FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



From the foregoing statements it will be seen that when " Coates' 

 Herdbook" was established the founder had every reason to base the 

 origin of the beef Shorthorn on the bull " Hubback." " Hubback" 

 was evidently a good doer, and responded quickly to generous feeding. 

 He had also the power, begotten, probably, of prepotency, which con- 

 veyed his fattening qualities on his progeny. This fattening quality 

 was then wo'rked into a distinct type by means of systematic in-and-in 

 breeding, as shown in the Duchess and Princess tribes. As years 

 passed by the beef type became more and more deeply established 

 at the expense of the dairy quality, until dairymen had to depend on 

 obtaining what is known as a" cry-back," the result of that well-known 

 law of Nature termed atavism, which is often recognised in all breeds 

 and classes of stock raised under the most careful forms of domestica- 

 tion. It is that law which upsets the theory of " like begetting like." 



to tjfce silence |of Mr. Bates on matters of breeding, It is 

 very difficult indeed to define the exact date when he went out>idc hi- 

 ow<n herd to select stud animals. He commenced with the Longf- 

 horned Durham, and perfected his herd to such a degree of excellence 

 that his oft-repeated phrase, " good wine needs no bush," became a 



household phrase among breeders. Yet we find in after years that he 

 never rested till he obtained the Siiorthorn bull "Belvedere" to mate 



with a few of his choicest cows. His success as a breeder could not 



be attributed to chance. 



116. 



