Ayrshire Cattle Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Ayrshire cattle breed is a really pretty breed with red and white markings on their body. Their bodies are usually very neat and almost look as if they have been sculpted with a fine smooth neck that hardly if ever has a tight dewlap, a straight well-defined profile with perky medium sized ears and perfectly symmetrical horns.
They are a purpose bred breed that was designed to have better milking and meat qualities.

AYRSHIRE BREED OF CATTLE QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
Their perfectly defined physiques make them look almost as if they have been sculpted.
Country of Origin:	Scotland
Other Names:	Dunlop and Cunningham
Main Purpose:	Milk
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Can be used for	Breed, Meat, Milk
Ideal Climate:	Heat, Cold, Most Climates
Conservation Status:	Listed by the *ALC Status/Rarity: Listed as recovering by the ALC
Health Issues?	No known health issues
Good Starter Cattle?	Novice to intermediate Cattle farmer/keeper level
Cattle Associations:	Ayrshire Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the U.S. Ayrshire Breeders’ Association
Cattle Clubs:	Please refer to the Ayrshire Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the U.S. Ayrshire Breeders’ Association for more information on any breeders clubs, shows, etc. for the Ayrshire cattle breed.
Where to buy them?	Please refer to the Ayrshire Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the U.S. Ayrshire Breeders’ Association for more information on any breeders clubs, shows, etc. for the Ayrshire cattle breed.
Child Friendly?	Livestock should not be left unattended around unsupervised children
General Information:	Ayrshire are very popular cows in countries such as South America, North America, New Zealand, Africa, and Europe. This is due to their longevity, ease of management and maintenance, good fertility, excellent calving ration with easing birthing, good milk, and meat qualities. They are fast becoming really popular with organic farmers that were a herd that does well on grass-fed pastures without having to have various supplemental feeds to enhance calf, meat or milk production.
Note: *ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Ayrshire cattle breed is one that does particularly well in cattle shows. They have the perfect posturing and if their horns are not cut, they are quite the exhibit. The Ayrshire has a very straight back line and almost squared of rump giving it a rectangular body shape with a good straight angle up to its neck. Their head is usually carried high and they have a medium sized well-defined facial feature. They have long powerful legs that are sometimes either pure white, pure red or a combination of the two colors. Their tails usually exhibit their body patterns with a white tip.

Size:

Medium to large

CATTLE ⇒	COW	BULL
Breed Color:	Reddish gold and white	Vary from very dark red (almost black) to a light golden reddish brown. They too have white patterns that break up the red.
Breed Weight:	450 to 600 kgs	640 to 900 kgs
Breed Height:	142 cm	145 cm
Horns:	They can have horns that average up to a foot and a bit. But they are usually dehorned as young calves in this day and age	They can have horns that average up to a foot and a bit. But they are usually dehorned as young calves in this day and age
Temperament:	They have a strong character but are quite mild and even-tempered. They are easy to handle	They have a strong character but are quite mild and even-tempered. They are easy to handle. But they are bulls and can get a bit aggressive or aggravated during the mating time or around younger calves.
Matures at age:	6 to 8 months or 9 + months	6 to 8 months or 9 + months
Puberty Age:	6 to 15 months	9 to 1o months
Breeding Age:	13 to 15 months	1 year
Breeding Traits:	See Cow breeding & Milking Info	Cover 25 to 30 Cows in 1 season

COW BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION
Most Cattle produce milk but not all of them are used in the dairy Cattle capacity for their milk. Cows only calve once a year and should have 12 to 14-month inter-calving cycle. Ayrshire cattle are excellent mothers with great maternal instincts and a high birthing rate with easy calving and little to no birthing problems. They have a superior quality of milk, or at least they are said to have a superior quality of milk which is known as “the perfect drinking milk. Their milk got a 70% better taste in various taste tests conducted. It has an adequate fate content, desirable amounts of non-fat solids such as protein along with its kappa casein make it the perfect milk for yogurts, cheese, and ice creams. The cows are great milkers in that their udders are said to have a superior positioning to that of other breeds. An Ayrshire cow holds a world record for delivering 37170 pounds of milk and 1592 pounds of fat in a twice day milking cycles across a 305-day lactation period. There are records of some even producing 41000 pounds of milk and 1800 pounds of fat in a lactation period of 365 days.
Breeding Period/cycle:	Usually lasts 6 to 24 hours Most ave. 12 to 16 hours Cows usually come on heat every 21 days.
Estrous cycle:	Ave. 17 days to 24 days Heifer – usually ave. 20 days Cows – usually ave. 21 days
Gestation Period:	Usually, around 279 to 287 days but most gestation is 283 days. Cows that are carrying bull calf’s their gestation period is usually a little longer than cows that are carrying heifer calves.
No. Calves/Litter:	1 calf at a time. Cows rarely have twins or triplets, but it can happen
Lactation Period:	Cows lactation period can last for up to about 10 months (305) days.
Milking From:	1 to 6 weeks after Calving
Drying off Period:	The cow should have a 12 to 14-month inter-calving cycle. Drying off period for around 60 days before she can calve again.
Milk Quality:	Good
Milk Ideal for:	Calves
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CATTLE MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION

The Ayrshire is bred more for dairy purposes but has been used for its good quality high marbled, tender, succulent meat with a very good flavor.

Meat Production?

Yes, Quality: Good

CATTLE ⇒	VEAL	BEEF
Ave. Maturity Age:	6 to 8 months	9 months up to 4 years

CATTLE SKIN PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Most meat Cattle will have a skin by-product, and these are usually used in some form or just as a hide. Ayrshire cattle are not really bred as beef cattle but those that are used for beef have very popular hides that are used in leather production.

Skin Production?

No, Quality: Good

Skin is used to Produce:

Calf/cow skin leather products such as shoes, car seats, fine leather coats, gloves, handbags, belts, furniture, rugs, etc.

CATTLE ⇒	CALF	ADULT
Age they Produce from:	6 to 8 months for Calf skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather	9 months + for Cattle skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather

HISTORY

The Ayrshire is a breed of cattle that were purposely bred in the Country Ayr region of southwestern Scotland. They were purposefully developed as a standardized breed in order to increase meat and milk production.

The breed was developed from crosses of native black and white as well as black cattle with Teeswater and Flemish cattle breeds and breeds from the Channel Islands. The development of the Ayrshire cattle breed was started in the mid-1700s.

The Ayrshire cattle breed was first recognized as a breed in 1814 with further breed selection in order to improve the dairy qualities of the breed throughout the 1800s. This was done in order to establish the breed for a better quality of cheese and butter manufacturing.

The first herdbook for the Ayrshire cattle breed was established in 1877 and the breed was first imported into America in the 1830s and again sometime after the 1850s.
Due to their milking qualities and quality of the milk, the Ayrshire breed fast became a popular breed in New England and soon throughout eastern Canada.

The American Ayrshire Breeders Association was established in 1895 with the breeds numbers growing fast after the 1990s in America.