18 



HISTOEY OF HEEEFOED CATTLE 



body and legs inclining to blackness, white 

 along her back and well formed, but on rather 

 high legs. Secondly, a cow commonly called 

 'the Mark-nosed cow' — a red cow with mottled 

 face, square made, and on short legs, rich 

 quality of flesh, with a soft and thick pile of 

 hair moderately curled. This cow was un- 

 fortunate to Mr. Price as a breeder, the only 

 produce I recollect out of her being the 

 'Marked faced bull,' alias 'Pyon' at his sale. 

 Thirdly, a large yellow cow with white face, 

 rather long headed, and not carrying much 

 flesh. She was the dam of Voltaire (39A) 

 429, by one of Mr. Tomkins' bulls. 



"Pigeon, by far the most remarkable cow he 

 had of Mr. Tomkins — and her own character, 

 as well as that of her descendants, will well 

 warrant me in terming her the best — was a 

 large cow, rather on high legs, somewhat shal- 

 low in the bosom, with very fine bone, neck 

 rather light, head good but horn short; her 

 color a speckled grey, the red parts being dark, 

 growing still darker about her legs ; hair rather 

 short but soft, quality of flesh excellent, back 

 and hind-quarters great, excepting thighs, 

 which were rather light, but with good twist ; 

 her constitution hardy, and she was a regular 



THE NEW HOUSE, KING'S-PYON, HEREFORDSHIRE. 



and successful breeder. About this same time 

 also, Mr. Price had another cow from Mr. B. 

 Tomkins, which was called the Rough cow, 

 from her coat being much curled ; she was a 

 middle sized cow, nothing remarkable in form, 

 her color dark red, with white back, and she 

 had the reputation of being of a family that 

 were good ox breeders. Mr. Price had a bull 

 from this cow called 'Eough bull' alias 'Origi- 

 nal,' but he did not long retain any of his stock. 

 There were sisters to him by other Tomkins 

 bulls. Two more cows Mr. Price subsequently 

 obtained from Mr. B. Tomkins — a half-sister to 



No. 25, and a daughter to Mr. Tomkins' 

 famous 'Slit Teat Cow' Xo. 21. The former 

 of these was a small cow out of a very true 

 form, dark color, with white along her back; 

 she was the dam of Lord Talbot's Woodcock 

 (,50) 6.54, sire of Mr. Price's Woodcock 

 Pigeon 651. I am not aware that Mr. Price 

 had any more cows from Mr. B. Tomkins, but 

 he afterward obtained two cows of his blood 

 — one called Damsel 371 from Mr. T. Tom- 

 kins, and another from Mr. Tomkins of Worm- 

 bridge, the former the dam of Woodman 

 (10) 307 and the latter the dam of Diana 

 638. He also bought a few Tomkins bred 

 cows from Mr. Jas. Price; among these was 

 the dam of Peg Murphy 3559.'^ 



These notes, which furnish a complete pic- 

 ture of a large number of the Tomkins cattle, 

 fully bear out what has been said as to their 

 diversified colors. Mr. Price's selections com- 

 prised animals that were yellow with white 

 face ; speckled grey ; dark red, with white back ; 

 red with mottle face ; dark color with white 

 along the back ; and lightish browTi dappled, 

 with white along the back, etc. The only 

 point in which there was an approach to uni- 

 formity as regards color was the white back. 

 A few other notes as to Tomkins' cows are 

 gleaned from the entries in the Herd Book. 

 The "Slit Teat Cow" referred to by Mr. Welles 

 was considered bv Tomkins the "best cow he 

 ever had. Storrell 3039 by Wild Bull (145) 

 3040, was, as has alreadv been mentioned, dam 

 of PhoenLx (55) 3035!^ sold to Lord Talbot 

 for 560 guineas ($2,800). Old Rose was out 

 of the dam of Silver Bull ('41) 432, Old 

 Lovely 657 was a daughter of the "Slit Teat 

 Cow." All we know about others are their 

 names, and in some cases those of their sires 

 — Blowdy out of OldPidgeon, the dam of Mr. 

 Price's Pigeon 373 ; ilargaret, bv Silver Bull 

 (41) 432; Stately, bv Wizard (59) 6699; Blos- 

 som, by Phoenix (55) 3035; Old Lilv. Xuttv, 

 etc. 



After the dealh of B. Tomkins, in October, 

 1815, the herd, which had by this time been 

 much reduced in numbers by private sales, was 

 kept on by his daughters, the Misses Tomkins, 

 until October, 1819, when part of it was sold. 

 Through the courtesy of Mr. Havwood of 

 Blackmere House we have been favored with a 

 copy of the original sale bill, containing the 

 prices and purchasers' names, marked by one 

 who was present at the sale. The document 

 has a historic importance, and is reproduced in 

 full ; 



"A catalogue of the valuable stock of prime 

 Herefordshire cattle, the property of the late 



