food is not properly digested. In the farm prize report of 1884, E.A.S.E. Journal, vol. 20, new series, page 539, will be found a valuable recipe for this disease. Mrs. C. Holmes, of Burley Fields, near Stafford, who is very successful in rearing calves, states " that after long experienced and serious losses, she believes she can now cure the scour, which she is convinced arises from the new milk being too rich for the calf's digestion. When the disturbance is first manifest, the food is changed, a dose of castor oil and laudanum is given to allay irritation ; boiled skim milk and sago, nearly cold, are substituted for the new milk ; and if this food proves too rich, then boiled sago alone, which is also given cold. " The second day, and until the diarrhoea is stopped, one or two tablespoonfuls of the following mixture, viz., 4oz. prepared chalk, loz. grains of paradise, 2oz. cummin seed, 2oz. aniseed, well mixed in a pint of starch gruel, to which may be added twenty drops of laudanum." When a month old, calves will begin to nibble a little sweet hay, finely- sifted chaff, pulped roots, and meal. We cannot begin too soon to teach them to eat, although the longer they get the skim milk and porridge, the better for future growth. Calves weaned too early seldom thrive well afterwards. Oil-cake, crushed, and then boiled to a jelly, and mixed either BREEDING AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 21 with the porridge or skim milk, is excellent food for calves when a month or six weeks old. What we here call porridge, should be called more properly gruel, and should not be made too thick. When ten weeks old, the calf should be weaned ; this should be done by degrees, the daily allowance being decreased, so as to accustom it to the change. By this age the calf can eat a considerable quantity of hay, chaff, pulp, and corn, and should receive at least half-a-pound of cake and corn. Various preparations of finely prepared meals are sold for calf spice, such as Simpson's, Bibby's, 63'45 Mucilage, gum, sugar, &c 35'45 J Woody fibre (cellulose) 23*69 Mineral matter (ash) 3*74 100-00 * Containing nitrogen 2*48 per cent. We have connected the meal with the name of Messrs A. M. Smith and Co., of Kent Street Oil Mill, Liverpool, because they were the original importers of palm kernels, and we believe they are the only crushers who sell a meal with this high percentage of fatty matter. As it is perfectly certain that the value of this food depends upon the oil, it is evident that the sample con- taining 12 or 13 per cent, must be much more valuable than having only two-thirds that quantity. The meal is dry and harsh looking, palm oil being solid at ordinary temperatures. It is sweet, and will keep good for any length of time. Some patience is required in accustoming animals to its rather gritty taste; when once they take to it, however, they eat it freely. IFor cattle on grass, when liable to scour, we consider its use in conjunction with decorticated cotton-cake is of great value ; the mixture possesses high feeding properties, and affects the manure much in the same degree as linseed cake. The price of this meal is from hi. 10s. to Ql. a ton. About the year 1876 this firm commenced to crush the flesh of the cocoanut, which they imported from Singapore and the neighbouring islands. The result is a very feeding cake, containing oil and a fair pro- 64 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. portion of flesh-forming ingredients, which has proved a highly valuable food for dairy j)urposes. A recent analysis by Dr^ J. A. Ycelcker gives the following results : Moisture 8*40 Oil 11-36 Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters)* 20*37 Mucilage, sugars, digestible fibre 40'61 Woody fibre (cellulose) 12*97 Mineral matter (ash) 6*29 100-00 * Containing nitrogen 3*26 per cent. Indian corn or maize is an important feeding material, and when either soaked or ground into meal, forms a useful mixture- with other substances. It is largely grown in the United States,. and, with improved railway communication in the future, we may anticipate increased supplies. We have not been able to find a detailed analysis, and therefore quote from Mr. Horsf all's, comparison of different foods for dairy cows. He gives — Oil 7-00 percent. Starch, sugar, &c 60*00 „ Nitrogen 2*25 Mineral matters (phosphoric ash, *19 ; potash, '17) -36 „ The albuminous compounds required to furnish 2*25 of nitrogen would amount to nearly 14 per cent., which leaves, about 18 per cent, for water and indigestible matters. The large proportion of starchy matters, the moderate percentage of flesh formers, and the deficiency in minerals, all indicate that Indian corn is more adapted for feeding than growing animals,, also that is not a food to be used alone. Thanks to Mr. Lawes,, this is not a mere speculative opinion. In his pig-feeding experiments, the result of using Indian corn alone are given in the following table : — No. of Pigs. '^^:' 2"^^itto. I .rd Ditto. 4th Ditto. Total Period of 8 Weeks. 1 2 3 311b. j 61b. 401b. 151b. 131b. 131b. 121b. 171b. 191b. 191b. 131b. 231b. 961b. 541b. 711b. ; 581b. i 361b. 721b. 551b. 2211b. NATURE AND VALUE OF FOOD. 55 The following, in explanation of the above, is extracted from the report which will be found in the fourteenth volume of the " Eojal Agricultural Society's Journal," page 472 : — " One of the pigs gained more than 21b. a day during the first fortnight of the experiment, but the other two only about half as much. Before the end of the first period it was observed, however, that this fast-gaining pig, and one of the others (No. 3), had large swellings on the side of their necks, and that at the same time their breathing had become much laboured. It was obvious that the Indian corn meal was in some way defective diet, and it occurred to us that it was comparatively poor both in nitrogen and mineral matter, though we were inclined to suspect that it was a deficency of the latter rather than of the former, that was the cause of the ill effects produced. We accordingly deter- mined to continue the food as before, but at least to try the effect of putting before the pigs a trough of some mineral substances, of which they could take if they were disposed. The mixture which we prepared was as follows : 201b. of finely- sifted coal ashes, 41b. of common salt, and lib. of super- phosphate of lime. A trough, containing this mineral mixture, was put into the pen at the commencement of the second period, and the pigs soon began to lick it with evident relish. From this time the swellings or tumours, as well as the difficulty of breathing, which probably arose from the swellings, began to diminish rapidly. Indeed, at the end of the second period, the swellings were very much reduced ; and at the end of the third they had disappeared entirely. Notwithstanding this serious drawback, it was found that the animals were satisfied with less of this food, though so poor in nitrogen, in proportion to their weight, than, with one exception, of any of the others ; and it will be found that the increase is satisfactory when compared with the food consumed." Indian corn, at any rate for pigs, possesses considerable feeding properties, and there is no reason to doubt its value for cattle when judiciously mixed with other food. As a general rule, we may consider it cheap when it rules 4)8. to Bs. a quarter below grinding barleys. Barley is largely used for feeding. Either the coarser samples of home -growth, which are not suitable for malting, or the hinder ends — that is the tail corn which comes out of finer 56 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. samples — is available for meal, and when well harvested, has a marked effect in the production of flesh. Foreign barley makes excellent meal, being generally drier and harder. The advocates for the remission of the malt tax argued that better results would be obtained on malt. Sir J. Lawes, however, is of a different opinion, and as his conclusions are the results of direct experiments, we place most confidence in them. The increase in weight of sheep on a certain quantity of barley was considerably greater than on the same after being subjected to the malting process ; and he says, " Not only is the weight of the malt considerably less than that of the barley from which it was produced, but that weight for weight, independently of loss and cost of process (estimated at 2s. per quarter), the feeding qualities of malt are not superior to barley. At the same time, he admits that, as a mixture with other food, or as an occasional stimulant to digestion, malt may be usefully employed. The composition of bar^oy is as follows : — Water 14 Flesh-formers 14 Starch, &c 68 Fatty matter 2 Ash 2 100 As a confirmation of Sir J. Lawes*s researches, it may be noted that, though the tax has been removed for some years, malt is very little used for feeding purposes ; and hence we may conclude that, taking into account the cost of the operation and the loss of weight, it is not found advantageous. Beans, peas, and lentils are so identical in composition, and similar in their effect, that they may be substituted for each other according to our convenience, and may be considered together. These are valuable feeding materials, and, when used with judgment, give satisfactory results. Owing to mechanical condition, and also to the large proportion of flesh-forming elements, all three are more or less indigestible if given without due preparation, are partially wasted, and if largely used, are apt to cause constipation of the bowels. Beans, which are the hardest, should either be broken small or ground into meal. Peas are much softer in their nature, and will be sufficiently NATURE AND VALUE OF FOOD. 57 prepared by being kibbled or broken small. Lentils, which in their natural state are, owing to a hard skin, very indigestible, should be reduced to a coarse powder. The predominating feature of these substances is the large percentage of flesh- forming material, which points out their peculiar value for working horses, growing animals, or for young stock that are growing and feeding at the same time. We give Dr. Cameron's analysis Water Common Beans. 