SHORTHORN REVIEW 18101857 



Forty-seven years before this story begins, the 

 first great auction sale of Shorthorns was held 

 at Ketton, England, by Charles Colling, justly 

 called one of the improvers of the breed. The 

 original Duchess cow, ancestress of that tribe 

 bought in 1783 on the Darlington Market for $65, 

 was dead. Thomas Bates, destined to become 

 the leading breeder of Great Britain, bought one 

 of her descendants. She was a little shabby in 

 appearance but he called her the most valuable 

 cow in the world and it is reported that he de- 

 clared he would not take $5000 for his bargain. 



Here began the boom that made sane men lose 

 their heads in the greatest era of folly known in 

 live stock history. Bates heralded his claim for 

 the Duchess cow and her descendants. Thomas 

 Booth developed a class of Shorthorns that vied 

 with those bred by Bates and for several decades 

 the fight for supremacy was waged. The nobility 

 lined up on the Bates side and threw victory to 

 Bates' cattle with the Duchess tribe in the lead. 



The excellent importation made by Col. Lewis 

 Sanders in 1817 which included the Teeswater 

 Cow, the Durham Cow and Mrs. Motte, filled 

 parts of Kentucky and Ohio with splendid cattle. 

 Later importations, notably the descendants of 



