exhibited in 1861 at the Royal Agricul- 

 tural society of England show at Leeds, 

 but did' not secure a place. This was 

 due to the fact that he was in the year- 

 ling class and had to compete against 

 2-year-olds. At Aberdeen, Scotland, he 

 succeeded in winning third place. The 

 fact was, Champion of England was not 

 an outstanding show animal, and this 

 fact for a time led Cruickshank to con- 

 sider selling him. Yet his owner finally 

 decided that he was worth a trial, for 

 he had plenty of quality and thriftiness. 

 Robert Bruce, writing of him only two 

 years ago in the Breeder's Gazette, said: 

 "It has often been to me a matter of 

 regret that I did not look at this bull 

 more carefully when I saw him at Sitty- 

 ton. At that time I was deeply smitten 

 by the then fashionable 'pedigree belief,' 

 and such a bull as Champion of Eng- 

 land, an animal having no show yard 

 record, failed to interest me much. He 

 was passed over with the note: 'Good 

 animal; great covering of flesh; under- 

 line not so good; quarters wanting fin- 

 ish." The thickness and substance of his 

 thighs appeared to me then to be less 

 desirable than the flat, wide thigh com- 

 mon to the English Shorthorns." 



In an article on "Recollections of Sit- 

 tyton Cattle," also in the Breeder's Ga- 

 zette, by A. Chalmers, who was person- 

 ally familiar with Cruickshank's herd, 

 writing of Champion of England, he 

 said: "Champion of England was a 

 production different from the original 

 stock at Sittyton, and his formidable 

 appearance was that of strength and 

 constitution — more bone and less style, 

 heavy head, thick, smooth chine, stiff 

 loin, hook bones slightly down from line 

 of back, smooth, well-filled rumps, with 

 square hindquarter and heavy twist." 

 It may also be said additional to the 

 above that he was extremely strong in 

 his foreribs and showed in his develop- 

 ment great feeding capacity. His droop- 

 ing hindquarters he very likely inherited 

 from his dam, "a good-sized red animal 

 with plainish hindquarters," says Mr. 

 Jamieson. 



Champion of England not being a 

 strong candidate for the show ring, his 

 reputation must thus be due to his merit 

 as a breeder. And here lay his pre- 

 eminent merit. It was soon seen that 

 he was getting calves of the broad- 

 chested, full-ribbed, thick-fleshed, short- 

 legged class. As used in the Sittyton 



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