HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



237 



L. Miller, Beecher, 111. ; Jim Lockwood, by L. 

 F. Ross, Avon, 111. Besides, our Hereford cow 

 Jennie was entered for dressing. We offered 

 the owner of the cow taking the premium to 

 dress his cow against ours, which was declined. 

 We then offered ten cents a pound for the cow. 

 This was refused. The dressing would have 

 been a fitting and proper test by which to have 

 tried these verdicts. 



In the above table there is evidence to show 

 in the three-year-old classes that the Hereford 

 was certainly a better steer than the Devon, and 

 the dressing of these steers proved this con- 

 clusively, as between the first premium steer 

 and the Hereford the difference is so light that 

 only the dressing would determine the fact the 

 difference is, however, in favor of the Here- 

 ford. 



In the two-year-old class the Hereford shows 

 .16 pounds per day from birth the largest gain; 

 and he was certainly the ripest and smoothest 

 steer of the lot. 



In the one-year-old class the Hereford shows 

 a trifle the largest gain per day, and for quality 

 and thickness of flesh the Shorthorns could not 

 compare with him, and he would have dressed 

 ten pounds to the hundred more than either the 

 first or the second premium steer. 



The large exhibits of Hereford cattle that 

 we have had made at many of the prominent 

 fairs were found to be a desirable feature by 

 the several managers, and we had many cordial 

 invitations to show over the West. We were 

 promised fair play and a classification for the 

 Hcrefords. To these invitations we gave in Au- 

 gust, 1880, the following reply: 



"Your favor inviting me to exhibit at your 

 fair this fall is at hand. While I should be 

 glad to exhibit on your grounds, if I were ex- 

 hibiting at all, I have to reply that I deter- 

 mined last fall that I would not exhibit breed- 

 ing stock in' the future, and for these reasons: 

 that the condition in which stock must be put, 

 if success in taking premiums is secured, endan- 

 gers the breeding quality of the animals ex- 

 hibited, and, beyond this, is wasteful and ille- 

 gitimate, and the fact that this custom has been 

 followed for years is no reason why it should be 

 continued. 



"There are none that realize these facts more 

 fully than the exhibitors themselves. I fol- 

 lowed the exhibitions for years, with some suc- 

 cess as an exhibitor. I have had large numbers 

 on exhibition and in good condition. If it has 

 not resulted in as much loss of good breeding 

 animals as some others, it has been because the 

 feeding has not been pushed to such an extent 

 as others have done, and the feeding has been 



conducted with good judgment and my breed of 

 cattle has more constitution to stand the strain. 



"Our showing brought the Herefords into 

 notice and gave them a credit they might not 

 have obtained without it. We followed this 

 showing, not that I might prove my cattle better 

 than other Herefords, but that we might prove 

 the Herefords better than any other breed, and 

 this showing of breeding stock has been the only 

 opportunity that we have had of bringing them 

 in competition with other breeds. We were 

 obliged to show under the great disadvantage of 

 having Shorthorn breeders make our rules and 

 our judges. We, however, won substantial hon- 

 ors, even under these conditions, over the Short- 

 horns, their breeders themselves being our 

 judges. 



"This is not all. Nearly all the societies that 

 have been prominent at the West exclude this 

 competition as between the Herefords and 

 Shorthorns. Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Iowa and St. Louis offer no compe- 

 tition between breeds. 



A TYPICAL BULL'S HEAD, CORRECTOR 48976. 

 (Photograph from life.) 



"The Minneapolis Fair Association, con- 

 ducted by Col. King, does offer open competi- 

 tion between breeds, and he offers liberal pre- 

 miums, and I should be glad to go there and 

 give that association such help as my herd and 

 flock could, to make his fair the greatest success 

 of any show this fall, and I will give all the aid 

 I can to see that the Herefords are well repre- 

 sented there, and should he another year give 

 the competition he offers now to breeding stock 

 and fat steers I will agree that the Herefords 

 shall have a representation that will be credit-, 

 able to his show and to the breed. 



"The societies that I have named as having 

 shut off competition as to breeds are run by 

 Shorthorn breeders and in the interest of Short- 

 horn cattle. Some of the officers of these socie- 



