BREEDS 



141 



answer. The faculty of doing very well upon grass just below 

 the best is, to my mind, the greatest economic asset of the breed. 

 The meat from grass-fed Hereford bullocks is as good in 

 quality as that from average first-class beasts of other breeds; 

 many authorities would call it superior to any other, and I know 

 of no evidence to controvert such a view. To get fat on after- 

 math when allowed a moderate ration of concentrated food is, 

 in my experience, a good quality peculiar to this breed for 

 which the "white-faced" cattle do not receive adequate praise. 

 Few, however, will admit that the Hereford fed in the winter 

 on cake and roots and other plough-land food supplies the best 

 quality meat. Many years ago my attention was drawn to severe 

 crkicism of the breed from this point of view, and there were, 

 in particular, many complaints that the amount of "kidney- 

 fat," highly valued in November and December on so-called 

 Christmas bullocks, failed badly. Being much interested in the 

 breed, I have watched for this fault very persistently, and have 

 come to the conclusion that there is no ground for the complaint. 

 I strongly suspect, however, that if on this yard-feeding a 

 Hereford is produced ripe enough to carry an adequate mass 

 of kidney-suet wanted for plum-pudding making, he will be 

 found to be excessively fat all over the rest of his carcase. This 

 fault is very much in evidence when the "beast is 1 handled alive, 

 for many Herefords are apt to be soft to the touch. 



Butchers have another complaint to make against him, 

 namely, that he always looks bigger than he is. This is not a 

 characteristic for which the farmer or grazier should find fault 

 with the breed ; but the trade has been known to speak of the 

 Hereford as the "white-faced robber"! Our bad system of 

 marketing and not the breed, ought in justice to be blamed for 

 the irritation which produces this unjust complaint. There is 

 evidence (slight, but nevertheless emphatic) to show that those 

 accustomed to buy other cattle by eye, will, when they get the 

 carcase on to the shop scales, be so much dismayed at their 

 lack_of skill in judging both live and dead-weight that they 

 will admit, for once, that purchase by weight has some points 

 in its favour. 



The Hereford hide is particularly thick and yet very elastic 