13-0 Peas. ... 140 .... Lentils. 130 Flesh formers 25-5 ... 23-5 .... 24-0 Fat formers 48-5 ... 50-0 50-5 Woody fibre 10-0 ... 10-0 .... 10-0 Mineral matter . . . 3-0 2-5 .... 2-5 100-0 100-0 100-0 Bean meal is admirably adapted for calves after they are weaned, and when either out at grass or receiving green food in the yards. Peas appear particularly suitable for young sheep. Lentils may be substituted for either, provided they are properly prepared. Egyptian beans are largely imported, and, weight for weight, are, when sound and good, quite as valuable as home-grown corn ; indeed, from their drier condition, we should prefer them to new home-grown beans, which, owing to the presence of more water, are not always desirable food. Locust, or carob bean, when ground, forms a considerable percentage of some of the condimental food, and might with advantage be used in small proportions, as it contains a large quantity of sugar ; but, like G-erman rape cake, the supply is uncertain, and always very limited. Either this or malt is desirable to the extent of 10 or 15 per cent., as tending to render the food more palatable, but neither is to be used in large quantities. Sugar is too soluble for the ruminant, and much saccharine food tends to cloy the appetite. Such at least has been our own experience, and we cannot coincide with much that has been written as to the use of malt. As an alterative, especially for sheep that are out of health, we believe it will prove most valuable; but as a constant food in large quantites we do not think it desirable. In addition to the above, and especially in the latter stages of feeding, something in the way of a condiment may be given, as 58 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. encouraging an appetite that has become a little delicate. The following mixture has been used with success : Fenugreek seed, 321b. at l^d. ; mustard, 81b. at 2d, ; linseed, 8ib. at Ud. ; carraways, 41b. at 4(7. ; fennel, 41b. at SjcZ., making a total cost of 8s. lid. for the half-hundredweight, or in round numbers 2d. a pound. From 2oz. to 4oz. a day would be sufficient for each animal. The expense is trifling, and the effects very satisfactory. We roved valuable. A mixture of the two would not be amiss.. Cocoa-nut cake we have used with advantage in conjunction with cotton cake, the yield of milk and butter being maintained equally as well as upon any other kind of food. The butter was particularly delicious in flavour. Brewers' grains, when cheaj), are principally valuable as removing the dry character of straw chaff. Bran is another fine milk food, especially when used in- conjunction with maize, rice meal, or any foods rich in fat formers. It is, moreover, an extremely cheap food at 4Z. 10s. a ton. Maize meal again is most valuable, and should be pur- chased when maize is cheap (it has frequently been lower than 4?. 10s. a ton). It is better used in a ration rich in nitrogen, such as cotton cake, bean or pea meal, although compared with cotton seed meal. Professor Armsby, an American authority of the highest eminence, has shown, by a lengthened experiment,, that it can hold its own. Rice meal is another valuable food when it can be obtained pure. It is, however, being so rich in starch, better adapted for a mixed ration, and for a change.. DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 87 Ground oats — whole oats are not digested — are an admirable diet, and from their composition well suited for milk production, either on a butter or a cheese farm. Beans and peas cannot be estimated too highly ; both are believed by cowkeepers to " force " milk ; they are well adapted for use where milk is sold or cheese made, and in conjunction with potatoes, roots, grass, and soiling. Malt coombs are nitrogenous, closely resembling peas and beans in this respect, and they have an especial value in a ration on account of their agreeable flavour and sweetness. Grains are valuable as a substitute for roots or any other succu- lent food, but while stimulating in the production of milk, they are deleterious when given in large quantities, or for a lengthened period, and they are moreover an improper food for cheese or butter-making dairies. We have distinctly found that foods which have undergone a thorough fermentation have pro- duced cheese which will not properly mature, and this is the experience of French cheesemakers who, in cases known to us, absolutely prohibit grains and distillery refuse from consump- tion by their stock. Butter made from cattle fed upon grains will not keep so well as that made from ordinary foods. The following will be found a useful ration for medium-sized cows, for a milk selling or cheesemaking dairy : 81b. Oat Straw l^d. 81b. Hay, at 60s 2id. 481b. Mangels, at cost (10s. ton) 3d. lib. Malt Dust, at 100s ^d. 21b. Cotton Cake,at 130s.) l^d. 31b. Maize Meal l^d. lO^d. The ration is based upon the scientific formula of five parts of carbohydrates or fat and heat giving foods to one part (not less than 2|lb.) of albuminoids or flesh formers. For cows of large size it would simply be necessary to add 41b. each to the hay and straw ration, when they would be satisfied both in bulk and in necessary feeding value. Various changes could be made by substituting bean or pea meal for the cake, and malt dust or palm-nut meal and ground oats for the cake and maize meal. Silage of good quality could be used instead of mangels, taking care to add a little more straw chaff to equalise the properties of 88 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. the ration, and in this case cocoa-nut cake could replace the cotton cake, more especially in a butter dairy, for which both are valuable. Bran could be substituted for the malt dust, and rice meal for maize meal. If the potato is used it will not be neces- sary to give more than half the weight usually allowed when mangels are fed, its feeding value being more than double as great. Considerable benefit will be found by slightly fermenting the food. A day's ration is, in this process, commonly mixed on a concrete floor, the pulped roots, chaff, broken cake, and meal being well mingled together, and allowed to stand twenty- four hours before using. It is then more easily digested and highly relished by the cows. Some feeders, however, prefer to cook the whole, and this plan is often adopted in Scotland where we have seen it produce good results. A large quantity of water is added and the ration is given hot, and half liquid in winter, being wheeled directly to the mangers from the coppers in galvanised iron food barrows. The late Mr. William Bowly, after careful trial, adopted the following plan : The quantities are given for fifteen cows ; a furnace containing 70 gallons of water, the water hot to the boiling point ; then meal at the rate of 101b. per cow, to be well stirred in and boiled gently for an hour. Half of this to be poured over chaff (three bushels per cow), placed in a long trough for the morning's meal; the remainder being used in the same way in the evening. The chaff and soup are thoroughly mixed, and left for about half an hour to cool before being used. One great point is to have the mixture as fresh as possible ; all food that has been cooked is apt to turn sour if kept beyond twenty -four hours. No doubt the perfume is fragrant, especially when the soup is first mixed, but the question is how far the nutritive properties of the food are increased. It would be very serviceable if Sir J. Lawes, that prince of experimenters, would test the point with two lean animals, supplying the same amount of food, and weighing and analysing the excreta. If the digestive process is really so much assisted as some suppose, then