32 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



once saw the best lot of 14 two-year-old heifers 

 I ever looked at in a yard where they got noth- 

 ing but stubble that is, the straw that re- 

 mained after hand-reaping of wheat, only there 

 was a little clover in it, the field it came from 

 having been sowed with seeds. During the last 

 few years that Mr. Price kept his Herefords 

 he changed their forms a good deal. The Tom- 

 kins breed, which I believe he used exclu- 

 sively, were very wide over their hips and nar- 

 row on their shoulders. This he altered, get- 

 ting his cows much wider on the chine with less 

 gaudy hips. These characteristics were partic- 

 ularly exemplified in Dove, bought by my father 

 at the sale in 1841 for 77 guineas ($385), and 

 by Tuberose, sold to Lord Talbot for 100 

 guineas ($500). Mr. Price's cattle were some 

 of them red with white faces, some a beautiful 



WIGMORE GRANGE, SEAT OF THE GALLIERS FAM- 

 ILY. (REAR VIEW.) 



roan, as was Dove (Dove was a smoky roan, dif- 

 fering from the roans as bred by Tully), others 

 being white-backed with mottle faces. The 

 bulls were brought up differently to what they 

 are now, running, in almost wild state, with the 

 cows, until they were fit for service, when most 

 of them were let and kept from home as much 

 as possible, Mr. Price having but little accom- 

 modations for them. Consequently they had a 

 mean appearance as compared with the cows, 

 which were magnificent animals." 



Cobbitt. in his "Rural Rides" (1830), writes 

 from Tewkesbury: "I am here among the finest 

 cattle and the finest sheep of the Leicester kind 

 that I ever saw. My host, Mr. Price, is famed 

 as a breeder of cattle and sheep. The cattle 

 are of the Hereford kind, and the sheep sur- 

 passing any animals of the kind that I ever saw. 

 The animals seem to be made for the soil and 

 the soil for them. The sheep are chiefly of the 

 Leicester breed, and the cattle of Hereford, 



white face and dark body, certainly the finest 

 and most beautiful of all horn cattle." 



The Earl of Coventry (fl 24) says: "The 

 fame of John Price's Herefords still lives in 

 this neighborhood, and there are yet living peo- 

 ple who speak of the noble herd with admira- 

 tion, and describe them as being possessed of 

 great scale and extraordinary constitution. 

 They were accustomed to range the pastures 

 summer and winter, and were almost always to 

 be seen in the well-known 'Cubsmoor,' a large 

 grass field of great repute among graziers. John 

 Price had a bull which weighed 29 cwt.* (3,248 

 Ibs.), and a bull calf 9 cwt. (1,008 Ibs.) at nine 

 months old" (fl 25). 



In the appendix to Vol. 1 of the Herd Book, 

 a list is given of the principal breeders of the 

 Tomkins and Price stock, from whom pedigrees 

 had been received by Mr. Eyton. Tbey were 

 the Earl of Talbot, Ingestre; Sir F. Lawley, 

 Bart.; Sir F. Goodricke, Studley Castle; Mr. 

 G. Brake, The Manor Farm, East Tytherly; 

 Mr. Shepherd, Eastwood House; Mr. Thos. 

 Juckes, Tern Farm; Mr. N. Smith, Martly; Mr. 

 Pratt, New Field; Mr. Gravenor, Wellington; 

 the Rev. W. P. Hopton, Bishops Froome; Mr. 

 J. Smith, Shellesley; Mr. T. P. Wight, Ted- 

 stone Park. Only a few of these were resident 

 in the County of Hereford, and of course there 

 are others who ought to have been included in 

 the list notably Mr. Smythies, Mr. Welles, and 

 others. 



Lord Talbot, as we have seen, was a liberal 

 purchaser at the Tomkins' and Price's sales. 

 There has been considerable uncertainty as to 

 the reason why he gave up his herd. Mr. 

 George Smythies, Marlow Lodge (son of the 

 Rev. J. R. Smythies, Lynch Court), informs us 

 that he was once at Ingestre about 1840, 

 and naturally has not a very clear idea 

 now of what he saw there, but he remembers 

 he thought the land did not suit the Herefords. 

 We are able to give in Lord Talbot's own 

 words the explanation of the dispersion of the 

 Ingestre herd, which quite confirms Mr. 

 Smythies' impression. In a letter to Mr. Geo. 

 Tomkins, Eccles Green,, Norton Pyon, dated 

 March 4, 1847, Lord Talbot fully states his 

 reason for disposing of his herd, and as the 

 communication has other interest, as showing 

 the- friendship existing between these two 

 breeders, we print an extract from it: 



"Dear George," wrote Lord Talbot, "Events 

 of a very painful nature have occurred which 

 have prevented our meeting, as we formerly 

 did, in friendship and good fellowship. The 



*Note: The English cvft. is 112 Ibs, 





