LECTURE XIII. 



HEREFORD CATTLE. 



Origin, History, and Development in Great Britain. 



Herefordshire, England, claims the honor of having given 

 to the world this great breed of beef cattle. The county of 

 Hereford lies along the foothills of the Welsh mountains, is 

 a fertile country, especially luxuriant in grasses, and thereby 

 adapted to grazing. 



Herefordshire possessed good grazing cattle long before 

 the mention of white-faced cattle, but the most improvement 

 appears to have come with the introduction of the white-faced 

 cattle. From whence these came is not definitely known; 

 but tradition, and old animal portraits, inform us that a white- 

 faced breed existed in Flanders in the 16th Century. 



Accounts which appear trustworthy inform us that Lord 

 Scudamore introduced cattle from Flanders about 1650; and 

 there are authentic accounts of the introduction, by William 

 Galliers, of Wigmore Grange, of a white-faced red bull, with 

 rather wide, rough horns, from Yorkshire. There are no 

 accounts of a white-faced breed in Yorkshire at this time, 

 and it is probable that this bull was either a "sport," or per- 

 haps brought from Flanders. 



Whatever the exact origin of the breed may be, it is 

 certain that by the beginning of the 18th Century, white, and 

 mottled-faced cattle, were to be found in various parts of 

 Great Britain. In Herefordshire, Richard Tomkins possessed 

 cattle above the average. These he willed to his son Benja- 

 min, who began breeding about 1742. He was a quiet farmer, 

 but seems to have had a definite idea of improving his stock 

 by selection. His foundation stock consisted of a large red, 

 white-faced cow, known as Silver, and two other cows, which 

 he bought from a village wheelwright because he had noticed 

 that they had excellent aptitude to fatten. Contemporary 



