CHAPTER XI 



BREEDS (continued) 

 The Hereford. 



This breed is very generally supposed to belong to the group 

 of beef-producing, and nothing but beef-producing, animals. 

 It is certain that a great many of the cows have little to spare 

 after nursing one calf; some fail, to a certain extent, even in 

 this. Among animals known to be pure-bred some look much 

 more likely to milk than others, but I have never seen a speci- 

 men with a really high milk record to her credit; but, as is so 

 often the case with beef-breeds, records are hardly ever taken. 

 Indeed, some owners of pedigree herds are said to object to a 

 cow that shows anything approaching a fine, big, productive- 

 looking udder after calving! It is therefore in relation to its 

 reputed single capacity of beef -production that we must con- 

 sider it here. 



A large animal, red, with a white face and fine massive pale- 

 coloured horns, it is always a pleasing feature both in the county 

 from which it is named and in the beautiful Severn country 

 generally. An expert on breed-points alone can prescribe the 

 right tint of red, the proper white body-markings, and other 

 indications of good Hereford character ; but animals of the breed 

 will bear analysis as fine specimens of the beef-beast without 

 details of this kind. It is often looked upon as the perfect animal 

 for what the stock-breeder calls "meeting you well." The fore- 

 end of a beef-beast should show quality to the greatest possible 

 extent, the skin of the neck should cover a short, thick wedge 

 of solid meat, and there should be great width at the breast, 

 i.e. from one point of the shoulder to the other. This width 

 is not obtained through the largeness of the bones of the 

 "shoulder-points." Width gained by large bony "points" 

 constitutes coarseness, which is the reverse of what the good 

 ' Hereford shows at this part of his body. He is wide below the 

 breast right away down to the floor of his chest, and the " dew- 

 lap," as the whole of the anterior of the sternum, or breast-bone 



