James Wilson

“ Sixty or seventy years ago these phenomena were all common, and horned and hornless cattle, many of the former the ancestors of the present-day hornless cattle, competed together for prizes even at the shows of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. A century ago the horned and the hornless grew up side by side not only on neighbouring farms but in the same fields, claiming frequently to be children of the same parents. ”

“ When red cattle were bred with blackish-browns and light duns, they produced brindles and yellows, and these, being unwelcome, were bred out quickly; but, when bred with black cattle, they produced black masqueraders. We can thus understand why an occasional red calf turns up. ”

“ They could not stand starvation so well as the small polls, but with better treatment they gave a heavier yield of milk. A few were of a dull-red colour, but they were not so high in favour as the brindled cattle. The polled cattle were the dairy stock. The butter they produced was very fine in summer and autumn, but hard and white in winter. The establishing of a beef trade with England, and the introduction of Shorthorn bulls and turnip husbandry, opened up a new era for Buchan. The native cattle fattened well, and money was made by doing so. ”

“ Here again, there being no deception, or, at any rate, only a slight one, for dark brindle is sometimes very nearly black, we can understand how, when black became the favoured colour, the brindles and their blackish-brown parent would gradually disappear. ”

“ By uniting with these cattle the Dutch Shorthorns absorbed the white colour of the Roman cattle and along with it the roan, which is a hybrid between the Dutch and Roman colours. About the same time the Shorthorns also absorbed the blood of some of the native black cattle, but the black colour at any rate was soon bred out, while, even to the present day, the blood of Anglo-Saxon red cattle has been frequently absorbed, the colour in this case to be retained. ”

“ Victor of Ballindalloch is also descended from Old Jock.
an Aberdeen-Angus animal born within the last four or five years which is not descended from Iliad more than once. One other Scots breed—the Highlanders—is also of some interest. Its basis was the original black Celtic cattle. The browns or (in Gaelic) donns came in at some time or other, and brindles appeared from the cross. The hornless light dun Scandinavians came in and produced hornless cattle and duns with the black ones, and further brindles with the donns. ”