PEDIGREE BREEDING 81 



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316 only was offered for pedigree dairy Shorthorns, the dual- 

 purpose breed. 



A few words about the classes provided of late years for the 

 "Dairy-Shorthorns" may usefully be added. By about 1899 

 it became evident that the milking qualities of the breed were 

 in serious danger of being lost altogether among pedigree 

 animals. So in 1905 some breeders started the Dairy Shorthorn 

 (Coates's Herd Book) Association with the following object: 

 "The aim and object of this Association is to promote the 

 breeding of the pure-bred Dairy Shorthorn.'* 



The name of the Association is a little misleading, for its 

 real object was to re-establish the dual-purpose capacity of the 

 breed. This the Dairy Shorthorn Association proved by its 

 instructions to the judges it nominated. There is plenty of 

 evidence to show that it was these qualities of the early Short- 

 horns that had made them invaluable to English husbandmen. 

 For instance, the average farmer would have nothing to do with 

 the bulls of the purely beef type. At the public auction-sales of 

 such cattle he would let wholesale butchers buy truck-loads of 

 young bulls, sires that were not good enough for the foreign 

 market. The expenses of exportation were great, as insurance 

 was very high 1 , and so only first-rate animals, capable of be- 

 coming the sires of bulls, were exported. The colour factor, 

 again, led to a great number of bulls being available for the 

 home-market. Although the exporter was buying sires to beget 

 the breeding stock that was to reproduce purely commercial 

 beef animals, he was most particular about the pigmentation 

 of the hair. I remember hearing a partner of the greatest 

 auctioneer of my time, in conversation at the Royal Show at 

 Park Royal, telling how his colleague had had the dressed skin 

 of a famous Shorthorn bull sent to him all the way from Chili 

 so that he might execute a commission to export animals of 

 exactly the same colour. It is common knowledge among Short- 



1 This was due to the risk of rejection after failing to pass the tuberculin 

 test, for, as our ports were closed from 1 896 against the entry of breeding 

 cattle, an animal failing to pass at the place of landing had to be slaughtered ; 

 it was not allowed to return to England. For some years before this 

 date farm-stock were not allowed to land, except for immediate slaughter, 

 but in this year Parliament finally excluded cattle. 



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