43 



THE PEDIGREE DAIRY SHORTHORN. 



It cannot be disputed that, while all through last century 

 breeders of pedigree stock practically confined their attention to 

 beef production, the original Shorthorn cattle were as famed for 

 milk production as for beef. Even after the " Improved " Shorthorn 

 had been developed by the Collings, milk production was one of the 

 recognised qualities of the breed, and reference could be made to 

 several well-known and highly bred cows possessing outstanding 

 merit in this respect, e.g., Bates' famous Duchess already mentioned, 

 p. 39. 



It must be remembered that until the last decade or two of the 

 nineteenth century, milk selling was the practice only in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of towns, and in their eagerness to develop 

 early maturity and heavy flesh production, which were the principal 

 requirements both at home and abroad, breeders, perhaps not 

 unnaturally, neglected milking powers, which inevitably became 

 erratic and uncertain, and only now and then a deep milker would 

 appear to remind the owner that the original Shorthorn was 

 essentially a dual-purpose animal. 



The low ebb to which the milk production of most herds had 

 fallen, stimulated the desire on the part of a limited number of 

 breeders, more than half a century ago, to regenerate the milking 

 powers by using bulls in their herds derived from heavy-milking 

 cows. A still greater influence was the rapid growth of the dairy 

 industry in Great Britain and abroad, particularly marked in the 

 latter part of the last century. 



A number of leading breeders took the matter up, but it was not 

 till 1901 that, mainly owing to the efforts of Mr. Richard Stratton, 

 the late Mr. Geo. Taylor, and the late Mr. John Thornton, the 

 Shorthorn Society commenced giving prizes for Shorthorn cow& 

 showing dairy qualities. In 1905, the Dairy Shorthorn (Coates's 

 Herd Book) Association was formed to control the movement and 

 to enaourage other breeders of pedigree Shorthorns to take part in it. 



The conditions regulating entry in the Herd Book (Coates's) are 

 the same as for other Shorthorns, but the members of the Associa- 

 tion keep milk records in addition to the pedigree registers of 

 the Shorthorn Society. In conjunction with the Shorthorn 

 Society, the Association offers prizes at the principal shows for 

 pedigree Shorthorn cows under the following conditions : All 

 cows and heifers competing in any class, in which the Association, 

 offers prize money, are clean milked out on the evening previous to- 

 the show. On the following morning all cows and heifers are milked 

 in the presence of the judge, who sees each animal's milk weighed. 

 Any animal not yielding up to the Association's standard is not 

 eligible for a prize. The standard is graduated according to the 

 age of the cow and the period which has elapsed since calving. A 

 cow four years old, calving less than three months before the first 

 day of the show has to give not less than 25 Ibs. of milk at the one 

 milking. 



Cows or heifers which yield the stipulated quantity of milk under 

 these conditions, whether they receive a prize or not, are awarded a 

 Certificate of Merit on notification of the certified weight of milk 

 to the Secretary of the Association. 



