350 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



ford exhibitors met every point in contest and 

 showed greater merit for their breed. 



These tests, however, do. not touch the real 

 question at issue between the two breeds, to-wit, 

 the cost of production and value of product. 

 As a result of these showings, however, the ac- 

 cessions to the number of Hereford breeders at 

 that time were large and consisting of men of 

 large means and great experience in cattle rais- 

 ing and feeding. 



The arguments used to show the unparalleled 

 excellence of the Shorthorns are often of the 



flimsiest nature. 

 In the Seventh 

 Annual Meeting 

 of the Iowa Im- 

 proved Stock 

 Breeders' Associa- 

 tion, Mr. Pliny 

 Nichols presented 

 the claims of the 

 Shorthorns and 

 stated his posi- 

 tion. First, to 

 show the merits of 

 the Shorthorn as a 

 combined machine 

 for milk and beef ; 

 second, his merits 

 for beef alone, and 

 third, his value 

 for the improve- 

 ment of natives and other breeds. On the 

 first he claimed that 75 per cent of cattle 

 for beef and the dairy in England are of 

 Shorthorn blood, quite oblivious of the fact, 

 that on the same principle, he might claim that 

 as 75 per cent of the cattle for beef and dairy 

 were scrub stock, therefore it was best. We 

 quote Mr. C. F. Clarkson, speaker at the same 

 convention, who preceded Mr. Nichols, as fol- 

 lows: "Our modern breeders claim that they 

 have improved this stock (the Shorthorn) in 

 grace and form, while they sacrificed the milk- 

 ing qualities, until it requires the aid of some 

 other breed to raise their calves." 



With this quotation we will pass the claims 

 to a combined machine and notice Mr. Nichols 

 on the Shorthorn for beef alone. He said, "For 

 early maturity, size, hardiness, prepotency, cost 

 of production and value of product, the Short- 

 horn excels all others." If Mr. Nichols had 

 closed this schedule of merits by saying he does 

 not excel all others, he would have made a 

 statement that he could have maintained. 



The contest that year (1879) for the cham- 

 pion prize at Smithfield for the best beast in 

 the show, was between a Hereford and Short- 



SAMUEL GOODE, 



of Ivingtonbury, Herefordshire, 

 for many years in Australia. 



horn under two years and six months old. They 

 were of the same weight and ages. On this 

 point there was no difference, but the award 

 was given to the Shorthorn, and there were 

 those who questioned the correctness of the 

 award. Knowing that a Hereford always sells 

 for more money per pound in London, we ques- 

 tioned the justice of the decision and had cuts 

 made of the two steers, (fl 246) The "Mark 

 Lane Express" gave it as their opinion that the 

 award was right, "although," they say, "the 

 Hereford was the firmer fleshed animal," and 

 a little further questioning elicited the fact that 

 the two bullocks going to the butcher, the Here- 

 ford would have sold for the most money. If 

 then the champion steer of this show was a two- 

 year-old, and the choice was between two, a 

 Hereford and a Shorthorn of the same age and 

 weight, and the Hereford was of a -quality to 

 command the larger price in the market, he 

 should have had the champion place. This 

 must have been known to Mr. Nichols when he- 

 came before the Iowa Society. He might, with 

 the same propriety, point to the awards of the 

 Iowa Agricultural Society as an evidence of 

 merit for his breed. 



Mr. Nichols then took the Chicago Fat Stock 

 Show and averaged it for three years, and said, 

 "Of course exceptional cases can be given where 

 the Herefords have attained good weights and 

 creditable gains per day from birth, especially 

 when they have resorted to the Shorthorn blood 

 to make the cross on." 



Now, Mr. Nichols and other Shorthorn breed- 

 ers ought to have known that the claim was not 

 valid. The truth is that the Shorthorn on the 

 native cattle of the country, has not produced 

 a uniform bullock. There is no reliability to 

 be placed upon the character of the bullock 

 bred from native or scrub cows by the use of 

 the Shorthorn bull, and we must give the same 

 uncertainty to the heifers as to the bullocks, 

 and these heifers we must use heifers that no 

 Shorthorn man would admit bore any resem- 

 blance to the Shorthorn type and when we put 

 the Hereford bull upon these heifers and pro- 

 duce winning steers, they turn around and 

 claim the merit for the Shorthorn. But it is 

 not true, and the claim that was made by An- 

 derson and endorsed by Nichols as to the bul- 

 lock at the Fat Stock Show of 1880 was fraud- 

 ulent. 



Said Mr. Nichols, "The Hereford breeders 

 have by such extraordinary means captured 

 scarcely one-third the premiums as against 

 Shorthorns." The managers of the Fat Stock 

 Show offered a premium, first and second, for 

 the best grade three-year-old steer; for the best 