a large proportion of nutriment would be extracted, and the dung would be poorer ; the progress of each animal being ascertained by frequent weighing. Another plan is to place the chaff in a bin, and pour the soup over it in layers. The heat is thus kept in DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 89 longer, and the fermentation is possibly greater. Lastly, waste steam is frequently passed through the chaff, roots, and meal, and the whole partially cooked. This is particularly desirable in case the fodder is inferior ; mouldy hay is much sweetened and made more palatable. Food so treated must be presently used, or it turns sour and is not so readily eaten. The success of the cooking system depends mainly upon good management and constant supervision. Men are apt to become careless, and omit to thoroughly clean out mangers or coppers, or allow the food to become sour, and thus upset the appetite. The chief point in this question of cooking is to consider whether or not the cows give an increased supply of milk, or whether they will maintain their usual supply upon a less costly ration. If so, is the increased return sufficient to cover the extra cost of labour and fuel, and to leave a larger profit than is available when cooking is not resorted to. It is also well worth considering whether the cows themselves are in any way constitutionally affected. The cost of a ration for cows of and above medium size is generally from Is. to Is. 4d. per day in winter. These sums provide a liberal diet, and one which is a valuable assistant in the manufacture of good manure, and consequently in producing larger crops. Where a number of cows are kept the cost of attendance should not exceed the commonly accepted sum of Is. a week. The tendency in feeding should always be to diminish the use of hay and roots, even though more artificials have to be purchased, as this encourages a corresponding diminution in the cost of labour and an increase in the productiveness of the land. As the cow loses her milk the quantity of artificial food may be reduced, and if she is grazed, during the summer, half of the year, she will probably not cost more for pasturage than 3s. 6d. a week or 4s. 6d. This sum, together with the artificial food she has received and the ration for the six winter months at Is. a day, would bring up her total cost for a year to about 161. 5s. This amount does not include straw for litter, but we are of opinion that the use of straw for such a purpose should be greatly reduced or entirely given up. Short hard earth standings and deep gutters behind the heels of the cow, with a plentiful use of dry earth or peat litter when it can be obtained direct from 90 THE CATTLE- OF GREAT BRITAIN. the land, will largely help to prevent any difficulty with regard to cleanliness, and will, moreover, save the whole of the liquid as well as the solid manure. The next point, as to what may be considered a fair produce of milk and butter, is difficult to answer, depending so entirely upon the nature of the food and the peculiar disposition of the animal. In all such questions we must endeavour to get at something like an average result ; and we have no hesitation in stating that well- managed cows should yield from 550 to 650 gallons of milk annually. Yorkshire shorthorns have been kaown to produce 1100, and Ayrshires as much as 850 gallons ; but these are exceptional cases. A number of well-bred short- horns belonging to Lord Warwick were not long since reported to have undergone a test of twenty summer weeks and to have averaged between nineteen and twenty quarts per head per day. It is not now a very difficult matter to find dairy shorthorns which will reach twenty quarts daily soon after calving. Short- horns, however, have the reputation of yielding milk which is not rich in butter, lib. to twelve quarts being the commonly accepted ratio. The cream separator, however, has altered these figures. During the winter of 1885-6 Col. Curtis Hayward made a number of experiments. His herd consists of about fifty cows, two- thirds dairy shorthorns and one-third Jerseys, and during the worst months of the year, by means of the separator, he obtained lib. of butter from 18|lb. to 221b. of milk (a gallon is about lOjlb.), the quantity varying each week. The writer made a similar experiment in April with a number of newly calved shorthorns, yielding from sixteen quarts (heifers) to nineteen and a half quarts (cows). Notwithstanding the heavy milking of the animals, they made lib. of butter to IBJlb. of milk. The Ayrshires and the Kerries do not equal this, nor is it exceeded by the Red Poll or any cow but the Channel Islander. The question arises, What would be a fair profit under good management ? The value of a cow's produce may be put roundly at a sum between 171. and 201. We are not now speaking of the milk trade in the neighbourhood of large towns, because, without any addition from the cow with the iron tail, new milk often makes 8d. to 9d. a gallon wholesale, which leaves an DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE. MILK TRADE, ETC. 91 average of 221. to 23?. a cow. In such cases the cost of keep and attendance is greater than we have calculated, while addi- tional outlay is necessary in the purchase of artificial manures, to replace the phosphates removed from the land in the milk. But, assuming that the milk will yield, whether for butter or cheese, about 6d. a gallon, we arrive, with the calf, at an average of about 171. to 201. The cost of keep and attendance being deducted, we have, barring accidents, a fair net return, which varies with the cost of feeding and the breed of the cattle in addition to the value of manure, which is of considerable value, although difficult to calculate. It may be asked whether, with cheese and butter at their present price, it will pay to give dairy cows corn or cake when out at grass. This important question has to a large extent been solved by farmers in the more famous dairying districts where bone and other manures are being more generally used. Arable land is yearly improving in condition under better and more liberal management ; but grass land, and more especially that devoted to the feeding of dairy and store stock without the addition of artificial food, is in many counties either at a standstill or is deteriorating, and every year becoming less productive. Artificial feeding will gradually remedy this state of things ; and it cannot be too generally adopted, for it is as valuable for the cattle as for the land itself. There are exceptional instances of pastures so naturally rich, having such an inexhaustible store of materials, that foreign manures are not necessary, and indeed the use of extra food would in such cases generally result in the accumulation of fat instead of milk. But upon all the medium and poorer soils cows will pay well for high feeding. Cows vary in their capacity, both for milking and laying on flesh. Some — and they are always the most useful to the dairyman as long as they are in milk — cannot be made fat. Like Pharaoh's lean kine, they swallow all before them ; but, unlike them, they give a good account of their food. Such cows must pay for a reasonable amount of good food. Both the land and the milk pail must be enriched when it is certain that the animal is not making flesh. When cows are brought night and morning to the homestead and tied up for milking — a plan which, in all cases. "92 THE CATTLE, OF GREAT BRITAIN. of central buildings, commands onr warmest approval — there can be no difficulty in supplying each animal with the quantity of food proportioned to her capacity as a milker. In this way all have their proper allowance, which would not be the case if fed in troughs or cribs in the field. Moreover, there is a saving of labour and of loss to the food from exposure to weather. In the next place we have to consider the arrangements of the dairy and details of management. A regular and easily regulated temperature is of greatest importance in the milk room ; hence the dairy should face north, and be sheltered from the south. It must also be well ventilated. This can be secui'ed by introducing air passages in the walls near the floor, carrying the walls up, introducing under the ceiling a row of ventilating bricks, and having every space occupied by a movable casement covered with perforated ■zinc. We thus keep the temperature equable in summer, while in winter a hot-water apparatus, with circulating pipes, secures the requisite warmth. This plan is seldom adopted in England, •although it is the most commendable of any in existence. A •dry atmosphere is desirable ; hence, sinking the dairy beneath the surface, thereby insuring dampness, is not recommended, though often practised. We should prefer taking the ground level, building the walls with a damp course, and laying the floor in concrete. A good drain round the building is desirable, but there should be no drain