HAMILTON OR CADZOW PARK BREED 39 



In 1889 another cross-bred steer, three years and eight 

 months old, gained the third prize in his class at Smithfield. 

 He weighed 18 cwts. 2 qrs. 5 Ibs., and his dressed carcase scaled 

 96 stones. The beef of both animals was pronounced to be 

 of exceptionally good quality. Lord Tarikerville says that : 



" The practical results which have been obtained by 

 blending the blood of the wild cattle with high-bred Short- 

 horns has been, in both the first and second crosses, to 

 materially improve the shape of the animal, and particularly 

 to develop the loins and most valuable beef-producing parts, 

 as well as to increase the size and weight. In addition to 

 this, an increased aptitude to fatten and to attain early 

 maturity is very pronounced. These are the qualities 

 transmitted by the Shorthorn, while the contribution of the 

 wild parent is seen in increased vigour and constitution, with 

 lightness of bone, together with improved gait, which is due 

 to the finely laid shoulders of the wild animal. The colour 

 may be said to be unchanged, with the exception of the nose 

 and ears. In the former the black has given place to the flesh- 

 colour or mottle, whilst the latter shows a broader fringe of red." 



The foregoing note was penned before I9O3. 1 After that 

 time the mating of the female crosses with pedigree Shorthorn 

 bulls went on until in 1905 the female Shorthorn herd on 

 the wild foundation numbered 13, but some have since been 

 sold for killing. The fifth cross by the pure Shorthorn bull 

 had then been reached, and soon after the beginning of the 

 century entries had been made of females in Coates's Herd 

 Book. The wild bull had not been used on the cross-bred 

 females. The males were steered and killed fat off the grass 

 at eighteen to twenty months old, and no more house-feeding 

 experiments had been conducted. The two best steers sold 

 in 1903, under two years, weighed 56 st. 2 Ibs. and 48 st. 8 Ibs., 

 and sold at 8s. 9d. per stone of 14 Ibs. (clean carcase). The 

 Shorthorn crosses retain their white colour and hardiness, 

 but have assumed the Shorthorn shape, and the noses are 

 gradually becoming clear of the early staining or mottling. 



The Hamilton cattle in Cadzow Park 2 numbered 44 in 

 the spring of 1889, an d 38 (22 cows, 11 bulls, and 5 one-year- 



1 Indebtedness to J. Noble, Shipley (Farm), Alnwick (for twenty years, 

 i.e., till 1903, bailiff at Chillingham), for recent information is acknowledged. 



2 Cadzow Park (about 200 acres) is on the outskirts of what was once 

 the great forest of Caledonia, where Bruce in 1320 and James VI. in 1500 



