Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

26 CATTLE.
mouth, Sidraouth, and over the hill to the fruitful vale of Honiton.
we do not find oxen so much used in husbandry. The soil is either
a cold hard clay, or its flints -would speedily destroy the feet of the
oxen. The same variety of pure Devons and South Devons, ancj
natives of that particular district, with intermixtures of every breed,
prevail, but the South Devons are principally seen. Some of these
cows seem to unite the opposite qualities of fattening and milking.
A South Devon has been known, soon after calving, to yield more
than two pounds of butter a day ; and many of the old southern
native breed are equal to any short horns in the quantity of their
milk, and far superior to them in its quality.
The Devon cattle prevail along that part of the county of Somerset
which borders on Devon, until we arrive in the neighborhood of
Wincaunton and Uchester, where the pure breed is almost lost sight
of. In the north of Somerset, few of the Devons are to be seen
but along the coast, and even extending as far as Bristol and Bath,
the purest breed of the Devons is preferred. They are valued for
their aptitude to fatten, their quickness and honesty at work ; and
they are said to be better milkers than in their native county. They
are of a larger size, for the soil is better, and the pasturage more
luxuriant. It is on this account that the oxen bred in some parts,
and particularly in the Vale of Taunton, although essentially Devons,
are preferred to those from the greater part of Devonshire, and even
from the neighborhood of Barnstaple and South Molton. They are
better for the grazier and for the dairy ; and, if they are not quite
so active as their progenitors, they have not lost their docility and
freeness at work, and- they have gained materially in strength.
The farmers in the south and south-west of Somerset are endeavoring
to breed that sort of cattle that will answer for the pail, and the
plough, and grazing—a very difficult point ; for those' that are of
the highest proof ^exhibiting those points or conformations of particular
parts which usually indicate a propensity to fatten) are gene-
rally the worst milkers, both as to quantity and quality. This being,
however, a dairy county, as well as a grazing one, or more so, the
principal point with them is a good show for milk. They are, for
the most part, of the Devon red, and the best suited for all purposes
of any in the West of England. All that is necessary to keep them
up in size and proof, and of a good growth, is to change the bull
every two years. This is a very important, although an overlooked
and unappreciated principle of breeding, even where the stock is
most select. No bull should be longer used by the same grazier, or
some degree of deterioration will ensue.
It must, nevertheless, be confessed, that in the greater part of the
county^ and where the Devons are liked best for husbandry and for
grazing, experience has taught many farmers to select another breed
for the dairy.
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