SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 18571880 



Kansas developed its early Shorthorn interests 

 slowly. This fact is not surprising when con- 

 ditions existing at the time are considered. A 

 few herds had been established west of the Miss- 

 issippi, principally in Cooper county, Missouri, 

 before the Civil War, but interest in the breed 

 had assumed no proportions west of the river. 

 It was hundreds of miles from the Shorthorn 

 country to the Kansas border and transportation 

 facilities were limited to the slow steamboats 

 plying on the rivers. 



The Civil War, preceded by the border strug- 

 gle, which in turn gave way to the raids of the 

 bushwhackers, discouraged any attempt to de- 

 velop the new industry; yet it was under these 

 trying conditions that the first Shorthorn herd 

 was brought to the country known as "The Great 

 American Desert." 



The First Herd The American herd book, 

 vol. 6, contains the pedigrees of fifteen cows and 

 three bulls owned in Kansas and they are cred- 

 ited to S. S. Tipton, Mineral Point, Anderson 

 county. Ten of the fifteen females were bred 

 by the Shakers of Union Village, Ohio, two by H. 

 C. Alkire of Sterling, Ohio, and the other three 

 by Mr. Tipton himself. The bulls were all bred 



