40 



HISTORY OF HEEEFOEL CATTLE 



William Hewer conducted his operations as 

 a breeder under serious difficulties, arising from 

 the nature of the land he farmed. He himself 

 says, "Notwithstanding the disadvantages inci- 

 dental to half mountain land, and a sharp, 

 gravelly soil, yielding almost sapless herbage, 

 which I have encountered, I have frequently 

 successfully opposed at various shows some of 

 the first Herefordshire breeders." 



John Hewer had, as we have seen, assisted his 

 father at the Hardwick. He had then a few 

 cattle of his own, and had the benefit of his 

 fathers advice in their management. H has 

 already been mentioned that early m the pres- 

 ent century, John Hewer went to Purslow in 

 Shropishire. The gentleman who owned the 

 Purslow estate, Mr. Browning, bought a num- 

 ber of cattle from William Hewer. He also ob- 

 tained his consent to John Hewer going to 

 manage the estate and cattle. There is some 

 uncertainty as to the date when John Hewer 

 removed to Purslow, Mr. John L. Hewer men- 

 tioning 181?, while others say it was a few 

 years later. Mr. George Smythies says: 'T 

 learned that the whole herd of Mr. Hewer, The 

 Hardwick, near Abergavenny, was bought by 

 Mr. Browning, who had purchased the farm 

 of Purslow, near Cravens Arms, Shropshire, 

 and were taken there bv Mr. John Hewer, who 

 remained as manager of the cattle till the end 

 of the year 1822, or the early part of 1823. 

 Among the bulls taken to Purslow were the 

 famous Wellington, Favorite, and Old Sov- 

 ereign. This last bull was purchased by Mr. 

 Tench, of Bromfield, Shropshire, and was given 

 by him to his son-in-law. Mr. Edmund Jeifries, 

 and was the founder of his good herd. In 1824 

 Mr. Browning was oblio-ed to sell his stock and 

 let the farm, the tenant takmi' the cattle. They 

 were subsequentlv sold, and Mr. John Hewer 

 bought some of them.'' 



The more probable date of John Hewer's 

 removal to Shropshire is, we think, 1817, a 

 view of which is confirmed bv the fact that 

 Sovereign was calved at Purslow. in 1820. The 

 change to Shropshire, it will thus be observed, 

 did not cause an interruption of his connection 

 with his father's cattle. 



It was John Hewer who was responsible for 

 the direction of Mr. Browning's herd, and it 

 is not surprising to learn that it became the 

 talk of the country, peopjle going for miles to 

 see it. Mr. Lloyd Eoberts, Crofton Manor, was 

 introduced to Mr. Hewer at this time and he 

 savs he never saw a grander lot of cattle in his 

 life than those he brought to Purslow. It was 

 also when he was at Purslow that the late Mr. 

 Bowen, Crofton, became acquainted with Mr. 



Hewer, and he used bulls of Hewer blood for 

 about 40 years. 



When Mr. Hewer returned to Monmouth, it 

 would appear that he took with him a number 

 of the Herefords of his father's strains that 

 had sojourned for a time in Shropshire. It is 

 a very important fact that John Hewer never 

 lost his control over the stock, in the breeding of 

 which he had been closely associated with his 

 father. In the words of Mr. John L. Hewer: 

 'Tt was left to my late father fJohn Hewerj 

 to finish what his father had begun, to produce 

 a race of cattle which were beautiful to look at 

 and good rent-pa3ring animals of great scale 

 and splendid quality, and he bred and let more 

 bulls than any other man. There is not a sin- 

 gle herd of Herefords in existence but what 

 traces back to his stock. 



"He was a great stickler for scale with qual- 

 it)-, and some of the older bulls were immense 

 animals, often weighing from 25 to over 30 cwt. 

 (2,800 to 3,360 American lbs.). The General 

 (1251j 167? was 32^ cwt. (3,640 lbs.) when 

 six years old. He was let for four seasons run- 

 ning for the sum of £84 ($420) per season. Gov- 

 ernor (4G4) 87, the sire of General, was let for 

 £100 (-SoOO) per season, and I have heard my 

 father say be let Favorite (442j 292 for £200 



RYALL COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE, HOME OF JOHX 

 PRICE. 



($1,000) per season, and Defiance (416) 217 for 

 £200 ($1,000). I have known him have 55 

 bulls let out at one time about the countrv, and 

 he used to let bulls to go into Scotland.' He 

 occasionally sold bulls at long prices to o-q 

 abroad as far back as 1835, and one Hampton 

 (513) was sold for £500 ($2,500). He also sent 

 a lot of cattle to Australia in the vear 1840, 

 and he saw afterwards in an Australian paper 

 shown him bv a friend, that one of his bulls 

 was sold out there for 1,000 guineas ($5,000).'' 



