SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 1880-1920 



A quarter of a century had passed since R. A. 

 Alexander imported Duke of Airdrie and set him 

 to work in the great herd at Woodburn. Duke 

 of Airdrie proved a sire of extraordinary bulls 

 that fairly made the reputation of the Bates 

 cattle throughout the western Shorthorn country. 

 Abram Renick bred one of his Rose of Sharon 

 cows to him and secured Airdrie 2478, the bull 

 that made the Rose of Sharons famous on both 

 sides of the water. 



Leading breeders all over the country wanted 

 Bates bulls and those of secondary importance 

 wanted the Rose of Sharons. They indulged in 

 speculation in pedigrees so that cattle with little 

 to recommend them except that they were of 

 fashionable blood, sold for several times more 

 than far better ones descended from better ances- 

 try. Thousands of dollars were paid for ped- 

 igrees called pure or straight, or on the strength 

 of an ancestor of whose blood nothing remained 

 but the name. Thousands of dollars were de- 

 ducted for the insertion, ever so far back, of a so- 

 called unfashionable cross. This situation cul- 

 minated in the great New York Mills sale with 

 its $40,600 for 8th Duchess of Geneva, a cow 

 normally near the end of her usefulness. 