within. An open gutter to carry off water to the outside is all that is necessary. If the bricks are machine-made, and sufficiently even to make a good face, we should make the walls at least 14in. wide, with a hollow space of 4|in. inside (the bottom ventilators may pass diagonally through this space), and cover with the finest cement, finished off with a steel float. Paint, although it makes a good finish, should never be seen inside a dairy. It should always be remembered that milk is subject to fermentation, and that it turns sour rapidly ; hence, both in the dairy fittings and utensils, we should have surfaces into which moisture cannot soak ; hence the objection to bricks, soft stone, and even wood, although this may be used with greater safety. Where outlay is no object, the walls are often covered with glazed tiles, which DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 93' look remarkably well, are easily cleaned, and answer every purpose. The glazing must be well done, and every window should be made to open with ease to any distance, and furnished with a duplicate in wire of the finest mesh. The shelves, or dressers, on which the milk bowls stand, may be either of slate or wood. We much prefer the former; but the latter may be adopted on the score of economy in any dairy which is thoroughly dry and well aerated. Under these conditions the scrubbing brush will do all that is required to prevent spilt milk being absorbed. Slate looks very neat, and is easily cleaned ; but the slates must be in one piece, and not jointed, or only in such a manner that the joints are moisture-proof. "We have said that the walls should be high, and the roof covered with red tiles, if straw cannot be used ; the latter insures the most even temperature, and is the coolest in summer. Black slates should be avoided, or, if they must be used, straw should be packed underneath ; but this is objec- tionable, as harbouring rats and mice. We have a considerable choice of cream-raising vessels ; it depends, however, upon the size of the dairy and the arrangement of the milk room as to which system is selected. Shallow vessels are not suitable in a damp milk room, or one which is very hot in summer or cold in winter ; they are only adapted to an equable temperature. On the other hand, deep vessels are more adapted to meet changes of temperature and damp dairies, doing their work well, pro- vided always that water of at least 45° can be secured at all seasons. It is true that cream can be raised in shallow vessels which have jackets for warm or cold water, but these partake of the features of the shallow and deep systems without the advantages of either, and are not to be recommended. A large dairy of milk can be placed in a very small space in deep cans, and the cream all raised in twelve hours, even when shallow pans require thirty-six to forty-eight hours. In large cheese or butter dairies the cream separator is preferable to either systems, and where this is used the dairy should be constructed upon a slightly different plan. Glazed earthenware pans are cheap, and answer well, provided the glaze is even and good. TJnglazed pans or vessels of wood are most objectionable, for reasons stated ; glass or white porcelain are clean, but expensive 94 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. and liable to break. Tinned iron pans are now more generally used, and they are cbeap, strong, and satisfactory in use. They should not exceed 2 Jin, depth, as a loss of cream ensues if the milk stands in a deeper vessel. Another advantage in using shallow metal vessels is that the temperature of the milk is more rapidly reduced, especially if the vessels stand upon slate or stone shelves. It is very important that this reduction of temperature, say from 90°, at which it comes from the cow, to about 60°, should be as rapid as possible. It is, however, this feature that makes the deep-setting system so valuable. A rapid descent from 90^^ to 45® causes the cream to rise as fast as possible. The fatty elements, having a less specific gravity than the other portions of the milk, rise the more quickly, when the fall in temperature is greater and more rapid, because the fat feels the change of temperature first. Cream raised on this cold system is always thin and larger in volume than that raised in any other manner. Shallow pans, however, maintain a good consistency in cream only when the temperature is equable and temperate, and when this is the case the cream rises tolerably quickly and before the skimmed milk is sour. By the deep system, as by the separator, the skim milk is always sweet and sound, and this gives it a special value. The invention of the cream separator marked an era in dairying. By means of this machine milk brought in from the cowshed at six o'clock in the morning can be deprived of its cream, and sold sweet for breakfast, while the cream itself can be churned and the butter made up for the same meal. The skimmed, or as it is now called, the separated milk, is peculiarly sweet and light from the aeration it has undergone, and for this reason, as well as on account of its freshness, it ought to prove an article of general and ready sale. In practice the cream, however, is not churned for at least twenty-four hours after separating, as it is too new. Sweet, fresh cream, neither makes so much nor such ^ood butter, as cream which has been ripened. In the ordinary way, cream skimmed from the pans is put into a cream pot, and there it remains, every subsequent skimming being thoroughly mixed with it by stirring until it is ripe, i.e., until it has commenced to sour. Souring, however, must not go too far. Eipe cream produces butter with a fuller and better DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 95 flavour, keeping longer, and showing a much better per-centage to the milk than sweet cream. For this reason, where a separator is used, a small quantity of sour buttermilk should always be added to the cream in such quantity as will produce the proper degree of ripeness or sourness in twenty -four hours, the most convenient time in a large dairy. Although we have seen no less than eight different cream separators at work on the Continent — all the inventions of foreigners — there are only two which are in general use : Petersen's, made in Copenhagen, and the Swedish, or Laval, both of which are sold in London, and extensively used in this country. The system of the Danish machine is that the milk caused to revolve in a horizontal drum, at a speed of 3000 revolutions a minute, is divided by centrifugal force into two portions. The lighter portion, the cream, comes to the surface, i.e., the face of the vertical liquid body. A skimming tube is fitted to plough this face, with the result that the whole of the cream passes through it to the outside of the machine. The skim milk is behind this cream column, and, to reach it, a flange encircles the drum near the top, space being left behind to enable the milk to escape upwards, between the flange and the periphery. This it is compelled to do by the pressure of the constantly entering new milk. Above this flange is another ploughing tube, which takes off the milk in the same way as the cream, with this difference, that it can be moved to take as much or as little as required. This regulates the thickness of the cream skimmed. When the skim milk tube is skimming as much as is entering the machine — no cream is being skimmed — it is, however, collecting, and comes off when permitted unusually thick. The Laval machine works by similar force, but, although neither milk nor cream are actually skimmed, both find their way out of the machine after division by the pressure of the new milk which is constantly entering. This machine is made in only one size, and revolves at a speed of 6000 to 7000 revolutions a minute, skimming 30 to 45 gallons an hour. The Danish machine is made in three sizes, revolving at from 2000 to 3500 a minute, and skimming from 20 to 120 gallons. It has two other advantages, the small machine can be worked by a pony with great ease, and the milk can be elevated to a considerable 96 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. height (into a floor above for example) as it leaves the drum. The speed with which milk is skimmed varies with the temperature of the milk ; hence, the great advantage of separating soon after milking, and when the milk remains at about 76'' Fahr. Of the remaining system of obtaining the cream from milk, the most popular is the cold deep setting system, known as the " Swartz." This plan has many advantages where water of a temperature not exceeding 45*^ can be obtained. A milk room is not necessary, inasmuch as a large dairy of milk can be placed in cans standing in a vat or tank of water about 6ft. by 2ft., by 2ft. in depth. The cans are 16in. to 20in, in depth, by 6in. to 7in. in width, the ends being rounded or oval in form. The great secret is in subjecting the