For years he had no distinction as a 

 breeuing bull. This was later discov- 

 ered by the Colling- Bros, after he had 

 passed from their possession. For years 

 he was what would be regarded as most 

 peculiar to-day a nameless bull. He, 

 however, left at Ketton a heifer called 

 Haughton. She was bred to Richard 

 Barker's bull (52), from which came the 

 bull Foljambe (263). This latter was 

 bred to a number of Colling's best cows, 

 including a red-roan heifer, Lady May- 

 nard, and she dropped a heifer called 

 Phoenix. Another daughter of Lady 

 Maynard named Young Strawberry was 

 bred to Foljambe, from whence came the 

 bull Bolingbroke (86), an animal of rare 

 merit. Here Colling began to inbreed, 

 mating Bolingbroke to Phoenix, from 

 which came the bull Favorite (252), one 

 of the most extraordinary of Shorthorn 

 sires in past history. 



There has been more or less of contro- 

 versy over the purity of the ancestry 

 of Hubback, but the best evidence has it 

 that he came of pure Shorthorn blood. 

 Through his prepotency the Colling Bros, 

 developed Shorthorns to such a perfec- 

 tion that they are frequently referred to 

 as the founders of the true Shorthorn 

 and Hubback as the foundation sire. 

 Thomas Bates, the peer of any Short- 

 horn breeder of the past, who had seen 

 Hubback and his get, said: "It was the 

 opinion of all good judges in my early 

 days that had it not been for the bull 

 Hubback and his descendants the old 

 valuable bieed of Shorthorns would have 

 been entirely lost, and that where Hub- 

 back's blood was wanting, they had no 

 real merit, and no stock ought to have 

 been put in any herd book of Shorthorns 

 which had not Hubback's blood in their 

 veins." Bates laid great stress on his 

 superior quality as a feeder, and he also 

 regarded his handling as better than any 

 bull of his day. 



No doubt Hubback imparted to his de- 

 scendants much of his compactness of 

 form, his superior capacity to lay on 

 flesh evenly all over, and his remarkable 

 general quality. He may not in truth 

 have been the greatest bull of his time, 

 but so far as history tells us, there is 

 no record of his equal. Further, it will 

 not be a difficult task after these 125 

 years to trace back the pedigrees of 

 many Shorthorns of to-day into the 

 blood of old Hubback. 



7 



