[Illustration: DEXTER BULL.]
[Illustration: KERRY COW.]
[Illustration: GUERNSEY COW.]
[Illustration: JERSEY COW.]
The comparative sizes of the animals are indicated by the scale of
reproduction of the photographs.
(From photographs by F. Babbage.)
The _West Highland_ or Kyloe breed are perhaps the most hardy and
picturesque of British cattle. Their home is amidst the wild romantic
scenery of the Highlands and the Western Isles of Scotland, though
Highland bullocks with long, spreading curved horns may be seen in
English parks. They have not made much progress towards early maturity,
but their slowly ripened beef is of the choicest quality. The colour of
their thick shaggy hair varies from white and light dun to tawny yellow
of many shades, and black.
The _Ayrshires_ are the dairy breed of Scotland, where they have
considerably overstepped the limits of the humid western county whence
they take their name. They are usually of a white and brown colour, the
patches being well defined. The neat, shapely, upstanding horns are
characteristic. The Ayrshires are under medium size and move gracefully,
and the females display the wedge-shape typical of dairy cows. They are
a hardy breed, and, even from poor pastures, give good yields of milk,
especially useful for cheese-making purposes. The milking powers of the
breed are being improved under a system of milk-testing and records
supported by the Highland and Agricultural Society.
The _Jerseys_ are graceful, deer-like cattle, whose home is in the
island of Jersey, where, by means of stringent regulations against the
importation of cattle, the breed has been kept pure for many
generations. As its milk is especially rich in fat (so rich that it
requires to be diluted with a little water before it can be safely fed
to calves), the Jersey has attained a wide reputation as a
butter-producing breed. It is a great favourite in England, where many
pure-bred herds exist. The colours most preferred are "whole" fawns of
many shades. The light silver-grey, which was in high repute in England
in the early 'seventies of the 19th century, is out of favour. Browns
and brindles are rarely seen. The grey zone surrounding the black muzzle
gives the appearance designated "mealy-mouthed." The horns are short,
and generally artificially curved inwards; the bones are fine. The best
milch cows have a yellowish circle round the eye, and the skin at the
extremity of the tail is of a deep yellow, almost orange colour. The
cows are gentle and docile when reared in close contact with human
beings, but the bulls, despite their small size, are often fierce.
_Guernsey_ cattle are native to the islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark
and Herm. They are kept pure by importation restrictions. Herds of
pure-bred Guernseys also exist in the Isle of Wight and in various
counties of England and Scotland. They have not the refined and elegant
appearance of the Jerseys, which, however, they exceed in size. They are
usually of a rich yellowish-brown colour, patched with white, in some
cases their colour almost meriting the appellation of "orange and
lemon." The yellow colour inside the ears is a point always looked for
by judges. The cows, large-bellied and narrow in front, are truly
wedge-shaped, the greatly developed udder adding to the expanse of the
hinder part of the body. They yield an abundance of milk, rich in fat,
and are excellent butter-producers. The horns are yellow at the base,
curved, and not coarse. The nose is flesh-coloured and free from black
markings.
The _Canadian_ breed, black with a narrow brown stripe down the back and
a light ring round the muzzle, are descended from old Brittany cattle
imported into Canada by French settlers three hundred years ago, and are
in consequence related to the Channel Islands cattle. They are
remarkably hardy and good milkers, and it is claimed they produce butter
fat at 2 c. a lb. less cost than any other breed.
The _Kerry_ is a breed of small black cattle belonging to the south-west
of Ireland, whence they have spread into many parts, not only of their
native land, but of England as well. Although they are able to subsist
on the roughest and scantiest of fare, and are exceedingly hardy, the
cows are, nevertheless, excellent milkers, and have acquired celebrity
as a dairy breed. The colour is black, but the cows sometimes have a
little white on the udder. The horns are white, with black tips, and are
turned upwards. The Kerry is active and graceful, long and lithe in
body, and light-limbed. On the rich pastures of England it has increased
considerably in size.
The _Dexter_ breed is reputed to take its name from one Dexter, agent of
Maude, Lord Hawarden, who is credited with having established it by
selection and breeding from the best mountain types of the Kerry. Until
recently it was called the Dexter-Kerry. It is smaller and more compact
than the Kerry, shorter in the leg, and intoed before and behind. Whilst
valuable as a beef-making animal, it is equally noted for its
milk-producing capacity. Black is the usual colour, but red is also
recognized, with, in either case, a little white. When of a red colour,
the appearance of the animal has been aptly compared to that of a grand
Shorthorn viewed through the wrong end of a telescope. The Kerry and the
Dexter are readily distinguishable. The Kerry has a gay, light,
deer-like head and horn, light limbs and thin skin. The Dexter has
coarser limbs, a square body, flat back, thick shoulder, short neck, and
head and horn set on low.
