A History of British Livestock Husbandry, 1700-1900

HISTORY OF BRITISH LIVESTOCK: R TROW-SMITH: CONTENTS PREFACE ix 1. PASTORAL BRITAIN IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1 Sources; Scottish cattle economy; Welsh livestock; the south-west; Home Counties fattening industry; dairy farming; intensive veal production; evolving breeds of cattle; management of the dairy cow; the beef beast; ailments of cattle; sheep husbandry; early eighteenth century swine; the farm horse 2, THE WORK OF ROBERT BAKEWELL 45 The longhorn improvement; breeding the ideal animal; Bakewell's contemporaries; the New Leicester sheep; crossing the New Leicester 3. THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1: FODDER CROPS AND CATTLE 70 The turnip husbandry; carrots and potatoes; clover stands; cabbages for fodder; advent of the oilcake; demand for better cattle; a national breed of Longhorns; prototypes of the Shorthorn; the Devon breed; other south-western types; the red cattle of Hereford, Sussex and Norfolk; the English polls; Welsh cattle; the Scottish breeds; Alderney imports; transhumance 4. THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 2: SHEEP, PIGS AND HORSES 121 The south-western breeds; the new Southdown; the Norfolk and the new Suffolk; the Ryeland and its cousins; the sheep of Wales; the Cheviot advance; the Linton race; the family of longwools; pockets of archaic stock in Scotland; Merino experiments; the eighteenth century pig; Shire, Clydesdale and Suffolk horses 5. THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 3: THE TECHNIQUES OF CATTLE HUSBANDRY 163 Rearing the calf; finishing the beef; Irish, Welsh and Scottish supplies; plow oxen; management of the dairy herd; the urban cowkeeper; milk yields; ailments and their treatment; stock housing; profits and losses 6. THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 4: MANAGEMENT OF THE SHEEP AND PIG 196 Tupping the ewe; treatment of the lamb; lambing rates; the mountain flock; ewe milking; the wool clip; sheep houses and equipment; ailments of the sheep; profits from the flock; pig husbandry; management of the farm horse 7. DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIVESTOCK MARKET 224 Trade in Scots and Welsh beast; London and provincial fatstock markets; sheep marts; the Irish trade 8. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 1: PERFECTING BRITISH BREEDS OF CATTLE 233 The Shorthorn improvement; Scottish and other Shorthorns; the black breeds of Scotland; English red beef beast; Welsh cattle types; the achievement in beef; the milch breeds; arrival of the Friesian 9. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 2: SHEEP, PIGS AND HORSES 268 The Leicester and the longwools; the Cheviot and Blackface rivalry; the Southdown and the new Down breeds; the West Midland complex; the Merino experiment; productivity of sheep breeds; pigs in the melting pot; nineteenth century horses 10. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 3 LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT AND MARKETS 298 The new science of nutrition; nutrition in farm Practice; the much herd; mechanical milking; products of the dairy farm; feeding beef; new buildings for stock; the veterinary revolution; sheep husbandry; new competitors in the meat market LIST OF PRINCIPAL SOURCES 327 INDEX 341