HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



er's stock. Mr. Welles recollected the first bull so 

 bred, out of the cow Pigeon, bought from B. 

 Tomkins. But the cross did not suit and the 

 animal was disposed of. 



About 1811 Mr. Price gave up the farm at 

 Earl's Croome and bought a small estate at 

 Ryall, near Upton-upon-Severn. He also took 

 a large field of pasture, a part of Croome de- 

 mesne, of about 120 acres, which he held till 

 his death. In a few years from this time he 

 possessed himself of cows from Mr. B. Tom- 

 kins, and his herd began to attract considerable 

 notice. Among the purchasers of the stock he 

 was able to draft, being many of the nobility, 



MR. T. C. YELD, OF THE BROOME. 



including the Earl of Plymouth, Earl Talbot, 

 and the honorable Mr. Germaine. In 1812 he 

 gave a challenge, to be decided at the Lichfield 

 Agricultural meeting, to show twenty of his 

 cows in milk against twenty Longhorn cows 

 for 100 guineas ($500.00). The challenge was 

 accepted by Mr. Meek, and was decided in Mr. 

 Price's favor. About this date he made a large 

 speculation in purchasing land. The venture 

 was not a success, and the estate had to be sold 

 at great loss. A good stock of cattle and sheep 

 which Mr. Price had collected also came to the 

 hammer, and the prices showed that much 

 judgment had been exercised in their breed- 

 ing and selection. 



Mr. Price then carried on his farming opera- 



tions at Ryall, where he continued to reside, 

 taking, however, more grass land of excellent 

 quality at Mytton, near Tewkesbury. But pre- 

 vious to this he had obtained more Herefords 

 of Tomkins blood and purchased the bull Well- 

 ington, and his dam, from Mr. Tomkins. Soon 

 after 1816 Mr. Price left Ryall and took up his 

 residence at Poole House, near Upton, still 

 holding the land of which he had been tenant 

 for so many years under Lord Coventry. 



Mr. Price frequently expressed his views on 

 the subject of breeding. He stated that among 

 cattle the Highland Scot approached more 

 nearly than any other animal to the standard 

 of form, which he considered the true one. 

 "This," he adds, "determined me in adopting 

 them as my model. I was desirous of possess- 

 ing a breed of cattle on a somewhat larger scale 

 than the Scotch Kyloes, yet having the same 

 symmetrical loggy forms, with similar coats 

 and texture of flesh." In this opinion, Mr. 

 Price only repeated that Mr. John Charge had 

 heard Bakewell many years before state that 

 from the West Highland heifer he thought the 

 best breed of cattle might be produced. 



In commencing to form a herd which should 

 possess the form and qualities he thought most 

 desired, Price, as has been indicated, fixed 

 upon the stock of Benj. Tomkins, from whom 

 he purchased a considerable number of cows 

 and heifers and three bulls. These cattle were 

 of smaller size than other herds he saw in 

 Herefordshire, but had more of the good prop- 

 erties of the model he had in view than any 

 others he could meet with. As we have seen, 

 he first attempted to improve the Tomkins cat- 

 tle by crossing them with the larger stock of 

 Mr. Walker, with the view to increasing their 

 size, but the result was so unfavorable that he 

 put away all these crosses and returned to the 

 pure Tomkins variety. 



Mr. Price continued to breed Herefords until 

 1841, his herd being solely of Tomkins blood; 

 so that for upwards of seventy years, at least, 

 this strain, first in the possession of B. Tom- 

 kins, and then in that of John Price, was bred 

 continuously without a fresh cross. 



For a description of the various animals pur- 

 chased from Tomkins by Mr. Price the reader 

 is referred to the interesting notes of Mr. 

 Welles printed on a preceding page. In refer- 

 ence to the statement that Price obtained the 

 best animals that Tomkins possessed, Mr. 

 Eyton says there was one old cow that must be 

 excepted, a remarkably good breeder, which 

 Tomkins always refused to sell, although Price 

 offered him 250 ($1,250.00) for her. This re- 

 mark suggests the idea of the sums Price paid 