A herd of _Dexter-Shorthorns_ was founded by Major Barton at Straffan,
Ireland, in 1860, in which prominent characteristics of the two breeds
have been permanently blended so that they breed true to type.
As milk-producers, and therefore as dairy cattle, certain strains of the
Shorthorn (registered as well as non-pedigree), the Lincolnshire Red
Shorthorn, South Devon, Longhorn, Red Polled, Ayrshire, Jersey,
Guernsey, Kerry and Dexter breeds have acquired eminence. Such breeds as
the Shorthorn, Lincolnshire Red Shorthorn, South Devon, Welsh, Red
Polled and Dexter are claimed as useful beef-makers as well as
milk-producers, and are classified as dual-purpose animals. The others
belong to the beef-producers. As regards colour, red is characteristic
of the Lincolnshire Shorthorn, the Hereford, Devon, Sussex and Red
Polled. Black is the dominating colour of the Welsh, Aberdeen-Angus,
Galloway, Kerry and Dexter. A yellowish hue is seen in the West
Highland, Guernsey and South Devon breeds. Various shades of fawn colour
are usual in Jersey cattle and also appear among Highlanders. The
Herefords, though with red bodies, have white faces, manes, and dewlaps,
whilst white prevails to a greater or less extent in the Shorthorn,
Longhorn and Ayrshire breeds. The Shorthorn breed is exceedingly
variable in colour; pure-bred specimens may be red, or white, or roan,
or may be marked with two or more of these colours, the roan resulting
from a blending of the white and red. Black is not seen in a pure-bred
Shorthorn. The biggest and heaviest cattle come from the beef-making
breeds, and are often cross-bred. Very large or heavy beasts, if
pure-bred, usually belong to one or other of the Shorthorn, Hereford,
Sussex, Welsh, West Highland, Aberdeen-Angus and Galloway breeds. The
Devon, Red Polled and Guernsey are medium-sized cattle; the Ayrshires
are smaller, although relatively the bullocks grow larger than bulls or
cows. The Jerseys are small, graceful cattle, but the smaller type of
Kerries, the Dexters and the Shetlanders furnish the smallest cattle of
the British Isles.
See generally the _Herd Books_ of the various breed societies.
(W. Fr.; R. W.)
_Rearing and Feeding._[7]--A calf at birth scales from one-twelfth to
one-fourteenth the weight of the dam. A sucking calf of one of the large
breeds should gain 3 lb. per day for the first month, 2.5 lb. for the
second, and 2 lb. during the later calf period. Colostrum, or first-day
milk after calving, contains more than five times the albuminoid
compounds found in average cows' milk. In the course of three or four
days it gradually becomes normal in composition, although the peculiar
flavour remains a few days longer. Nature has specially prepared it for
the young calf with extremely nourishing and also laxative properties,
and it is of practically no value for any other purpose. Normal cows'
milk has an albuminoid ratio slightly narrower than 1 : 4--colostrum
1 : .71. [The ratio is arrived at by adding to the percentage of
milk-sugar, possessing about the food equivalent of starch, the fat
multiplied by 2.268, and dividing by the total albuminoids--all
digestible.]
Common nutrient ratios for older animals are stated in the following
table of food standards by Dr Emil Wolff:--
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| | Food Consumed per Day. |
| +---------------------+--------------------------+
| | Dry. | Digestible. |
| +------+-------+------+------+--------+----------+
| | Live |Organic|Albu- | |Carbo- |Albuminoid|
| |Weight|Matter |minoid| Fats |Hydrates| Ratio. |
+-----------------------------------+------+-------+------+------+--------+----------+
| | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. |
|Calves, growing, 2 to 3 months | 150 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.30 | 2.1 | 1 : 4.7 |
|Young cattle " 3 to 6 " | 300 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 0.30 | 4.1 | 1 : 5 |
| " " 6 to 12 " | 500 | 12.0 | 1.2 | 0.30 | 6.8 | 1 : 6 |
| " " 12 to 18 " | 700 | 16.8 | 1.4 | 0.28 | 9.1 | 1 : 7 |
| " " 18 to 24 " | 850 | 20.4 | 1.4 | 0.26 | 10.3 | 1 : 8 |
|Oxen in complete rest | 1000 | 27.5 | 0.7 | 0.15 | 8.0 | 1 : 12 |
| " fattening, 1st period | 1000 | 27.0 | 2.5 | 0.50 | 15.0 | 1 : 65 |
| " " 2nd period | 1000 | 26.0 | 3.0 | 0.70 | 14.8 | 1 : 5.5 |
| " " 3rd period | 1000 | 25.0 | 2.7 | 0.60 | 14.8 | 1 : 6 |
|Milch cows | 1000 | 24.0 | 2.5 | 0.40 | 12.5 | 1 : 5.4 |
+-----------------------------------+------+-------+------+------+--------+----------+
Digestible albuminoid nitrogen is the scarcest and consequently the
costliest ingredient in food-stuffs, but, since the introduction of
vegetable proteid made by Mitchell's process from the castor bean, an
easy and inexpensive means of balancing cattle food ratios is
available. By this means the manurial value of the excrement is
increased. The calculations necessary in arriving at a ratio are
simplified by the employment of Jeffers's calculator (Plainsboro,
N.J.).
