HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



CHAMPIONS CONTRASTED AMERICAN vs. ENGLISH; ANCIENT vs. MODERN 



We have devoted considerable space to our 

 American Fat Stock Shows because the brunt 

 of the battle between the beef breeds of America 

 was waged at these shows. 



The account of an English Hereford steer 

 and an English grade Hereford steer, will make 

 interesting reading, demonstrating, as it does, 

 the beef quality of the thoroughbred Hereford 

 and the great merit of the Hereford cross. 



We take from the "Mark Lane Express" of 

 Dec. 15, 1884, abstracts in reference to the 

 Smithfield Show of that year, referring to the 

 champion ox, a cross-bred (Hereford sire, 

 Shorthorn dam), age 3 years, six months and 

 two weeks, weight 2,617 pounds. Winner of 

 the Norwich and Smithfield Club Champion 

 Cups; bred by Mr. Chas. Doe, Burwarton, 

 Bridgenorth, Shropshire ; fed and exhibited by 

 Mr. R. Wortley, Suffield, Aylsham, Norfolk. 

 (ff 242) Our readers will recognize the form 

 and character of this animal as purely Here- 

 ford. In other words, the Hereford bull has 

 given his character and quality to the steer. 



The value of any pure breed consists in their 

 ability to improve other breeds and to improve 

 the common cattle of this and all other coun- 

 tries. Our steer Conqueror at Chicago in 1881, 

 C. M. Culbertson's Roan Boy (ff 243), in 1883, 

 Mr. Wortley's cross-bred at Smithfield in 1884, 

 and Fowler and Van Natta's Benton's Cham- 

 pion (ft 244) at Chicago, in 1884, are notable 

 examples of the value of the Hereford cross. 

 The fact that the Shorthorn men claim the 

 honor for Shorthorn blood is not worth talking 

 about. 



Let us make bullocks, by crossing the Here- 

 ford bull upon all other breeds, until our live 

 stock shall give the top place to the WHITE- 

 FACED BULLOCK, whether the cross is on the 

 Shorthorn, the Devon, the Scot, the Texan 

 (ff 245), the Spanish, or any other breed. And 

 let us in this establish the fact that the Here- 

 ford cross will improve every other breed for 

 producing bullocks, the test being, "economy of 

 production and value of product." 



The "Mark Lane Express" said : "There is a 

 very pronounced undercurrent of opinion led 

 and fostered by the example which has been 

 set on American soil to the effect that in the 

 immediate future the prize schedule of our lead- 

 ing Fat Stock Shows should be so framed as to 

 encourage the production of the earliest matur- 

 ity, at the least possible cost; and to this end' 

 there must inevitably be classes made, and ade- 

 quate prize money offered for competitions based 

 on early maturity, in connection with a mini- 

 mum cost of production, to be determined by a 

 slaughter test. In the United States they have, 

 instituted classes for 'early maturity/ for 'cost 

 of production/ and for the 'slaughter test'; 

 but it would seem that a competition might eas- 

 ily be established in connection with the Smith- 

 field Club Show, and particularly so whenever 

 it is available for entries from the other prin- 

 cipal shows in the shape of one collective class 

 for early maturity, as demonstrated on the 

 block, to be determined by a set of judges com- 

 posed solely of butchers, with separate honors 

 dependent on 'economy of production/ as at- 

 tested by breeders or feeders. The butcher's 

 function should be to determine the best car- 

 cass; the committee should demonstrate by a 

 simple statement on paper which had cost the 

 least, relatively to age, when the butcher's ver- 

 dict has been given. Something in this direc- 

 tion, and embracing these salient points, will 

 certainly have to be done if the great London 

 Fat Stock Show is to keep pace with or within 

 measurable distance of similar educational in- 

 stitutions on the other side of the Atlantic. 



"But there have recently been two very 

 striking instances in connection with show-yard 

 animals which tend to show more clearly that 

 maturity does not necessarily consist of mere 

 'fitness to kill/ although we submit that in both 

 cases the question of cost could alone detenu i DC 

 where the feeding process should have ceased, 

 in order to afford the most perfect lesson in re- 

 spect of 'economy of production.' The two ani- 

 mals referred to 'are Mr. John Price's Hereford 