milk, when brought in hot from the cows, to the sudden change of the cold water, by this means the temperature rapidly falls, and the cream rises within twelve hours, in time for the same cans to be washed and used for the evening's milk. The system has many advantages. It permits of the cream and skim milk being obtained perfectly sweet at all seasons ; being covered, dust and insects are kept out. The plant required is very small and lasting. Very little washing is needed ; the cream is obtained quickly, and more butter is obtained in the year than from milk set in shallow pans. The Cooley system somewhat resembles the above. The cans, which are round, and generally about 20in. in depth by 8|in. in diameter, being set in a refrigerator filled with water at 50°. They are, however, entirely submerged, and, consequently, the milk is free from all atmospheric influence. In both cases it is usual to keep up a continual flow of water, and this is very necessary in summer, especially with the Cooley. The cream is not skimmed as in other systems, but the milk is drawn from under it by means of an ingenious tap at the bottom of the can. The disadvantage of the Cooley creamer is that it does not receive the beneficial influence of the air, and that it is, consequently, more difiicult to ripen the cream properly after skimming. Like the Swartz, it occupies little space, is simple and practical, but it is useless to adopt either, unless either water, always sufiiciently cold, or ice, can be obtained. Another very important method of obtaining butter is by DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 97 churning the milk. This plan has constantly been condemned, yet it has many admirers who declare it to be the best and most profitable system. Care must, however, be taken that the milk is properly ripened, it should be almost a sour curd, and that it is churned at not less than 66'^ Fahr. We have made numbers of experiments to test the relative value of churning milk against churning cream raised by different systems, and although sweet milk produced less butter than any, yet properly ripened milk equalled every system but the separator. Quantity of butter may, however, be obtained at too great a sacrifice, and this is undoubtedly the case in this instance. The butter is more difiicult to make up than cream butter, it is less market- able, being deficient in flavour and containing more water. It is necessary to churn daily, and in most instances to employ power ; and last of all, the butter milk being absolutely sour, it is quite unsaleable, except in a few districts where it is a sjpecialite among the poorer classes. In the three western counties — Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall — cream is raised by a plan common only to this part of England. A shallow milk pan, similar in shape, but some 2in. deeper than the ordinary setting pan, is allowed to stand in the dairy for twelve hours, often twenty-four hours in winter ; it is then removed to a stove, either on an iron plate or set in boiling water, and the milk scalded. Care is taken to prevent the milk boiling, although itmayreach anypointshort of this. Atempera- ture of 175° to 190° is, however, quite safe. The pans are then returned to the dairy and skimmed in twelve hours. The cream is worked into butter by hand by the majority of farmers, although some still use a churn. The plan is troublesome and has nothing to recommend it ; the butter has a peculiar flavour, which is admired by those who are accustomed to it, but strongly condemned by experts and the trade in general. Cream raised in this way is very delicious, and is not produced so largely as it might be. In making butter, provided the cream is properly ripened and churned at a proper temperature — 58° to 61°, the former in summer and the latter in winter — it matters very little what churn is used, so long as it is of a good make. We should select one with a large mouth, light joints, and which can H THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. be easily cleaned. It is, however, useless to attempt to do good work in winter bj cburning in an apartment at a temperature of 40° or in summer at 80°. The cream will rapidly rise or fall as the case may be, and endless trouble will be the result. Churn- ing should be regular, and neither fast nor slow, and care should be taken to stop when the butter " breaks," i.e., when it comes, as it does at first, into small grains. This is the time to draw off the butter milk and to wash the butter, taking care to move the churn so gently that, by successive washings of cold water, each grain is brought into contact with the water, effectually removing the milk and making it crisp, A few turns of the churn will then suffice to convert the whole into a lump ready for the butter- worker, upon which the remaining water is pressed out as far as is possible, leaving it ready for making up. Salting may be performed in three ways, the salt being added according to taste. Some prefer to salt the cream, a plan which is an excellent one, costing very little trouble ; others wash the butter in the churn with salt water, also a good plan ; and others again prefer to salt the butter itself on the worker. The last is the least successful plan of the three. In either case the salt should be perfectly dry and ground in a mill until it is nearly as fine as fl.our. In preparing cream for churning, it should never be heated suddenly, it may be placed over-night in a warm kitchen, and so gradually raised to the temperature required. For cooling cream there is no better plan than hanging it down a well, or partially submerging the vessels holding it in a cistern of water below ground, a plan common in Holland. In the heat of summer butter should be made in the very early morning, and after working, left in a cold place to harden. It should never be coloured or streaked, the former being artificial and the latter the result of bad workmanship. Coarse salt worked into butter which has not been deprived of the water is retained in patches, thus giving the objectionable appearance. In a brief sketch like this it would be impossible to enter into a lengthened description of cheese-making. The late Dr. Yoelcker, who prosecuted careful researches at the request of the Eoyal Agricultural Society, published the result of his investi- gations in the twenty-second and twenty-third volumes of the Society's Journals. Anyone who is about to commence cheese- DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. 99 making will do well to study these papers and to serve a short apprenticeship in one of the best dairies in the country. Dr. Voelcker was convinced that the food has undoubtedly an influence on the quality of cheese ; but the method of manu- facture is still more important in determining its quality and character. The chief points deserving study are the complete separation of the whey from the curd, the heating of the curd, and the development of acidity. Various makers adopt different methods of attempting to obtain the ends in view ; some lose a part of the fat, which is carried off in the whey, while others, by a too early or too pronounced acidity, produce a cheese which does not properly mature. The first idea of a cheese factory was derived from America, where the system is general, and the great and rapid improvement that has been made during the last few years in the quality of American cheese is undoubtedly due to more scientific treatment and the development of the sweet curd system. The experiment in this country was tried first in Derbyshire, where factories at Long- ford a;Qd Brailsford have been in operation since 1870; these have since been supplemented by several others, including two built by the Duke of Westminster, and one, the most important of all, at Sudbury, the property of Lord Yemon, who takes a deep interest in the subject. Notwithstanding prejudice and trade opposition, these undertakings continue, although the result during the past year or two does not warrant their imitation. The saving of drudgery to the farmer's family in escaping from the details of cheese making, may endear the system to farmers' wives, whilst the economy of labour should give better results in the long run than could be looked for from private enterprise ; but, so far, factory cheese in England cannot compete with that made by private individuals, who devote greater study and intelligence to the work. Milk consists of casein, albumen, butter or fat globules, milk sugar, and mineral matters. In the preparation of cheese, the curd, a term applied to the solid portions of the milk, is separated by means either of lactic acid, which forms when the milk becomes sour, or by the addition of rennet. In skim-milk cheese-making the curd is almost pure casein, in whole milk H 2 100 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BEITAIN. it is casein combined with the fat, and a portion of the mineral