a white switch. They were once multi-coloured, but modern selection has favoured predominantly black or black and white cattle.

Alexander Fenton, citing Forsyth and Shirreff gives an estimate of just over 40,000 head of cattle in 1808 and less than half of that, circa 15,000 in 1814 due to the expansion in the human population. The small tenanted farms or crofts were made smaller by the land-owning lairds to increase the number of tenants they could oblige to undertake the haaf (deep-sea) fishery