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HISTORY OF HEREFORD C A T T L E 



The following are the letters referred to: 

 "Editor 'Daily Northern Argus': 



"I see by newspaper correspondence that 

 many people would like to see the trial be- 

 tween Herefords and Shorthorns come off, and 

 1 think it just a good time to challenge Mr. 

 Peberdy to produce his 20 cows against mine. 

 The season has been the worst ever known up 

 here. On the 29th of November last, the first 

 rainfall for many months, and my Hereford 

 females were very poor, nearly all of them hav- 

 ing to feed their calves and support themselves 

 on the bare ground. I have had since then 

 about one month's fair rain, but no floods and 



no wet season, and 

 strange to say, al- 

 though the grass 

 appears 0. K. it has 

 none of its usual 

 fattening qualities 

 in it. There could 

 scarcely, therefore, 

 be a better time to 

 show the hardiness 

 of these Herefords 

 and their vast re- 

 cuperative powers. 

 "I now challenge 

 Mr. Peberdy,, of 

 Jelimbah, to bring 

 down to the next 

 race at Rockhamp- 

 ton ten Shorthorn 



cows with their ten sucking calves not under 

 four months old, and ten dry Shorthorn cows 

 (may also have calves if owner prefers, must 

 be breeders), to show against a similar lot 

 of Hereford cows from my herd. The stock 

 book to be produced so that the judges can see 

 they are pure bred. The cattle on both sides 

 to be driven by land, and not railed, to the 

 ground, and as I live nearer to Rockhampton 

 than Mr. Peberdy, I bind myself to drive mine 

 sixty miles extra to make me even with his dis- 

 tance. The judges to decide which are the best 

 breed of cattle for the Central District, and the 

 loser to give the winner a ten guinea cup prop- 

 erly engraved, and five guineas to the hospital. 

 "I shall also give Mr. Peberdy the right of 

 examining my drovers as to whether I fed my 

 cows on hay during the drouth, or whether I 

 had them slung up in slings in trees to keep 

 them up, and I shall expect the same from him, 

 as I understand he had a very suitable tree near 

 his house occupied with a cow in slings, and 

 had to import hay from Melbourne to keep them 

 alive. The Herefords did not require that. I 

 have only my own herd to pick from; Mr. 

 Peberdy -has the pick of K. S. Wales, as he has 



H. W. TAYLOR, 

 Showle Court, Herefordshire. 



bought his cows from several herds, and I don't 

 bind him to produce cattle of his own breeding. 

 "Yours, &c., 



"BEARDMORE OF TOOLOOMBA. 

 "May 7, 1885." 



"Editor 'Daily Northern Argus': 



"Mr. Peberdy's reply on the 14th May to 

 mine of the 7th is what I expected, declining 

 the challenge, abusive, spiteful. The gentleman 

 evidently forgets that abuse is not argument, 

 and that this is not the first time he has made 

 an otherwise interesting controversy a medium 

 for personal abuse. I shall write no more in 

 reply, but. I shall state a few facts for the bene- 

 fit of the public. 



"Mr. Peberdy might also with advantage re- 

 member that running down my cattle does not 

 raise the value of his or further the interest of 

 the Shorthorn breed. Mr. Peberdy also intro- 

 duces a novel idea that those gentlemen who do 

 not win the cup or stakes contended for shall 

 advertise in the papers that they have not 

 gained it. Will he kindly set the example? 

 He also makes the same mistake made by sev- 

 eral Shorthorn men before him, viz., of stating 

 that the Hereford men have got a dose of Dur- 

 ham in their cattle, when they put a few fine 

 cattle in the show yard. Will Mr. Peberdy tell 

 us what quality a Hereford can get from a 

 Shorthorn? Is it color, constitution, traveling 

 capacity, smallness of bone, decrease of offal, 

 depth of brisket? What quality is it? I only 

 know one thing that might be gained (I speak 

 for myself only) viz., a square hind quarter 

 and with it perhaps a few more pounds in 

 weight at the expense of all the foregoing qual- 

 ities. To conclude, is not tfris letter-writing 

 of Mr. Peberdy's a cheap way of advertising 

 that he has some 200 cows to dispose of ? 



"Three mobs of bulls have lately passed 

 Tooloomba from the south, .one from the Logan 

 of 70 head, very poor and dying, one of 300 

 from the Clarence poor, not fit for work, not one 

 sold from the time they left, mostly Short- 

 horns, and the few half-breed Herefords in 

 them far better in condition than the rest, and 

 lastly a mob of pure-bred Herefords from the 

 Clarence, 200 strong when they left. Of these 

 some ten head were Shorthorns, and the drovers 

 had to sell them for what they could get, be- 

 cause they could not travel with the Herefords, 

 150 Herefords he sold on the road up to Rock- 

 hampton, and as he passed Yaamba, Mr. Shan- 

 non, of Salt Bush Park, a Devon breeder, met 

 them, and was so struck with their general con- 

 dition and beauty after traveling 850 miles, that 

 he bought the lot, 50 head, and a lucky man 

 1 consider him to be. Some of those fifty were 



