CHAPTER VII. 

 IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES. 



\\ e need not go into any description of the origin of the ' 

 horn breed of cattle which played such an important part in the 

 founding of so many of our be-t herds :n fllawarr >. n by 



Mr. Russell and others. To be candid, the fact is their origin i- los't 

 to us. Perhaps at some future date the records of this once .famous 

 breed of cattle may be discovered among what nov. of UIL- 



ancient manuscripts of Ireland. 



That the Longhorns were originally brought from Ireland into 

 England, and without the consent of the Iri>! ithout s; 



but the past in this instance must now remain among the nui-ty 

 shelves for future investiga?- 



Most English authorities are agreed that the Longhorned bull 

 Bloxedge was to the Longhorns of England (and as far as tha? 

 of Australia) what the bull Hubback was to the Shorthorn^. 

 edge is mentioned as being of the " Canley" breed of Longhorn*, 

 yet this animal by all accounts in no way resembled the Longhorns 

 with the exception of the horns, and what is more remarkable still, 

 no other sire got truer or better types of Longhorns. lint on this 

 subject history is not cle,ar. 



Without going into Mr. Bakewell's system of breeding Longhorns. 

 and passing by for the present the accounts given of the bull- Blox- 

 edge, D, and Shakespere, or any such Longhorned sires, and take up 

 Youatt's work on the breeds of cattle. There we find that there 

 existed a Longhorned breed prior to Bakewell's time. " A black- 

 smith named \Velby in Derbyshire had a fine herd of Longhorns 

 in 1720." Further, it was from a noted breeder oi Longhorns named 

 Webster that the bull Bloxedge was obtained. Further still, we find 

 that " Bakewell," who is credited with being the founder of the 

 Longhorn breed of cattle in England, was not born till 1725, and 

 as he must have been at least 20 years old before he became a cattle 

 breeder, how could he be the founder of the Longhorns ? Certainlv 

 he never bred the original Longhorned cattle referred to in Youatt's 

 "' History of the Breeds of Cattle/ published 1835.. The Longhorns, 

 like the Devon or Jersey, must remain an animal of disputed 

 prior to these breeds having become the cherished possession of the 

 Celts anterior to the loth century of the Christian era. Th !v 

 man's love for beef and fancy colors destroyed indirectly many a 

 valuable dairy herd in England, and afterwards in Illawarra, and the 

 passing away of the Longhorns can be attributed to nothing else 

 than the introduction of beei Shorthorns among our dairy her 



Since the Longhorns. ,the Longhorned Durham, ami the Red Lin- 

 colns have been absorbed by the beef breeders and converted \nt ^> 

 luef types, the Shorthorn has been resorted to to fill their places. 

 Hut the Shorthorn was never intended to be a dairy animal, and 

 dairymen have had to use the Ayr>hire breed either <>;>enly or 

 -ly to break do\vn those huge beef-producing animals in order to get 

 milking quality, and milking quality as a ru'c produce- type. Hence 

 \ with all truth the cross b tween a Shorthorn and an Ayrshire 

 gives u* a lint- type of animal for tiie dairy. In other chapters I 

 shall endeavour ( '> explain my reasons for arriving at the>e c-mclti- 

 B'Ofl -. 



Speaking at a .-.how dinner in 1X67, Mr. Jame-. Mcfiii! -ribed 



the Longhorn breed of cattle that v re the 



above date roaming over Mr. De Ar,-y \\"entworth\ I'. 



58. 



