THE HEREFORD BREED OF CATTLE. 113 



thousands line the streets of the ancient citj, and by their 

 distinctive marks and uniform appearance lay claim to each 

 other as kindred of the same family. They have long been 

 sought after by the graziers of the Midland and Eastern 

 Counties. 



Amongst those of bygone days the name of Westcar, of 

 Creslow, Bucks (one of the most active founders of the Smith- 

 field Club), stands pre-eminent. His forty years' attendance at 

 the Hereford fairs was commenced in 1799, and his twenty first 

 prizes in succession at the Smithfield Show was no mean 

 achievement. The late indefatigable hon. sec. to the Smithfield 

 Club, Mr. B. T. Brandreth Gribbs, in his tabulated statement of 

 the prizes awarded, has shown that during the first fifty-two 

 annual meetings of the club, when all breeds met in competition 

 with each other, 185 prizes were awarded to Hereford steers or 

 oxen, whilst only 190 fell to the lot of all the other breeds or 

 cross-breeds put together. 



The production of steers to meet the demands of the graziers 

 being the chief aim of the breeders, and the well-known influence 

 of the male animal for breeding purposes, has resulted in com- 

 paratively little attention being paid to the cow. It has been 

 thought sufficient for her to possess the qualifications which long 

 experience has proved to be necessary to ensure success with her 

 progeny ; her milking properties have been much neglected, and 

 the calf usually allowed to run with its dam. Owing to the almost 

 uniform adoption of this system, she has obtained the character 

 of being a bad milker ; but in other districts, where the milking 

 proj)erties are cultivated, it is not so, and, as her aptitude to 

 fatten surpasses that of most other breeds, and she consumes 

 less food in proportion to the quantity of meat made, she is 

 gaining favour in many of the dairy farms of Dorset, Gloucester, 

 Somerset, Cornwall, &c. 



Buncombe, in his " Farming of Herefordshire," published in 

 1813, says : " Large size, an athletic form, and unusual neat- 

 ness characterise the true sort ; the prevailing colour is a reddish 

 brown, with white face." But in 1845, when Mr. Eyton issued 

 his first volume of the "Herd Book," he found it requisite to 

 divide them into four classes — viz., mottle-faced, light grey, 

 dark rrej, and red with white face. As each of the three first - 



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