Alexander writes that he will buy the mare once he knows how much of his own livestock he has managed to sell. The agent at Somerford has promised to keep aside the head and legs of the dam of Alexander's polled cow if she is selected for the butcher, and Alexander will negotiate with his Norfolk friend for the head of the red polled cow. He asks for first refusal on one of Ewart's heifers by the black Chartley bull, and wonders whether the Chartleys are descended from the neighbouring Somerfords crossed with the local Leghorns.