There are three common methods of rearing calves, (1) The calf sucks its
mother or foster-mother. This is the natural method and the best for the
show-yard and for early fattening purposes; but it is the most
expensive, and the calves, if not handled, grow up wild and dangerous.
Store stock may be also raised by putting two calves to one cow and
weaning at three months old; a second pair in turn yielding place to a
single calf. (2) Full milk from the cow at about 90 deg. F. is given
alone until the latter part of the milk period; then the calf is trained
to eat supplementary foods to preserve the calf-fat after weaning. A
large calf at first receives daily three quarts of milk at three meals.
The amount is increased to 2 gallons by the end of the fourth week, and
to 2-1/2 gallons at 3 months, when gradual weaning begins. Linseed cake
meal is specially suitable for such calves. (3) The calf receives full
milk from the mother for one to two weeks, or better, for three to four
weeks; then it is slowly transferred to fortified separated milk or milk
substitutes. Cod-liver oil, 2 oz. daily, is a good substitute for butter
fat. In America cotton-seed oil, 1/2 oz. to the quart of milk, or an
equivalent of oleomargarine heated to 110 deg. F. and churned with
separated milk, has produced a live-weight-increase of 2 lb. daily.
Linseed simmered to a jelly and added to separated milk gives good
results. Moderate amounts are easily digested. Oatmeal or maize meal
containing 10% of linseed meal does well, later, at less cost. Milk
substitutes and calf meals require close attention in preparation, and
would not fetch the prices they do if feeders possessed the technical
knowledge necessary to select and mix common foods. Ground cake or
linseed meal is, after a time, better given dry than cooked, being then
better masticated and not so liable to produce indigestion.
Grass or fine hay in racks is provided when the calf can chew the cud.
As cattle get older, live-weight-increase grows less. Smithfield
weights[8] show that a good bullock up to a year old will increase 2 lb.
daily, a two-year-old 1-3/4 lb., and a three-year-old a little over
1-1/2 lb.
Cattle feeding on a farm consume crude produce that is inconvenient to
market, and make farmyard manure; but there is frequently no profit
left. To secure the balance on the right side the inlaid price per live
cwt. requires to be 5s. less than the sale price--say 32s. per cwt. for
lean cattle, and 37s. per cwt. for the animal when sold fat and capable
of producing 60% of dressed beef. The ordinary animal yields only about
57%. A well-bred fattening bullock begins with 2 lb. of cake and meal
per day, increasing to 8 lb. at the end of five months (6 lb. on an
average), and receives 3/4 cwt. of roots and 12 lb. of straw; at an
average cost of about 4s. 3d. per imperial stone or 50s. per cwt. of
dressed carcase. Heifers feed faster than bullocks, and age tells on the
rate at which an animal will mature: a three-year-old will develop into
prime beef more quickly and easily than a two-year-old. It is difficult
to produce "baby beef" at a profit, and it can only be done with picked
animals of the best flesh-producing breeds, which cannot be bought at a
price per cwt. below the finished sale price, for animals producing baby
beef must from start to finish (under two years old) be at all times fit
to go to the fat market. It is true that a very young animal can give a
better account of food than an older one, but this advantage is
counterbalanced by the tendency to grow rather than to fatten. (See also
AGRICULTURE.)
In cold and stormy districts cattle thrive best in covered courts, but
in a mild climate they do equally well in open yards with shelter-sheds.
The more air they get the less liable they are to tuberculosis--example
Lincolnshire and the drier south-eastern counties. The ideal method of
house-feeding cattle is singly in boxes 10 ft. square, where they are
undisturbed, and where the best manure is made because it is not washed
by rain.
On the finest British grazing lands two lots of cattle are fed in one
season. The first is finished early in July, having, without artificial
feeding, laid on eight to nine stones of beef. The second lot requires
three or four pounds of undecorticated cotton cake each towards the end
of September and in October when grass begins to fail. (R. W.)