222 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



Improved Shorthorn-Durham Cattle (1871) ; William Housman, 

 The Improved Shorthorn, London (1876) ; Plumb, Little Sketches 

 of Famous Beef Cattle, Columbus, Ohio (1904) ; herd-books of the 

 various Shorthorn associations. 



HEREFORD CATTLE. Plate VIII. Figs. 36, 37. 

 By Charles Gudgell 



256. The Hereford is a breed of cattle raised for the 

 production of beef. 



257. History in England. The Hereford breed of 

 cattle originated in the southwestern part of England, in 

 a district the center of which is the county of Hereford. 

 It doubtless had its foundation in the native cattle of 

 that district in the same way that the other English breeds 

 of domestic cattle had their origin. The name Hereford 

 was at first used to designate the cattle generally of that 

 district. These cattle were historically mentioned at a 

 very early date (1627), as possessed of remarkably easy- 

 keeping and fattening qualities. Later the term Hereford 

 came to be used to designate the improved and pedigreed 

 cattle that had been developed into a race with well- 

 established breed characteristics that were reliably trans- 

 mitted. Many of the early breeders had different objects 

 or ideals in breeding, with the result that the Hereford 

 cattle of that day had a great diversity of color as well as 

 of physical features. 



The colors that predominated among Hereford cattle 

 at the time of the preparation of the first volume of the 

 herd-book (about 1845) were varying shades of red on 

 the body with white face, and the same with mottled or 

 spotted face, and also varying degrees of roan or gray, as 

 it was called, on the sides of the animal, with all the 



