Excerpt from The Origin and Early History of the Ayrshire Breed of Cattle

Britain 18 the breeding ground for the rest of the world of a large number of the varieties of pure bred cattle. Among pure dairy breeds, the Ayrshire is probably one of the most valuable, and is certainly one of the most distinctive and Wide spread. Although generally considered to be one of the most recent breeds, its origin is probably shrouded in as great mystery as any Of the Older ones. Being comparatively Speaking of recent origin, one would have naturally expected that full particulars would have been available regarding its origin and subsequent growth. Strange to say, quite the reverse is the case, and although the breed differs in almost every detail from the other breeds in the country, so little notice was taken of it by the early writers that only the merest scraps of information are available regarding its early history.

The early writers who have referred to the breed have generally Spoken Of it as having been introduced from Holland, but even in this they are not unanimous, and one writer (aiton) seems to have considered it an improved selection Of the then existing breed. Although the interval since its introduction is not great, even tradition has handed down very few details. This is all the more surprising, as the county of its origin is rich in folklore, and the people Of the district took a most active part in all the great upheavals to which the country was subjected from the invasion of the Romans to the battle of Largs, the struggles for freedom of Wallace and Bruce, and through the Covenanting period. The popular tradition is, however, that the breed was an imported one, and the probability is that if so it has in part been modified as time went on, through selection, and very likely also to some extent through occasional crossing with other home or foreign breeds, and probably also to some trifling extent by change of food and climate. The admixture with other breeds seems to have been very trifling, if one is to be guided by what the early writers say, or from the extremely rare intervals at which calves are produced which do not conform in all particulars to the general type of the breed.

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