58 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Eyall, near Upton, in the grassy vale of the Severn, 

 leasing additional acreage for pasture. Some five 

 years later he took up his residence at Poole House, 

 also near Upton. He bred Herefords almost exclu- 

 sively of the Tomkins strain throughout the entire 

 period, following with evident success the close 

 breeding practiced by his illustrious predecessor. 



Price was a loyal follower of the sage of Welling- 

 ton Court, not only breeding from close affinities but 

 disregarding color. He had used the great mottle- 

 faced bull Wellington (4), as already mentioned, the 

 white-faced Voltaire and the two greys, Victory (33) 

 and Trueboy (32). He was careful with his records 

 and examination of the early herd books will show 

 that his stock was largely used in the founding and 

 up-building of many contemporary herds. One of 

 the remarkable cows of the Price herd was Toby 

 Pigeon, a daughter of one of Ben Tomkins ' Pigeons. 

 She lived to be nineteen years old and dropped 19 

 calves, having been accidentally bulled when very 

 young and producing when four years old a pair of 

 twins. It was said at the sale of 1841 that nearly 

 the entire herd then traced descent to this prolific 

 source. 



Challenges were common among the British cat- 

 tle-growers in those days and Mr. Price was ever 

 ready to back his cattle with his cash.* In 1839 he 



*He attended one of Lord Althorpe's ram sales in Northampton- 

 shire, and after the dinner g-ave a challenge to show one of his 

 bulls against any Shorthorn. He succeeded in getting- up a 

 sweepstake of five pounds each, which he won with his bull Lundy- 

 foot, which, according to the writer of the memoir in the "Farm- 

 ers' Magazine," was allowed to be the "completest" animal any of 

 the company ever saw. 