matter; whilst in the resulting fluid, known as whey, remains the milk sugar, the albumen, small portions of the fat and casein, and most of the mineral matter. The division of the curd from the whey is brought about by the use of rennet, a liquid prepared from the fourth stomach of the sucking calf, which is especially arranged by nature for digesting curd. The value of rennet is not in its mere capacity to curdle milk, for this phenomenon will result from the use of almost any power- ful acid. It is in the fact that it is a digestive agent converting the raw curd into a mellow and deliciously flavoured cheese. The importance of the purity of rennet cannot therefore be too highly estimated. The Cheddar process, which is the safest and most largely followed, is thus described by Dr. Voelcker : — " Immediately after morning milking, the evening and morning milk is put into a Cockey's tin tub, having a jacketed bottom for the admission of steam or cold water. The temperature of the whole is slowly raised to 80°, by admitting steam into the jacketed bottom. The rennet is now introduced, the tub covered with a cloth, and left for an hour. If annatto for colouring is used, it must be added before the rennet. Grood rennet should properly coagulate milk at 80° in from three-quarters of an hour to an hour. If the milk fails to be coagulated within the hour, the curd produced will be tender, and not easily separated from the whey without loss of butter ; whereas, on the other hand, if the curd is separated in twenty to twenty- five minutes, the cheese is usually sour or hard. Great care should be exercised, in preparing the rennet so as to ensure uniform strength. At the end of the hour the curd should be partially broken, and allowed to subside for half an hour, after which the temperature is gradually raised to 108° Fahren- heit, the curd and whey meanwhile being gently stirred with a wire breaker, so that the heat is uniformly distributed and the curd minutely broken. The heat is maintained at 108° for an hour, during which time the stirring is continued. The curd, now broken into pieces the size of a pea, is left for half an hour to settle ; at the end of this time the whey is drawn off by opening a spigot near the bottom of the tub. As the curd should be quite tough, no pressure is at first DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE MILK TRADE, ETC. ' lOl requisite to make the bulk of the whey run off in a perfectly- clear state. The curd now collected in one mass is rapidly cooled, cut across into large slices, turned over once or twice, and left to drain for half an hour. As soon as it is tolerably dry, it is placed under the press, and most of the remaining whey is removed by pressure. After this the cheese is broken, first, coarsely, by hand, and then by the curd mill, which divides it into small fragments. A little salt should now be added and thoroughly mixed with the curd. The next operation is vatting. The cheese vat, carefully filled with the broken and salted curd, is covered with a cloth ; the curd is reversed in the cloth, put back into the vat, and placed in the press. The cheese cloth should be frequently removed, and the cheeses are ready to leave the press on the sixth morning. This is the process according to the Cheddar sj'stem. If carried out as described, and after treatment carefully attended to, viz., the turning and wiping of the cheeses and the main- tenance of the cheese-room at a temperature of about 62° F., the result will be a well-made edible cheese, varying as to quality according to the richness of the milk and the care which has been taken in its manufacture. The cheese tub or vat now generally preferred and used throughout Cheshire is rectangular and running on wheels, and sometimes on a tramway. It is on the American principle, and is lined for heating or cooling with either steam or water. Before using rennet — and all makes differ in strength — an experiment should be made to ascertain the quantity required to bring the curd from a given volume of milk in a given time, a finely graduated measure being used for the purpose. It must always be remembered that the quantity of rennet used is in an inverse ratio to the time the milk is set for curd; thus, to bring curd in half an hour, double as much rennet would be required as though the curd were brought in an hour. The principal British cheeses of Great Britain are the Cheddar, the Cheshire, the Derby, Leicester, G-loucester, Dunlop, and the Stilton. Of foreign cheeses, those chiefly appreciated in England are the Gruyere, the Dutch, Gor- 102 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. gonzola, and the Eoquefort made from sheep's milk. This great variety — and all differ, in some cases in a remarkable degree — is the result of variations in the temperature to which the curd is brought, of the manner in which the whey is removed, and the curd manipulated and ripened. In addition to the above, among the numerous kinds of hard cheese there are a host of smaller varieties known as ** soft " cheeses, on account of the delicate texture of their flesh, the whey having been extracted by gravitation instead of pressure. These are chiefly the produce of France, but their manufacture has recently been introduced into this country. The choicest varieties are the Brie, the Camembert, Coulommiers, and the Neufchatel. In dealing with milk as upon the farm where it is produced for sale in large towns, it should always be passed over a cooler directly after milking and straining, the change of temperature enabling it to travel and to keep better; and it is not needless to say that a cowkeeper should keep a journal showing the yield of each cow, details of his feeding, and the weekly or monthly results based upon it. At the present moment milk must reach a standard which is supposed to indicate its purity; but this is of very little value to the public, who can be sold 11 1 per cent, of solids with impunity, although all the best cows give from 13 to 14 per cent. On the basis of seven years' trials at the London Dairy Show, the cattle which are known to give the smallest quantity of solids per cent, (casein, fat, and sugar) exceeded 12|, while the races of cattle giving richer milk gave 13|. The public should therefore demand of retailers milk of a higher quality and pay a good price for it, or decline to pay a full price for an inferior article. There is much ignorance in connection with the con- stituents of milk, and when those interested have educated the consumer they will be in a better position to charge him higher for what they produce. iiiii»iritilWi 1 11" 1 1 TTTi n"-f I'll WT'" '^■V;'^(''<^M :?/, -IWI/Kli- OHAPTEE VI SHORTHORNS. By JOHN THOENTON, EDITOK OF "THE SHOKTHOEN CIRCULAE." [HE SHOETHOEN BEEED OF CATTLE may now be fairly called cosmopolitan. Its "habitat" is everywhere. From one small spot in Britain, its native home, it spread through this country till it is found from John o'Groat's to Land's End; in Ireland it prevails everywhere ; to most parts of the globe it has emigrated ; and an importation of animals by the Government of Japan shows that even the exclusive East is ready to accept the breed as an imprint for the native races. The "art and mystery" of breeding has worked marvels upon our native breeds of cattle ; and the modelling powers of man have been so exercised upon Shorthorns that the gaunt, ungainly form, which seems once to have characterised the race has been fashioned into a parallelogram of symmetry and beauty. There seems little doubt that, from time immemorial, the breed existed, as a local type, along the rich grazing valleys of the Tees ; in the counties of Durham and Yorkshire. Noblemen and squires, with a thoroughly English love of good stock, kept up the herds, on their estates, with as much pride as their own j)edigrees. Numerous are the local records of the excellences and feeding properties of these cattle ; and of their capability of attaining enormous weight when at full maturity. Mr. Chas. Colling, of Ketton, County Durham — (a follower of the great Bakewell, and a man of great judgment and sagacity) — was the first to fix national attention upon the merits of the breed. 