38 



of the breed were his great grandson Hubback (319), dropped about 

 1777, and his intensely in-and-in bred descendants, Favourite (252) 

 and Comet (155). 



Early Improvers of the Breed. Charles and Robert Colling, 

 whose influence was felt soon after 1780, were the two first noted 

 improvers of the breed, though it is incorrect to describe them as its- 

 founders. After a visit to Bakewell they adopted his practice of 

 persistent in-and-in breeding with superior animals specially selected 

 and mated. Their names were brought to public notice by their 

 practice of taking striking specimens of the breed for exhibition 

 purposes all over the country. By this means, and by the intro- 

 duction of the practice of hiring out bulls, the Shorthorn ceased to 

 be a local breed and became widely known and distributed through- 

 out the United Kingdom. 



The Booth Shorthorns. About the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century two of the numerous strains of improved Shorthorns 

 the Booth and the Bates took a prominent position under the 

 breeders who formed and established them. Thomas Booth, of 

 Killerby, and his sons Richard and John, with their herds at 

 Warlaby and Killerby, in Yorkshire, developed the line of Short- 

 horns bearing their name, by the mating of Colling bulls of 

 Hubback blood with cows of good Shorthorn type but of unknown 

 breeding, selected from among the common cattle of the district. 

 These cows were described as " good dairy cows, and great graziers 

 when dry," and were said to be "of very robust constitution." 

 The Booths put substance ahead of other points and from the 

 first looked upon beef-making capacity and breadth of back and 

 loins as of more value than a persistent flow of milk. 



The Booths adhered to the practices of the Collings, in-and-in 

 breeding the best cattle to secure quality and uniformity of type, 

 and letting out bulls for hire for one or more seasons. This latter 

 practice, which became general among good breeders, gave a bull 

 every opportunity to prove his worth as a sire, and, as the 

 services of the bull were distributed over a number of herds, 

 it left the progeny of an outstanding sire in the possession of a 

 larger number of breeders than does the modern practice of selling 

 at an early age. In the early years, breeding stock were 

 naturally fed on pasture in summer and on hay in winter. The 

 practice of specially feeding cattle for exhibition and for sale was 

 unknown, and thus the best females, some of which are now 

 injured by excessive feeding, were all saved for the breeding herd. 

 More of the best prizes were taken at shows by Booth cattle 

 than by any other strain, and the name, as well as the compact, 

 short-legged, blocky, fleshy type, became widely known and appre- 

 ciated in the country. The following were among the most noted 

 families of Booth Shorthorns : Red Rose, Blossom, Bright Eyes 

 or Anna, Strawberry, Bracelet, Christen, Isabella, Flora or 

 Farewell, Broughton, Charity, and Dairymaid or Moss Rose. 



The Bates Shorthorns. Thomas Bates,* of Kirklevington, in. 

 Yorkshire, beginning in 1800, founded the famous line of Shorthorn 



* See Thos. Bates and the Kirklevington Shorthorns, by Cadwallader John 

 Bates. Ne\i castle-on-Tyne : Robert Redpath, 1897. 



