410 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



sold drafts from his herd to Messrs. J. Gar- 

 diner and I. Irving (Tomki). He also sold a 

 cow to Messrs. Archer, of Gracemore, for eighty 

 guineas, and in 1882 Messrs. McConnel and 

 Wood, of Durundur, purchased the whole of his 

 herd descended from the Cressy cattle. 



"In 1872 Mr. Reynolds bought some heifers, 

 and Mr. G. Loder a bull called Julius, and later 

 on Mr. Vincent Dowling bought the bull Un- 

 dergraduate and all the young females by that 

 bull. 



"Finally, owing to old age, Mr. Toosey dis- 

 posed of the whole of the remainder of his herd 



HOTSPUR (7726) 21721. 

 Bred by T. J. Carwardine, Herefordshire. Sold for ?3,500. 



to Mr. John Taylor, of Winton, near Cleveland, 

 Tasmania, who still continues to breed from 

 them. 



"Mr. Toosey, as already stated, kept a record 

 of his breed up to the time of his death, but 

 since then his son states that the Herd Books 

 are not to be found, and must have been de- 

 stroyed. This is very much to be regretted, as 

 a detailed record of the earlier cattle of the 

 foundation herd of Australia a herd the blood 

 of which is to be found in every herd in Queens- 

 land, and perhaps in every Hereford herd south 

 of the equator has probably disappeared for 

 all time. The loss is all the more to be de- 

 plored that arrangements have almost been com- 

 pleted for compiling a reliable Hereford Herd 

 Book for the whole of the colonies." 



THE DTJRUNDUR EXPERIENCE. 



It is the source of great gratification to us 

 when we can secure the opinion of men who 

 have had a large experience in the use of the 

 Hereford in its purity and in crossing on other 

 breeds. There is no question but that our large 

 western range is valuable for the purpose of 

 breeding cattle and producing beef, and the 

 question which they wish to determine is, as to 



the best breed for the purpose of improvement 

 on that range. The improvement of Texas and 

 range cattle has moved very slowly and is of 

 comparative recent date, but the discussion of 

 these questions in this country has had a very 

 wide influence and is bringing out in Australia 

 the experience and practice that cover a half 

 century's time under similar conditions to those 

 on our own ranges; we find in the "Queens- 

 lander" the following article from a correspond- 

 ent of that journal, which we published in the 

 "Breeders' Journal," leaving out some remarks 

 as to individual animals and giving what might 

 be termed that general experience, which will 

 be of value to our breeders, and to which this 

 correspondent refers. The experiment has been 

 in operation for 36 years, and we refer to the 

 article itself to see with what results : 



"I must honestly confess that I have gener- 

 ally viewed the Hereford breed with an unfavor- 

 able eye, induced from personal experience of 

 their general wildness when bred or running in 

 mountain districts, though I never denied the 

 excellence of their beef-producing qualities. 

 After some days' experience of the Durundur 

 herd I must admit the error of my views, for a 

 quieter and more kindly dispositioned herd, 

 from aged bulls, through every grade, down to 

 the year's calves, could not be found even in 

 their original homes in the English counties. 

 The cattle I worked amongst in earlier days 

 were a bastard breed, Herefords only in name 

 magni nominis umbra badly worked and 

 worse managed. At Durundur exactly the op- 

 posite is the case. The cattle are worked on a 

 very different system ; the consequence is they 

 are as quiet and docile as a mob of milkers, 

 looking upon man as their best friend, rather 

 seeking his company than avoiding it. 



"The original source from which all Here- 

 ford herds in Australia sprung, either directly 

 or indirectly, ' is that of the celebrated Cressy 

 herd of Tasmania, started by the direct impor- 

 tation from England of three cows and one 

 bull in 1825. .In 1850, Hereford cattle were 

 first introduced into Durundur by the pur- 

 chase of some pure-bred bulls from Mr. 

 Reynolds, of Tocal, New South Wales. The 

 general herd then consisted of Shorthorns, and 

 the proprietors for some years oscillated be- 

 tween the two breeds, in reality making some 

 costly experiments, aiming more at quality than 

 quantity. In 1873, however, a final decision 

 was come to, and since that time nothing but 

 Hereford bulls have been used, their prepo- 

 tency being so assured that in a few generations 

 the original strain of Shorthorn blood was en- 

 tirely eliminated. In 1882 the pure herd was 



