40 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND COUNTIES FAT CATTLE 



AND POULTRY SHOW. 



There is now no meeting so generally uniform in 

 its character as that of the Birmingham and Midland 

 Counties. For some years past the Society has reached 

 a certain standard of excellence at which it would ap- 

 pear well content to remain. Although invariably a 

 most successful exhibition, it continues to oifer the 

 same strong and weak features that have been so no- 

 ticeable from the first establishment of the Show. In 

 fact, an old frequenter of Bingley Hall may count with 

 tolerable confidence on what season after season he is 

 to see there. He will be prepared to find the same 

 good entry of Hereford cattle, a creditable display of 

 Shorthorns, and a very select party of Devons. These he 

 knows will be backed by two or three curiosities in the 

 way of Longhorns, about as many Welsh cattle, a pair or 

 80 of capital Highlanders, and a few very encouraging 

 Crosses. Then, for sheep, there will be a " really ex- 

 traordinary" array of Shropshire Downs, some service- 

 able Leicesters, a few pens of Southdowns, and fewer 

 still of Cotswolds. The fat pigs are sure to be un- 

 equalled, and the poultry as altogether unrivalled. The 

 Dorkings will be still rising in repute, and the Cochins 

 as proportionately descending. The Spanish and the 

 game fowl will either be much to be commended, and 

 there will be one lot of geese of unprecedented weight 

 and merit. Tlie Hall itself,, the arrangements 

 of the Council, and the getting up of the Catalogue 

 will all be as agreeable, and convenient to the 

 occasion as ever. There will, too, be the like disposi- 

 tion amongst the company to separate into two distinct 

 divisions ; one section thronging the poultry avenues, 

 and the other lingering over the high-bred cattle. The 

 very knowing visitor may indeed venture a step fur- 

 ther, and go on to apportion the chief prizes even 

 before he has seen a beast or heard of an entry. He 

 will award one Gold Medal to a Hereford steer, and the 

 other to a Shorthorn cow. He will allow His Royal 

 Highness the Prince Consort a certain pre-eminence 

 aniiongst the Devons, and Mr. Stratton as high a place 

 amongst the Durhams. Mr. Wiley will stand as well 

 with his white pigs, and Mr. Smith with his Slirop- 

 shire sheep. Bright chanticleer will pitch his clarion 

 note to the praises of Captain Hornby, while ducks will 

 quack again, and geese cackle over the wondrous fame 

 of Fowler of Aylesbury. 



In a word, to record the Birmingham Meeting as a 

 good average one, is to apply the phrase far more 

 strictly than is perhaps often done. And the recent 

 Midland Counties Show was a good average one. 

 That is to say, it was like as possible in almost 

 every respect to that of 'Fifty-seven, or its fellow in 

 'Fifty -six. Within a head or so there were precisely 

 the same number of animals in the Hall this year as 

 there were last. Or, turning to the other strong point 

 in the attractions, the pens of poultry ran almost 

 identically even with those of the preceding meeting. 

 The pigs were either one or two more, or one or two 

 less. The Shropshires had had, as usual, the call of 

 the sheep classes. Captain Hornby's Dorkings were once 

 more admirable, and Mr. Fowler's geese very marvels 

 of magnitude. One Gold Medal went to a Hereford 

 steer, and the other to a Shorthorn cow ; as they did 

 last year, and as they did the year before that. In 

 short, this was literally an average show ; or, as a hard- 

 to- please old gentleman said in the coffee-room at 



Dee's, " If you've seen it once, you have seen it 

 always, and 1 sha'nt come any more" — a but un- 

 grateful deduction, though unruffled goodness, as 

 philosophers affirm, is sure to tire. 



From the very first, and even in the time of their 

 temporary decline, the summons to Bingley Hall has 

 always brought together a good muster of Herefords. 

 Never, however, has the entry produced a better beast 

 than that which this year takes all the great prizes of 

 the show. Mr. Shirley's steer is not only the best of 

 his class, and the best of all the Herefords, but the best 

 made animal, and the best bred and fed by the same 

 man. And he really deserves this accumulaticui of 

 honours, notwithstanding that he is scarcely the stamp 

 of Hereford the eye has latterly been accustomed to. He 

 is darker in colour, rougher in the coat, shorter on the 

 leg, and with a spotted, or more properly a mottled face, 

 in place of the pure white now so commonly accepted 

 as a signal of the sort. But it is a question whether 

 all these diversities be not in his favour. As was said 

 in our report of Hereford Fair, the mottled faces were 

 once the great favourites, and Mr. Shirley's ox may 

 bring them round again. He is, to begin with, of ex- 

 cellent quality, and with a coat thick and rough, but at 

 the same time beautifully fine in its texture — a happy 

 combination that argues hardihood of constitution 

 and goodness of flesh. Then he has a sweet head, a 

 deep, famously filled frame, and altogether the style of 

 a superior healthy animal. It is almost ungrateful to 

 find fault with so good a specimen of what a Hereford 

 should be, and that breeders ^will do well to keep in 

 their eye ; but he has a very perceptible dip in the 

 back, stands a little in behind, and finishes rather nar- 

 row over the quarter. This steer is becomingly asso- 

 ciated with Lady Emily Foley's Hereford prize cow, 

 of a somewhat dilFerent stamp, certainly ; but a 

 very grand type of her breed. Still her ladyship only 

 stood second here to a party-coloured cow of Mr, 

 Naylor's, that, however good in her way or true in her 

 pedigree, had little of the characteristics of the Here- 

 ford in her appearance. The common feeling in the 

 hall was one of surprise as to how she could have got 

 placed where she was. It is only fair to say that she is 

 by a rather famous bull called The Knight, himself 

 a white animal, and prone to get his stock 

 somewhat fancifully marked. Mr. Hill, of Golding, 

 claimed second place in both the young classes of 

 Herefords, with two very handsome things. Of course 

 he was beaten fairly enough by the Gold Medal steei', 

 but by no means so satisfactorily by the heifer shown 

 against him. There were only three exhibited, and 

 the judges gave Mr. Roberts the first prize, 

 Mr. Hill the second, and then highly commended 

 Mr. Steadman's entry. On their previous meeting, 

 at Ludlow, Mr. Hill's heifer took the first 

 prize, and that of Mr. Roberts was " nowhere." 

 Unfortunately, the latter is not coming on to 

 Baker-street, so there will be [no chance for the de- 

 ciding heat. The Ivingtonbury heifer is bigger and 

 coarser than Mr. Hill's, but then she is nearly a year 

 older, while she lacks much of the quality and beauty 

 by which the other is so distinguished. Lord Ayles- 

 ford's first prize ox is a fine large useful beast, but one 

 that shows himself to great disadvantage. Like the In- 

 dian jugglers' goats, which are taught to stand with the 



