294 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



land were of a hardy character, and as we come 

 afterwards to other exposed lands, we have the 

 Welsh and the Hereford breeds of stock; then, 

 going into more temperate districts we have the 

 Shorthorns, and the more tender but nimble 

 Devons, and so on, to the Channel Islands 

 stock. But the point is this : that all this pro- 

 duce obtain their points of character by being 

 brought up under certain conditions to which 

 they had adapted themselves, but when the 

 Shorthorns were sent to Scotland they were un- 

 suited to the districts and they perished." 



Prof. Tanner goes on to say: "Now those 

 habits, those points of character, which were 



existing in the dif- 

 ferent local breeds, 

 were modified to 

 meet the require- 

 ments of more ad- 

 vanced farming. 

 For instance, the 

 old system of al- 

 lowing the cattle to 

 remain until they 

 were four, five, or 

 six years old, be- 

 fore they were 

 completed for the 

 butcher, gradually 

 gave place to a 

 much more rapid 

 habit of growth, a 

 growth which 



SIR JAMES RANKIN, M. P., 

 Bryngwin, Herefordshire. 



more prompt and speedy throughout its en- 

 tire range, and the result was that the ani- 

 mal was finished and ready for the butcher 

 at a much earlier date. The tendency of 

 late years has, therefore, been in the direc- 

 tion of so altering the character of the animals 

 we breed that they become quiet and docile, 

 quite disposed to take their food without rest- 

 lessness, and also to make good use of the food 

 which is supplied to them. I know perfectly 

 well that you can appreciate the weakness of 

 the character, both of the Shorthorn stock and 

 also many of our delicate breeds of sheep, es- 

 pecially the Leicester. And how has this dif- 

 ference arisen? Largely because the alteration 

 made, in the case of the Shorthorn cattle, in 

 early years had been carried to an extent which 

 has probably but I will not say probably 

 which really, has resulted in their obtaining a 

 weaker constitutional character. Where breed- 

 ers of Hereford cattle have excelled is this, 

 they have kept their cattle under more natural 

 conditions, and as a consequence by keeping 

 their cattle under those conditions, they have 

 submitted to what the Shorthorn breeder would 



say was a sacrifice, during this time, because 

 they have not made their stock into such rapid 

 fat-formers as the Shorthorn cattle are. 



"If you breed cattle so that they have small, 

 feeble, or imperfect lungs, you must not expose 

 such cattle to rough, cold weather with the 

 same impunity that you might if they had 

 larger lungs and were fully capable' of main- 

 taining the warmth of the body. If you give 

 them small lungs they become unable to main- 

 tain that warmth under conditions of consider- 

 able difficulty, and having reduced the power 

 of the lungs, if you do expose it to inclement 

 weather, it is said at once of the animal that it 

 is too delicate, and why? Because you have 

 reduced the lungs so greatly that the animal 

 cannot keep up its warmth, and becomes 

 'delicate,' and that is only another phrase for 

 saying that it is predisposed to disease. Permit 

 the animal to become delicate, therefore, and it 

 becomes predisposed to disease. And just in 

 proportion as you limit the exercise that cattle 

 take, by keeping them in their confined stalls, 

 you diminish the siz.e of the lungs, and you 

 make them incapable of resisting the conse- 

 quence of exposure. Now our Shorthorn cattle 

 are notoriously more delicate than your Here- 

 fords, and why are Herefords more hardy? 

 Because they have been bred and brought up 

 under conditions which allowed them greater 

 freedom, which permitted them to take more 

 exercise, and so they are more hardy. 



"This is one point; and there is another 

 point which has helped to make the Hereford 

 breed what it is there has been greater care 

 shown for the production of milk. The fatal 

 error which was accepted by the majority of 

 Shorthorn men was this: We are breeding to 

 produce meat, and milk is of secondary impor- 

 tance; we want pedigree animals which will be 

 of very high value; you can get milk from very 

 cheap cows. Now, there has not been a more 

 fatal opinion in connection with agriculture 

 than this. The production of milk has been 

 looked upon as of secondary moment, and just 

 in proportion as the production of milk has 

 been neglected, so will you find the breeding 

 powers of the animal become weaker and more 

 uncertain. It is, therefore, because of the 

 greater care that has been shown in the man- 

 agement of Hereford cattle, in reference to the 

 production of milk, and also the more natural 

 way in which calves have been allowed to be 

 suckled by their cows and to run with them 

 that you have maintained the breeding powers 

 of these animals, in greater excellence and in 

 greater power. The stronger constitution and 

 the better breeding character of the Hereford 



