HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



507 



"A writer in the 'National Live Stock Jour- 

 nal' under the heading of 'The Present and 

 Future of Shorthorns', says in reference to 

 showing at the Fat Stock Show that 'in the 

 future we must insist on its being between 

 thoroughbreds of the different rival breeds, so 

 there will be no doubt about how much Short- 

 horn blood there is in one that is shown as a 

 Hereford grade. It is manifestly unfair to 

 breed the pick of the Hereford bulls imported 

 into this country on some of our best cows, 

 and then exhibit their progeny as grade Here- 

 fords. It is no grade, it is a cross-bred. If 

 this practice is continued by the Hereford men, 

 the Shorthorn men should retaliate by selecting 

 several of the best Hereford cows and breed 

 the best Shorthorn bulls upon them, and show 

 the calves of these Hereford cows as grade 

 Shorthorns. And nothing would be settled by 

 this course. It would show only the unfairness 

 which Hereford men have been practicing in 

 the past, and every time the blue ribbon has 

 been awarded on the Hereford grades in the 

 best fat stock shows in this country, doubtless 

 one-half or more of the ribbons should have 

 been labeled, "A Shorthorn cow has proved 

 true to her well-established character, namely, 

 she makes a half-breed better than the average 

 of the sire's race." And we understand that 

 these Polled Angus friends follow their Here- 

 ford friends' practice in this regard, and their 

 crosses will be harder to detect, as we are told 

 these Polled Angus bulls are such prepotent 

 fellows that at one sweep they knock both horns 

 and color off the finest Shorthorn cow in the 

 land and bury the unfortunate cow's calf in a 

 dark grave and deny them the privilege of be- 

 ing recorded alongside of their mothers. Re- 

 taliation upon these Polled Angus men is prac- 

 tically denied the Shorthorn men, from the fact 

 that we are told that no Shorthorn bull in the 

 world can make these pokers grow out at the 

 top-nots of those black cows, or the orange color 

 to blossom upon their smelling tubes. So it 

 appears at the present time the Shorthorn 

 breeders are put to a disadvantage with these 

 Polled Angus breeders, and the only way left 

 us to beat them is to fight them as we propose 

 to fight the Hereford breeders thoroughbred 

 against thoroughbred.' [This is part of an 

 article signed W. H. H. Cundiff.] 



"Will our Shorthorn friend state how many 

 thoroughbred Shorthorns have been winning 

 honors at the Fat Stock Show ? Can he remem- 

 ber that it was the thoroughbred Hereford cow 

 Jennie that won the sweepstakes for the best 

 cow in the show in 1879? Will he state how 

 much Shorthorn blood the steer Conqueror 



had ? Here we call to his attention that every 

 grade Hereford that has been shown at the Fat 

 Stock Show was a well marked Hereford. Our 

 friend is in trouble, and considers himself at 

 a disadvantage with the Hereford. He must 

 have the white face and the usual markings. 

 If he puts the Shorthorn bull upon tbfe Here- 

 ford cow he must bring affidavits upon the show 

 ground if he would claim any merit from the 

 Shorthorn, for the produce will be a Hereford 

 in appearance and character. We cannot at the 

 present time see any way by which he can be 

 successful upon the show ground, except to fol- 

 low the practice in vogue at the last show, to- 

 wit, showing cattle at from two to three years 

 older than the ages for which they were entered. 

 But we fear even here he will be at a disad- 

 vantage, as we understand that the rules of the 

 Board are to be enforced at the next show." 



It is hardly necessary to say that at this time 

 the "Breeders' Gazette" was not in any sense 

 of the word a partisan of the Hereford breed of 

 cattle. - 



We had the following to say at the time, in 

 regard to this matter: 



"We have no desire to prolong this contro- 

 versy, but we wish to state our beliefs. Some- 

 thing about three years ago there was formed 

 a syndicate, a Bates corner in that class of the 

 Shorthorn breed of cattle. We believe that out 

 of that syndicate grew the establishment of the 

 'Breeders' Gazette/ and that the parties inter- 

 ested in that movement were the main support- 

 ers of that journal. 



"We believe that out of that syndicate was 

 formed the plan to break the Hereford interest, 

 by charging T. L. Miller with frauds at the 

 Fat Stock Show as to the ages of his cattle. 

 That that syndicate was a signal failure there is 

 no doubt." 



From the "Breeders' Journal," April, 1883, 

 we quote: "Mr. J. H. Sanders of the 'Breed- 

 ers' Gazette,' in noticing Mr. Moninger's state- 

 ment before the State Board in reference to 

 the entries of his cattle, says: 'We have been 

 favored, as heretofore stated, with a copy of 

 the communication sent by Mr. Moninger, of 

 Iowa, to the Illinois State Board of Agricul- 

 ture, in reply to the recently published state- 

 ment of T. L. Miller, of Beecher, Illinois. The 

 action of the State Board in refusing to con- 

 sider the tardy protest of T. L. Miller, months 

 after the awards had been made on the cattle 

 in question, has generally been endorsed by the 

 public, who have never questioned the integrity 

 or the motives of this body of honorable gentle- 

 men. The untarnished reputation and high 

 standing of the Board, individually and col- 