104 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. Eesiding within the district, he collected the best specimens together; and, by careful selection and in-and-in breeding to the blood of one cow, Favourite or Lady Maynard, reared a herd of fine cattle, which were shown to arrive at maturity at a much earlier age than had previously been seen anywhere. His brother (Mr. Eobert Colling, of Barmpton) was also an eminent breeder; and bred upon the same lines. Indeed, both brothers, at first, used the same bulls. The former bred an ox of won- derful dimensions, whose live weight was 34cwt. ; whilst the latter exhibited a white heifer which obtained hardly less celebrity. The bull Favourite (252) was the sire of both. They travelled throughout England, and were shown in London, as well as at the leading country towns. Their appearance, followed shortly afterwards in 1810 by news of the sale of Mr. Colling's herd at an average of 151Z. 8s. for forty-seven head, brought the breed into general notoriety ; and, from the begin- ning of this century. Shorthorns continued to spread rapidly, until they may now be found in every county in great Britain and Ireland. The breed is distinguished by its symmetrical proportions, and by its great bulk on a comparatively small frame ; the offal being very light, and the limbs small and fine. The head is expressive ; being rather broad across the forehead, tapering gracefully below the eyes to an open nostril and fine flesh- coloured muzzle. The eyes are bright, prominent, and of a particularly placid, sweet expression; the whole countenance being remarkably gentle. The horns (whence comes the name) are, by comparison with earlier breeds, unusually short. They spring well from the head, with a graceful downward curl, and are of a creamy white or yellowish colour ; the ears being fine, erect, and hairy. The neck should be moderately thick (muscular in the male), and set straight and well into the shoulders. These, when viewed in front, are wide, showing thickness through the heart ; the breast coming well forward, and the fore legs standing short and wide apart. The back, among the higher bred animals, is remarkably broad and flat ; the ribs, barrel-like, spring well out of it, and with little space between them and the hip bones, which should be soft and well covered. The hind-quarters are long and well filled in, the tail SHORTHORNS. 105 being set square upon them ; the thighs meet low down, forming the full and deep twist'; the flank should be deep, so as partially to cover the udder, which should be not too large, but placed forward, the teats being well formed and square-set, and of a medium size ; the hind legs should be very short and stand wide and quite straight to the ground. The general appearance should show even outlines. The whole body is covered with long, soft hair, there frequently being a fine undercoat ; and this hair is of the most pleasing variety of colour, from a soft, creamy white to a full deep red. Occasionally the animal is red and white ; the white being found principally on the forehead, underneath the belly, and a few spots on the hind quarters and legs ; in another group the body is nearly white, with the neck and head partially covered with roan ; whilst in a third type the entire body is most beautifully variegated ; of a rich deep purple or plum- coloured hue. On touching the beef points, the skin is found to be soft aud mellow, as if lying on a soft cushion. In animals thin in condition a kind of inner skin is felt, which is the "quality" or "handling" indicative of the great fattening propensities for which the breed is so famous. The Ketton herd was of this character; the knuckles, or shoulder points, however, were rather strong and somewhat more upright than in some modern herds. The red colour of some of the early cattle had a yellow tinge, and this hue may still occasionally be seen. Some of the early breeders sought to remedy those defects which were thought to exist in the Ketton stock; although the public approval, as shown by the 151?. average, and the 1000 guineas for the six-year-old bull Comet (155), testifies to their general merit. Mr. C. Mason, of Chilton, Durham, improved the shoulders of the cattle in his herd, although, perhaps, at some sacrifice of the hind- quarters; and Sir Chas. Knightly, in more recent years, was very persistent in his endeavours to improve the formation of the fore-quarters of the animals from which he bred. During the last quarter of a century, fashion has run high, and there has been a constant adherence on the part of most breeders to some particular strain of blood ; until different types have been produced within the same breed. In some strains, style and elegance have been mainly aimed at; the beautiful head is 106 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. carried erect, the horns incline upwards, whilst the body has become elongated, and the shoulders have somewhat retained their uprightness ; the whole animal bearing a most stylish attractive look. Animals of this type generally possess good milking properties, an abundance of soft rich-coloured hair, and a thin touch. By other breeders greater massiveness, with sloping shoulders and a greater disposition to heavy flesh, have been studied and attained. The adjudications in our recent showyards have been made to animals of the greatest substance; i.e., to those whose form has preserved most closely the type of the earlier Shorthorns, without the roughness of their shoulders. The system pursued by the most eminent breeders has of late years been to couple animals of the same strain of blood. Several breeders readily sold, before the recent depression, bull calves for 500 guineas each ; and the enormous sum of 4500Z. has been paid for a bull ; which, by a long and successful career at the stud, was shown to have realised 7000Z. from fees paid to his owner by other breeders who sent cows to him. Another old established herd finds customers to hire the entire number of bulls produced, at varying rentals for the year, from 100 to 300 guineas each. The most effective method of producing sale- able animals still secDis that of somewhat close breeding, or, as it is termed, in-and-in breeding, from a few families all near akin to each other. So long as thick flesh, size, and constitution can be maintained, there does not seem any valid objection to this method. A common plan has been to use bulls of one strain year after year, upon a herd originally of diflierent blood. It cannot be said, however, that this practice has been altogether successful. Attention to pedigree is, to this extent, found to be as efficacious as attention to form without pedigree, that it has produced animals which fetched the largest prices; still, the warning must be given that breeding for fashion, and the stimulating effects of high prices, have had a strong tendency unduly to deter selection, and to prevent vigorous weeding out of inferior specimens ; so that although restrictions in alliances may have had the effect of perpetuating what is termed "pure" blood, and of avoiding the deleterious effects of rash and injudicious crossing, they certainly have been relied on too far. Indeed, it may be accepted as proved that as soon as individual SHORTHORNS. 107 merit decreases in a herd, the close-breeding method cannot any longer be relied on to uphold selling values in the most fashionable tribes. The Herd Book has been the mainstay of this carefulness on the part of the breeder. Brought out in 1822, by Mr. G-eorge Coates in his old age, it was continued by his son. After his death it was taken up by the late Mr. Henry Strajfford, by whose persevering labours the series was conducted up to its twentieth volume. This was published in 1873 with a record of 32,898 numbered bulls, and a proportionate number of cows. In 1874 it transpired that Mr Strafford, from advancing years and decaying health, was desirous of retiring from a position which involved great personal labour. A committee of breeders was formed to consider the position ; and a meeting was held July 1, 1874, in Willis's Eooms, under the presidency of the Duke of Devonshire, to consider what steps it was desirable to take. As one consequence, a Shorthorn Society was formed ; which, among other duties, undertakes that of maintaining the Herd Book, and issuing a yearly volume in continuation of the series. This has regularly been done ; and the latest (Vol. XXXI.) appeared in October, 1885 ; bringing up the register of produce to the end of the December previous, and containing pedigrees of bulls up to No. 52,382. The value attached to the best specimens, for a brief time, became almost fabulous. The late Mr. Whitaker, whose sound judgment and modest opinions entitle his observations to the most sincere respect, says that in 1829, 2000 guineas would not purchase ten of the most select animals in the country. More than twice that price breeders have been known to steadily and calmly decline for one animal. Following upon the great expansion of trade — and apparently of wealth, which the prosperous years of 1851-61 witnessed — farming became even a more fashionable pursuit than it had ever been. Throughout the country, estates, new or inherited, were stocked with pure- bred cattle. The retired merchant, or professional man, amused his leisure hours with model farming, and found a pleasing relaxation in breeding Shorthorns. The demand, for a time, in consequence, exceeded the supply ; prices rose, and breeders of the more fashionable tribes endeavoured to meet the demand 108 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. l)y offering, at intervals, portions of their herds. Some of these made enormous averages. Pure specimens of bulls and heifers V7ere seen to make, at public auctions, above 4000 guineas each. All previous results, however, were eclipsed by the memorable sale of Mr. Campbell's Duchess and Oxford cattle, in 1873, at New York Mills, in America. Here eleven females of the Duchess tribe averaged 4522Z. 14s. 2d., the highest price being 40,600 dollars paid for 8th Duchess of G-eneva, which was bought for Mr. E. Pavin Davis, of Grloucestershire. It, how- ever, proved that the purchase was in excess of that gentleman's instructions, and the cow was resold to an American breeder, in whose possession she soon afterwards died. The Earl of Bective, the Earl of Lathom, and Mr. Holford were the other English buyers. Three Duchess bulls averaged 1638Z. 15s. ; Second Duke of Oneida, a remarkably fine animal, making 12,000 dollars. With one exception the Oxfords were pur- chased by Americans. Six females averaged 1087?. 