CHAPTER III. 

 THE SHORTHORN. 



When treating on the Shorthorn breed of cattle one is constrained 

 to recognise Professor Allan, the great American authority, as having 

 grasped more fully the prevailing impressions of the history of this 

 important breed of cattle than other writers, and to agree with him 

 when he states that the majority of these impressions are false ones. 



It does not require much argument to prove that the historian of 

 to-day has a far better grasp of the history of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land tha,n the majority of those who attempted to write history, say. 

 a century, or even less than half a century ago. The reason is plain. 

 Writers are becoming better informed, owing to the fact that now 

 they look at both sides of a question with less prejudiced minds than 

 heretofore. To-day we look for .facts, not fame. 



When Mr. George Coates, an eminent breeder, who first collected 

 the pedigrees of Shorthorn cattle, which were commonly known under 

 the, local name of "Teeswaters," the breed had got a firm hold on 

 public estimation in the County of Durham. At that time, their origin 

 was somewhat uncertain, some maintaining that they sprang from 

 Dutch extraction, and were imported into Hull, while others contended 

 they could be traced to the Western Highlands, having a mixture of 

 Kyloe blood in them. To-day, neither of these opinions would be 

 considered worthy of much importance, in the light of experience. 



Mr. Henry Dixon, in a prize essay upon the " Rise and Progn 

 Shorthorns," which appeared in the Journal of the Royal Agric'.il- 

 tural Society, says : "The germ of this wonderful array of animals, 

 which are recorded in the 'Herd Book/ must have been considered an 

 'improved' county breed, so far back as 1787." It is said that " Hut- 

 chinson, of Sockburn, had then a cow good enough to be modelled for 

 the Cathedral Vane, and had also beaten Robert Colling in a bull 

 class at any show in England." 



According to Coates' "Handbook," Hubback (319) is described 

 yellow and white, calved in 1777, bred by Mr. John Hunter, o-f I In- 

 worth; got by Mr. George Snowdon's bull (612), his dam (bred by Mr.. 

 Hunter) by a lull of Mr. Bant es of Hurworth, g.d., bought of Mr. 

 Stevenson, of Ketton. 



Take, for instance, Youatt, who is frequently mentioned as the most 

 important authority on our breeds of British cattle, owing to the fact 

 that l.e published his book in 1835 under the auspices oi a society then 

 existing in London for the diffusion of useful knowledge. While giv- 

 ing well established authorities for his statements on most of the 

 breeds which he noticed, left the Shorthorn to the tender mercy of the 

 Rev. Henry Berry, a man of only limited experience, not having been 

 interested in the so-called improved Shorthorns for more than ten 

 years as a breeder, and what experience he hud was with only one or 

 two strains of the breed. Now, this sort of experience, as we know, 

 would naturally tend to prevent the writer from going too far back 

 with his history in case it might bring his herd in touch with other 

 herds, and thus spoil his little ambition, which he endeavoured to keep 

 in the forefront, i.e., that he possessed the only pure breed of Short- 

 horns in England. W'e have many such authorities today. 



It was the Rev. Mr. Berry who worked up the story, which convey^ 

 the impression that the foundation of the improved Shorth >r,i was 

 brought about by Colonel O'Callaghan having brought two Gullaway 



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