THE I'lEREFORDS. 



THE HEREFORDS. 



The Hereford wliite-foced breed, witli the exception of a very few 

 Alderney and Durham cows, liave almost exclusive possession of the 

 county of Hereford. The Hereford oxen are considerably larger than 

 the Devons. They are usiially of a darker red ; some of them are 

 brown, and even yellow, and a few are brindled ; but they are prin- 

 tipally distinguished by their white faces, throats, and bellies. In a 

 few the white extends to the shoulders. The old Herefords were 

 brown, or red-brown, with not a spot of white about them. It is 

 only within the last fifty or sixty years that it has been the fashion 

 to breed for white faces. Whatever may be thought of the change 

 of color, the present breed is certainly far superior to the old one. 

 Tlie hide is considerably thicker than that of the Devon. Compared 

 with the Devons, they are shorter in the leg, and also in the carcass; 

 higher, and broader, and heavier in the chine ; rounder and wider 

 across the hips, and better covered with fat ; the thigh fuller and 

 more muscular, and the shoulders larger and coarser. 



Mr. Marshall gives the following account of them : it is tolerably 

 correct, but does not sufficiently distinguish them from their kindred 

 breed. " The countenance pleasant, cheerful, open ; the forehead 

 broad ; eye full and lively ; horns bright, taper, and spreading ; 

 head small ; chap lean ; neck long and tapering ; chest deep ; bosom 

 broad, and projecting forward ; shoulder-bone thin, flat, no way pro- 

 tuberant in bone, but full and mellow in flesh ; chest fidl ; loin 

 broad ; hips standing wide, and level with the chine ; quarters long, 

 and wide at the neck ; rump even with the level of the back, and 

 not drooping, nor standing high and sharp above the quarters ; tail 

 slender and neatly haired ; barrel round and roomy ; the carcass 

 throughout deep and well spread ; ribs broad, standing flat and 

 close on the outer surface, forming a smooth, even barrel, the hind- 

 most large and full of length ; round bone small, snug, not promi- 

 nent ; thigh clean, and regularly tapering ; legs upright and short ; 

 bone below the knee and hock small ; feet of middle size ; flank 

 large ; flesh everywhere mellow, soft, and yielding pleasantly to the 

 touch, especially on the chine, the shoulder, and the ribs ; hide mel- 

 low, supple, of a middle thickness, and loose on the neck and huckle ; 

 coat neatly haired, bright and silky ; color, a middle red, with a bald 

 face, characteristic of the true Hereford breed." 



They fatten to a much greater weight than the Devons, and run 

 from fifty to seventy score. (A tolerable cow will average from 

 thirty-five to fifty score.) They are not now much used for husbandry, 

 though their form adapts them for the heavier work ; and they have 

 all thp. honesty and docility of the Devon ox, and greater strength. 



