Chapter XXVII. 



AMERICAN HOLDERNESS. 



The origin and history of this breed are fraught with singular in- 

 terest as illustrating the peculiar methods used by breeders in fixing type. 



Some fifty or sixty years ago, Mr. Truman A. Cole, of Solsville, 

 N. Y. , purchased a cow of imported stock called " Holderness " origi- 

 nally from the West Riding of Yorkshire, England ; she was red and 

 white in color, of large size, an excellent milker, and was at the time in 

 calf by a bull of the same breed. Her offspring proved to be a male ; 

 when this calf was a yearling, he was bred to his own mother, the re- 

 sult being a heifer calf, which was afterwards bred to the same bull. 

 To put the history of their improvement in a nutshell : Mr. Cole has 

 continually and closely in-bred, never admitting a single drop of outside 

 blood until he has produced a breed thoroughly fixed in type, and ac- 

 curately transmitting even the least of its distinguishing qualities. A 

 remarkable change has taken place in their color markings as seen from 

 the following 



DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN HOLDERNESS. 



When first dropped, the sides, neck and head are reddish brown ; 

 as they increase in age this color changes to a dark brown or jet black, 

 while the white lines on the back and belly remain unchanged from 

 birth. The legs correspond in color with the sides, except at the belly 

 line, where a white band is thrown across, presenting a novel and at- 

 tractive design. (This change from the former Shorthorn colors of the 

 Yorkshire cattle can only be accounted for by assuming that the close 

 incestuous breeding practiced by Mr. Cole has caused them to revert to 

 the colors of their original Dutch ancestry.) 



In size they are nearly equal to the Holstein-Friesians ; and in out- 

 line also very similar. The head is neat, close-fleshed, long in the cow 

 and shorter in the bull ; horns short and curving forward ; neck fine at 

 head in the bull arching and well set on at shoulders ; back keeping 

 up an even, straight line from the shoulders to the drop of the tail; flanks 

 deep ; udder large, broad, well forward, with good-sized teats, placed 

 evenly and wide apart. 



They are emphatically a dairy breed, as illustrated by the fact that 

 nineteen cows of Mr. Cole's herd two years old and upwards actually 

 made 5,860 Ibs. of butter during the season of 1879 an average of a 



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