THE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



355 



that attention be given to securing one 

 line of good qualities without regard to 

 other matters, such as milk production. 

 On account of the large amount of milk 

 which Shorthorns yield, they are well 

 adapted to localities where a combination 

 of dairying and beef production can be 

 operated most profitably. 



Shorthorns are also of great value, 

 like other pure beef breeds, in grading 

 up native or scrub cattle, so as to pro- 

 duce a good quality of grade animals for 

 beef. The chief weaknesses of Short- 

 horns are lack of constitution and rela- 

 tive sterility as observed in certain fam- 

 ilies, especially where careless breeding 

 or in-and-in breeding have been prac- 

 ticed. 



The standard colors of the Short- 

 horn are red, white and roan, with red 

 most in favor, and all shades of roan 



to ship thoroughbred Shorthorns from 

 the corn belt into the arid Southwest, 

 without loss of condition in the animal. 



Hereford — It is commonly considered 

 that the Herefords are descended 

 from some of the native cattle of Great 

 Britain, and that they were mixed, in 

 their earlier history, with the Devon and 

 the Sussex cow. Apparently all of these 

 animals were at first nearly a solid red. 

 A cross with white cattle gave a ten- 

 dency to white markings, which has 

 persisted in the Herefords. In the early 

 history of the breed, the face was not 

 pure white as at present. This charac- 

 teristic, however, has been definitely 

 fixed by long continued breeding. 



History of the breed — The Herefords 

 were well known and had established a 

 considerable reputation for themselves 

 in many herds as early as 1835. They 



Eig. 23G — herd of young herefords 



well liked ; but white is somewhat in dis- 

 favor. The general form is large, com- 

 pact and rectangular, with a smoothness 

 of outline such as is required by the 

 standard adopted for beef form. The 

 body is long and deep, with parallel up- 

 per and lower lines and side lines. The 

 head is relatively small and considerably 

 narrower in the female than in the male. 

 The horns are short, but longer and 

 smaller in the female. 



While it is commonly contended that 

 the Shorthorn is not quite equal to the 

 Hereford on the range, many range men 

 have had excellent success with them. 

 In the Southwest, the Shorthorn is the 

 prevailing beef type and the majority 

 of grade beef animals contain Short- 

 horn blood. This breed withstands vac- 

 cination for Texas fever very well, and 

 is also capable of adjusting itself to 

 changed climatic conditions. It is a 

 comparatively simple matter, therefore, 



did not gain in popularity, however, as 

 fast as the Shorthorns, partly for the 

 reason that their milking powers were 

 somewhat inferior. Then, too, there 

 was considerable controversy regarding 

 the purity of white-faced and mottled- 

 faced animals, so that their distribu- 

 tion was strongly checked. Apparently 

 the first importation of Herefords into 

 the United States was made by Henry 

 Clay in 1817. The American Hereford 

 Cattle Breeders' Association was organ- 

 ized in 1881, or three years previous to 

 the organization of a herdbook in Eng- 

 land. At present the Herefords are dis- 

 tributed almost, if not quite, as widely 

 as the Shorthorns, being most numerous 

 in the Mississippi valley, particularly 

 Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois and 

 Indiana. 



Strong and weak points — The Here- 

 fords gain rapidly, adapt themselves to 

 all soil, climatic and feed conditions 



