212 SHORTHORNS 



founded his herd in 1850 or 1851 with Booth cattle 

 or Teeswaters, as they are termed in the Keir stock- 

 book. The first home sale was held in 1855, and 

 the intention was to have an annual disposal of spare 

 stock, but pleuro - pneumonia prevented a sale in 

 1858, and foot-and-mouth disease did the like in 

 1870. Between 1851 and 1855 there were about a 

 dozen breeding cows in the herd, and the usual 

 number of heifers. A private herd-book started in 

 1855 contains in all the names of 115 cows. 



The private register shows that 372 live calves 

 were dropped between 1852 and 1881, the year of 

 the dispersion sale. The first sire used in Sir Wm. 

 Stirling-Maxwell's herd was Blencow (11,182), bred 

 by Mr Troutbeck, and of the Gwynne family. Leader 

 (11,074), bred by Mr Nicol Milne, Faldonside, fol- 

 lowed. In 1855 the famous Farnley Hall John o' 

 Groat (13,090) was acquired, and he was successfully 

 used for three years. Then came the Athelstaneford 

 Hiawatha (14,705), which had won at the Highland 

 Show of 1857. Several sons of John o' Groat were 

 used in the herd during the sixties. Inbreeding 

 was practised rather freely for several years, but 

 towards the end of the decade first noted, and in 

 the early seventies, the bulls Forth (17,866), Royal 

 Butterfly llth (24,235), and the Killerby Banner 

 Bearer (27,907) were extensively used. They were 

 followed by the notable Aylesby Fandango (33,879), 

 which cost 700 gs. at the Torr dispersion sale of 

 1875. Royal Butterfly llth was in the herd from 

 1864 to 1871, and Fandango was kept on until the 



