362 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



to avail himself of this privilege and shipped 

 the bull to Illinois.* 



At the time Sweepstakes landed in Illinois 

 Duncan's Minister was having it all his own 

 way in the West, but Mr. Pickrell's purchase 

 soon acquired rank over him. The first meet- 

 ing of these two young bulls occurred at the 

 Illinois State Fair at Chicago in 1866. Minis- 

 ter was a year older than Sweepstakes, and in 

 their respective classes each received first 

 prize, but in competition for a $100 bull chan_ 



*The first Short-horn Mr. Pickrell purchased for breeding 1 purposes 

 was Lord Highland 4113, which came to the farm in August, 1860. In Janu 

 ary, 1861, he brought from Kentucky Duke of Rockland 2785 and three young 

 bulls and seven cows and heifers. They were good ones of "Seventeen" 

 extraction. The next addition to the herd was in June, 1863, when pur- 

 chases were made in Kentucky from William Warfield, the late James Hall 

 and Maj. Duncan. In 1864 stock was bought from the herd of Capt. James 

 N. Brown and James M. Hill of Illinois. In 1865 came Sweepstakes 6230 and 

 the Phyllis cow Kate Lewis, of Ben F. Vanmeter's breeding a cow that 

 was good enough to win first prize at the Illinois State Fair in 1868, in com- 

 petition with one of the best collections of cows ever seen in the West, be- 

 sides many other prizes. Mr. Pickrell says: " Kate Lewis was one of the 

 best specimens of a beef cow that I ever saw and at the same time was the 

 best milk cow that was ever In my herd. We did not make formal tests 

 then, as they do nowadays, to see the amount and quality of milk she would 

 give, but I often measured it after a good big calf had finished nursing, 

 and frequently we would get a wooden pail full. She was the dam of Baron 

 Lewis 9484, that I sold for $3,000 (the first animal bred in Illinois that sold 

 for that much). He was her third calf and she died of milk fever after he 

 was produced." At this same time Princess Ann was purchased from B. 

 J. Clay. She produced Princess Belle (Vol. VIII, page 516), a heifer that 

 won a sweepstakes at the Illinois State Fair over all competitors at two 

 years old. She unfortunately took the lump-jaw, and as medical aid failed 

 to cure her was slaughtered and her skeleton was preserved and mounted 

 and sent to the University of Illinois, at Champaign. This was at the begin- 

 ning of the revival in prices, and these three animals cost, respectively, 

 1600, $400 and $250. The price was thought by many to be exorbitant, but it 

 did not turn out so. They proved to be a splendid investment. The princi- 

 pal addition to the herd in 1866 was made from Israel Pierce, whose stock 

 came from the Messrs. Dun of Madison Co., O. This purchase was followed 

 the next year by others from Messrs. John G. and W. D. Dun, seven from 

 B. C. Bedford of Paris (Ky.) and five from the administrator's sale of the 