10s., and the bull calves 396Z. 16s. Sd. The excitement to which the American sale had lent " wings " culminated in 1875. In that year two auctions of Shorthorns were held, which (without equalling in individual cases the prices at New York Mills Sale) exceeded it in sustained demand throughout. The first was on the 25th August, when a selec- tion from the Earl of Dunmore's herd was sold in Scotland: thirty-nine animals realised 26,223Z. 15s., or an average of 672Z. 8s. ; the second sale, when the entire and large herd bred by Mr. William Torr, at Aylesby, in Lincolnshire, was dispersed upon his death, a week later. Here eighty-four animals of all ages fetched the enormous total of 42,919Z. 16s., or an average of 510Z. 19s. These figures must be looked at as highest water mark; not only for this breed of cattle, but for cattle of any variety. Nothing to compare with these sales occurred before, or have been witnessed since. The entire returns from Short- horns sold, by public sale, in the year 1875 showed that 2355 animals had made a total of 220,321Z. 13s., or 932. lis. Id. per head. The preponderance of the breed at the meetings of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England was, for a time, remarkable. The result of seven years, ending in 1862, was 702 Shorthorns SHORTHORNS. 109' against 211 Herefords and 357 Devons ; and, for the ten years succeeding, i.e., up to 1871, the numbers exhibited have been 1476 Shorthorns, 574 Herefords, 472 Devons. At the leading markets and fairs (except, perhaps, in the south-west) Shorthorns everywhere comprise the majority of the cattle shown ; and it is estimated that there are more Shorthorns bred, fed, and grazed in England than all other breeds put together. The great milking properties of this breed have made the cattle equally serviceable to dairymen and graziers ; indeed, a recent company in London was started under the name of the Royal Shorthorn Dairy Company. Years ago it was customary for droves of the ordinary unimproved Shorthorns to be driven on foot from the north to the south of England. Farmers would meet the droves on the road and buy the best animals ; and, in this way, many capital stocks were early established in the midland and southern counties. Of late years complaints have been frequently made that Shorthorns are not good milkers. This may possibly have been correct in some instances, but it has arisen, not from inherent inability, but from the pernicious effects of forcing young animals into a condition of premature fatness. There are, however, always to be found animals of all strains of Shorthorn blood, which are capable, not only of making their own calves fat, but of giving several quarts of milk daily in addition ; and of sustaining such high condition, all the while, as enables them to compete successfully in our leading show-yards. And, at a recent conference on dairy matters, held by the British Dairy Association, a paper was read by an experienced owner of a dairy for town use, who bore witness that nothing had made a better return, to a milk- seller, than his pedigree Shorthorns. The greatest record of the Shorthorn, however, still is its marvellous efficacy in crossing and improving other breeds. In Scotland many of the native black herds have been crossed generation after generation ; and the produce is accepted as the very best beef which comes to London. In Wales, the " coloury beast " (as the Shorthorn is called) has gradually worked upon the Castlemartins and runts until it outnumbers them; and " pure-bred " herds are to be found in the south, as well as the north of the Principality. The marvellous improvement in the 110 THE CATTLE OP GREAT BEITAIH. Irish cattle, by the use of Shorthorn sires, has become proverbial ; and prices there for good yearling bulls have ranged higher, until quite recently, than even in England or Scotland. Even the Isle of Man boasts its pure herds and a 400-guinea heifer; whilst the Orkneys and Shetlands are not destitute of pedigreed bulls. But it is to the New World that the greatest exportations have been made. America imported pure Shorthorns upwards of fifty years ago, and every year numbers of cattle leave our shores for Canada and the States. Spirit and enterprise have been rewarded, and the offspring of animals imported a genera- tion back have of late years found their way back to our own herds. The vast area and rolling plains of the Western States are affording fine fields for grazing and breeding; and what has for years been done in Australia — where numberless bulls and also heifers have been sent — is now being practised in the Ear West. Canada, with its fields five months white with snow, finds the purest pay the best ; and one energetic Canadian in 1870 spent 20,000Z. in importing pure animals, which have been highly remunerative. The enormous plains in South America have recently been supplied with a large number of bulls. Although the first importation was made as far back as 1836, no number was sent out until about 1880, but during 1884-6-6 immense numbers, and often at very high prices, have been exported. New Zealand has also its breeders and importers; and, coming nearer home, we find France took, thirty years ago, some of our best cattle, and one of her first acts after the Franco- Prussian War was the importation of four pure-bred Shorthorn bulls. Belgium, for nearly half a century, has annually imported a large number of young bulls. In G-ermany several pure herds are to be found; and Shorthorn bulls have been used among the native breeds of Russia and Bessarabia, and even in Egypt. It is in the prepotent powers of this impressive race that its greatest value lies. Its adaptability to all climates and soils, its marvellous faculty of growing and fattening at the same time, its maturity at an age when other cattle are considered but half grown, its faculty of raising its own offspring with a bountiful supply of milk, ensure for it a great SHORTHORNS. Ill and permanent superiority. The Shorthorn has been called the " Universal Intruder." Wherever Britons colonise, the Short- horn makes its home ; and in many a distant land, where the English tongue is comparatively unknown, its influence is extending ; and the Shorthorn undoubtedly is the chief means of transmitting, to other countries and other nations, that great national institution " the Eoast Beef of Old England." CHAPTER Til. THE HEREFORD BREED OF CATTLE. By T. DUCKHAM. HE HEEEFOEDS are an aboriginal race of cattle indigenous to the soil of the county from whence they take their name. Yet experience has proved that the exercise of sound judgment in making selections for breeding purposes is alone requisite to ensure the success of those who breed them in almost every known climate. They are of the middle-horn tribe, and have for ages past been highly esteemed for their fine quality of flesh, which, by the ntermixture of fat and lean, presents that marbled appearance so much prized by the epicure, and commands a* top price in the market. The rapidity with which they lay on fat is certainly unsurpassed, if equalled. Experimental trials have been made with them and selected specimens of other pure breeds, which have ended in the uniform result that they yield the best return to the grazier for the food consumed. The value of the cattle of the district has been noticed by different writers for many centuries past. Speed, in his history of the county, says : " The county's climate is most healthful and temperate, and soyle so fertile for corn and cattle that no place in England yieldeth more or better conditioned." The principal herds are in the hands of the tenant farmers of Hereford and adjoining counties, and have been handed down generation after generation from father to son in all their purity. The steers are looked upon as the rent-payers of the district, and perhaps no finer sight of cattle can be seen in the kingdom than that of the Hereford October fair, where several ^ Sil ^^« ^s ^^s ft MM {\MAw^ [gjjjogWyWWi \nL ^