BREEDS OF BEEF CATTLE. 



SHORTHORNS. 



THIS is one of the heaviest of the beef breeds. Mature bulls in 

 show shape often attain a weight of 2,700 pounds and cows 

 2,000 pounds. However, these extreme weights, without the 

 highest quality are objectionable. The color is more variable 

 than that of any other breed; it may be red or white, or a mixture 

 of these colors, the colors popularly used to describe the breed thus 

 being red, white, and roan. Roan is, indeed, the one distinctive 

 Shorthorn color never produced except by the presence of the blood 

 of this breed. A typical Shorthorn head will afford a man weeks of 

 study in bovine character. The indications of a good feeder are also 

 present. In passing, note the short horn, curving gracefully forward 

 and occasionally drooping, waxy and white in color with black tips. 

 The neck shows strength and sexual power, and is joined to a rather 

 upright shoulder by a smooth and full shoulder vein. Passing to the 

 body, note the heavy flesh and the spread of back and loin. In the 

 hind quarters especially Shorthorn characteristics are present. In- 

 deed, the breed has the reputation of carrying the best hind quarter 

 of any. Legs are of moderate length, with a bone of medium fine- 

 ness and plenty of strength. 



Three groups of Shorthorn cattle have been evolved during the 

 last century. During the first fifty years, the Booth and Bates fam- 

 ilies were developed and the opposition between them was as great 

 as between different breeds. The Booth cattle were famous for their 

 fleshing qualities. Bates cattle were famous for both milk and beef 

 production. They grazed well and possessed high quality and much 

 style. Later the development of the Scotch sorts, under the guidance 

 of the Cruickshanks, brought forth animals of a blocky, short-legged 

 type, with much scale and substance, excellent fattening powers, 

 good constitution, quality, and early maturity. The tendency dur- 

 ing the past thirty years has been to combine the blood of the old 

 strains. 



As a breed, its popularity and wide dissemination have given 

 rise to variation in types that has resulted in many a show-ring dis- 

 pute; but we have, to offset this, the wonderful adaptability of the 

 breed, its seeming universal usefulness, and its value in crossing with 

 almost every other. Shorthorn blood was the first to be used on the 

 native cattle of the Plains, and exercises a very great influence on the 

 range cattle of the present time. 



An estimate of 150,000 as the number of living registered 

 Shorthorns in the United States is approximately correct. Of these, 

 it is stated that 5% are on the range and 95% in the hands of the 



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