392 



HISTOEY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



establish an Australian Hereford Record, and 

 will be glad if you will give them some facts 

 and a plan for doing so. 



Mr. Frank Reynolds and Mr. Chas. Price are 

 both having a better demand for their young 

 bulls than ever before. All that try Herefords 

 are fully satisfied that they are the best cattle 

 for our runs, and it looks as though "our time 

 was coming." I shall endeavor to see that you 

 have a largely increased subscription list from 

 Australia. Yours respectfully, 



QUEENSLAND. 



Adelaide, Australia, Sept. 19, 1883. 



HEREFORDS CONSIDERED THE BEST IN AUSTRALIA. 



We find in the "South Australian Register" 

 (1883), published at Adelaide, an account of a 



discussion as to beef 

 breeds before the 

 Royal Agricultural 

 and Horticultural 

 Society of South 

 Australia. In the 

 discussion we find 

 the following from 

 Mr. Chas. Price, of 

 Hindmarsh Island, 

 who had been a 

 breeder of Hereford 

 cattle for nearly or 

 quite half a century, 

 and had a herd of 

 about 200 thor- 

 oughbred Here- 

 fords, bred for 

 breeding purposes. 



Mr. P. said he had "had a good deal of experi- 

 ence in the breeding and rearing of Herefords 

 and Shorthorns and had given some careful at- 

 tention to the relative qualities of the two 

 breeds. The Polled Angus breed he had had 

 nothing to do with. They were all agreed that 

 the best beast was that which would produce the 

 most and best beef on the smallest quantity of 

 feed, and he held that the Hereford possessed 

 these qualifications. It will live and thrive 

 where the Shorthorn will not do at all. He has 

 brought his Herefords out at two and one-half 

 years and that could not be done with the 

 Shorthorns. He had looked over his sales for 

 the past ten years and found that his steers had 

 averaged $62.50, at two and one-half years. He 

 found that Shorthorns would not average that 

 or anything approaching to it. He was positive 

 he could carry three Herefords where he could 

 not carry two Shorthorns. He had one Here- 

 ford cow that had produced fourteen calves be- 

 fore she was fifteen years old, and would have 



J. GORDON GIBB, 

 Lawrence. Kan. 



her fifteenth before she was sixteen years old, 

 and was now fit for the butcher. He started 

 with four Hereford heifers and bought some 

 Shorthorns. He got a Hereford bull. A friend 

 from Melbourne, named Saddler, who had been 

 buying cattle, came to look at his cattle and 

 told him that it was madness to try to breed 

 such cross-breds with a Hereford bull from those 

 cows, and that he had better get a Shorthorn 

 bull. From his experience he found that his 

 Shorthorns lost flesh, that they only bred once 

 in eighteen months, whereas the Herefords bred 

 once in twelve. Last year when the rains were 

 six weeks to two months late, the Shorthorns 

 would have died where the Herefords looked 

 well. He had no change for his cattle, and 

 there was not one living on that dry feed that 

 was not fit for the butcher. He considered the 

 Hereford the best cross and worth all the cat- 

 tle in the world for that. It might be put to 

 a scrubber, and even then a good deep breed 

 would be got. With the Shorthorns, long- 

 legged, useless brutes were got. He had been 

 at Sydney Sho^g for years, and the Hereford 

 bullocks had taken first prize in every year he 

 had been there. He maintained that there was 

 no difference in the weight, and to prove this 

 quoted statistics from the Smithfield Show as 

 follows: 



"In the year 1869 the Herefords under two 

 years and six months weighed 1,731 pounds; 

 Shorthorns the same age, 1,648; Herefords 

 under three years and three months, 1,936 

 pounds; Shorthorns, 1,976 pounds; Herefords 

 over three years and three months, 2,228 ; 

 Shorthorns, 2,200. In 1875 Herefords under 

 two years and six months, 1,485 pounds ; Short- 

 horns, 1,565 pounds. Under three years and 

 three months, Herefords, 2,036; Shorthorns, 

 1,982 pounds. Over three years and three 

 months, Herefords, 2,161 ; Shorthorns, 2,281 

 pounds. Extra stock, Herefords, 2,52-4 pounds; 

 Shorthorns and Norfolk cross, 2,290 pounds. 

 Three of the heaviest cattle shown in 1875 

 weighed, first, Hereford, 2,624 pounds; sec- 

 ond, Shorthorn, 2,444 pounds ; third, Hereford, 

 2,420 pounds." 



SUPERIORITY OF HEREFORDS AS RANGE CATTLE. 



In publishing the "Breeders' Journal," we 

 received a large number of congratulations and 

 commendations from parties in the different 

 parts of the States and Territories, on the 

 course that we have taken in advocating the 

 Hereford interest in this country, and not only 

 from America, but from Australia and Eng- 

 land as well. Among these, none were so highly 

 appreciated as one from the veteran Hereford 



