HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



141 



their being much better sucklers, maturing 

 earlier, producing more lean, and heavier fleeces 

 than the Leicester^. Their fame is now spread 

 far and wide, and I expect in a very few years 

 that nearly every long-wooled flock in England 

 will be 'alloyed 1 by Cotswold blood. 



"The heifer you call Eliza is not by Young 

 Sovereign, but by Favorite, Jr., a son of Fitz 

 Favorite. Fitz Favorite was by Favorite, the 

 sire of Old Sovereign, and the latter was the 

 sire of more prize beasts than any other bull of 

 his day, and was a remarkable instance of suc- 

 cessful in-and-in breeding, being the produce 

 of a mother and son, the pedigrees of which 

 can be given, if required, for a period of more 

 than forty years. And I would add that the 

 dams of each of the bulls I have named were 

 pure Herefords, the pedigrees of which can be 

 given with equal accuracy. The dam of Favor- 

 ite, Jr., I knew well, and it is my firm opinion 

 that I never saw ten so good. 



"This, I should hope, would be sufficient to 

 satisfy the most skeptical as to the purity of 

 her pedigree on the male side. Her dam was 

 bought of Messrs. Brown and Lion, the great 

 North-country cattle dealers, and was pur- 

 chased by them at Darlington, in the County of 

 Durham. It was fortunate that you did not 

 have her sister, as she has cast her calf. 



"The whole of my three years and nine 

 months old steers by Favorite, Jr., grazed on my 

 inferior land and finished with 3 worth of oil 

 cake each, have made this Christmas 41 apiece, 

 a price which 1 am of opinion where very few 

 Shorthorns or Herefords have arrived at, in 

 the same time, and under similar treatment. 

 These were the second cross from Shorthorns, 

 with a pure Hereford bull each time, a cross I 

 do not by any means recommend you to adopt. 

 You are in possession of some of the very best 

 Hereford blood this country can produce (a-few 

 of the heifers are perhaps a little too much in- 

 and-in bred), and all you now require is a 

 couple of first-rate bulls, with the addition of a 

 few heifers of different blood to make proper 

 crosses with, to start you a first-class Hereford 

 bull breeder, and depend upon it that your 

 neighbors will ultimately discern that they can 

 live harder, work better, feed equally quick if 

 not more so, and produce a stall of meat su- 

 perior in quality, with a less quantity of coarse, 

 than the Shorthorns, and milk as well as the 

 highest-bred animals of other kinds. In short, 

 I believe they will pay more money for the food 

 they consume than any other breed, in which 

 opinion many of the most eminent graziers 

 agree, some of whom reside in Shorthorn dis- 

 tricts and travel nearly a hundred miles to 



Hereford fairs to buy oxen a distance unparal- 

 leled by graziers in search of cattle of any other 

 kind in this country. 



"1 advise you to breed pure bulls, and let 

 others cross for the shambles, and in so doing I 

 think each will benefit his country as well as 

 himself. 



"Hard things, indeed, may justly be said of 

 some cattle wearing white faces, and with equal 

 truth it may be observed that there are many 

 very bad ones of beautiful roan and spotted 

 color, with Shorthorns; such are frequently 

 good milkers, and so are the Herefords which 

 are of low breed and bad form. I imagine that 

 Mr. Youatt and others who have designated 

 the Hereford cow 'an inferior animal,' could 

 not have done so from actual observation, for it 

 so happens that in symmetry of form, with sub- 

 stance and quality combined, a more beautiful 

 animal (of her species) cannot be found in 

 Britain. Nor can it be very pleasing to owners 



TROMP, BRED BY W. H. SOTHAM. 



(Property of A. Ayrault, Geneseo, N. Y. First prize, 

 N. Y. S. P., 1851. From a drawing by Forbes.) 



of such superb animals as are very many of 

 the Hereford cows, to have them so dominated 

 in what is called 'A Standard Work on British 

 Cattle.' Nor do I think such an opinion (libel) 

 ought to be so uncontradicted, given as it must 

 have been (one would suppose) from informa- 

 tion and not from ocular demonstration. 



"However 'astonishing' it may appear to Mr. 

 Randall that the Herefords in the Gloucester 

 Hills 'should have escaped the notice of Mr. 

 Youatt six years since,' they have located there 

 long before that period, and in many instances 

 cows and heifers have been known to weigh from 

 fifteen to nineteen scores [300 to 380 Ibs. T. 

 L. M.] per quarter [or 1,200 to 1,520 pounds 

 to the carcass. T. L. M.], when dead, exclusive 

 of hide and tallow, and the oxen from twenty 

 to twenty-eight scores [400 to 560 Ibs. per 

 quarter, equal to from 1,600 to 2,240 Ibs. per 



