288 



HIS TOE Y OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



stock interests of the world, and it is a test 

 that may he made at a profit to the breeders. 

 On the ground proposed it must be an even 

 test, but I am not writing for tlie aecejitanee 

 of the offer. Herefords are being used in Colo- 

 rado and Texas. In due time the steers will 

 come forward. Your closing proposition is for 

 me to 'buy Shorthorns and feed them by the 

 side of my Herefords, as a test, and if there 

 should be any Shorthorn breeder dissatisfied 

 with the result, he C(nild buy Herefords and 

 repeat the experiment.' 



"It would not be conclusive. The Smith- 

 field record complete comes the nearest to be- 

 ing authoritative of any that has come under 

 my notice. It is complete in giving the live 

 weight of animals, but fails in this, that it 

 does not give the cost at w^hich these weights 

 were obtained. 



"Judge Downing, of Denver, Colorado, in- 

 formed me that he sold six Hereford grade 

 steers in June that were four years old in the 

 spring, weighing 1,800 pounds each, and 

 twelve others and three heifers weighing a frac- 

 tion under 1,500 pounds each, none of them 

 having been fed at all, having made their 

 weights on grass alone, except they may have 

 been fed some hay sometimes in storms. 



"Mr. Church, who lives near Denver, has 

 turned off thirty or forty grade Hereford 

 steers for several years past, at three years 

 old, averaging about 1,250 pounds each, that 

 have never been fed anything but what they 

 themselves have taken from the range, and one 

 lot of these steers was sold in Buffalo at 7 cents 

 a pound. 



"Judge P. P. Wilcox, now of Denver, says 

 that his cattle ran with a herd in which there 

 was a grade Hereford bull, and from him he 

 had several yvhite-faced calves, and that these 

 white-faced calves were as good at two years 

 old as his others at three. 



"Another prominent stockman in southern 

 Colorado says: 'The Hereford cross on my na- 

 tive cattle has been very satisfactory. They 

 stand the winter well, take on flesh rapidly, and 

 are really the best cattle for these ranches that 

 I have ever had anything to do with.' 



"Mr. J. Humphries, of Elyria, Ohio, one of 

 the oldest and most careful breeders of Here- 

 fords in this country, turned off at different 

 times to the butchers cows and steers, and 

 generally at Christmas, the cattle having run 

 to grass through the season and fed grain for 

 only two or three months as follows: 



Seven cows, average weight 1,271 lbs. 



Two-year-old steers, average weight. 1,425 lbs. 

 Three-year-old steers, average weight 1,914 lbs. 



"Such figures are good as far as they go, but 

 they are not conclusive or satisfactory. The 

 Hereford breeders in England have repeatedly 

 sought to make a test, where the feed and care 

 should be the same, but have failed to obtain. 

 Now in England the Shorthorns do not stand 

 so much in the lead of all other breeds as to 

 numbers as they do in this country. At the 

 meeting of the Bath and West of England So- 

 ciety, held in June, at Hereford, there were 

 shown of Herefords, IGO; of Shorthorns, 55; 

 all other breeds, 88. Without going into detail 

 as to the show you will permit me to speak of 

 'Tredegar" (5077) 2478, a Hereford bull that 

 has quite a noted record in the show ring. He 

 was shown here in the class of bull, cow and off'- 

 spring. It is said of him he was first shown at 

 Newport when a calf, and took first in his 

 class; also at Bath and West of England, at 

 Bristol, first; next at the Bedford meeting of 

 the Royal, he won similar honors, and first at 

 Dudley, of the Worcestershire meeting; first 

 and special at Ledbury; first at Croydon of 

 Bath and West of England's Society, and the 

 champion prize as the best bull of any breed; 

 beating that well known prize winner in the 

 Shorthorn classes, 'Sir Ingram ;' then at the 

 Taimton meeting of the Royal, when he re- 

 peated his previous performance, and at Here- 

 ford, in the show following, took the special 

 prize ofi'ered for best Hereford bull; at the 

 Worcestershire Society he also won first prize 

 for the best hull in the yard. 



"In the cows it says of 'Rosalind,' unques- 

 tionably the most beautiful cow in the yard: 

 'She was five years old, having bred three 

 heifer calves, having from 'a calf stood first 

 and second in her class, and won some seven 

 special and champion prizes in the time.' 



"It does seem to me that the breeders of two 

 such breeds of cattle would find a pleasure in 

 testing their merits on a scale that would at- 

 tract the attention of the world, not only of 

 stockmen, but of all men. And the breeders 

 of America should feel that they were the men, 

 and that America was the ground on which to 

 make the test, and this Centennial year, the 

 year to inaugurate and perfect the plan which 

 should test the merits of these cattle. I will 

 not undertake to mark out a plan, but will you 

 not give your influence for such a trial? One 

 hundred thousand dollars capital would be suf- 

 ficient — perhajjs $50,000 would answer — per- 

 haps less. Such a test would be worth more 

 than all the awards that will be made within 

 the next ninety days — or all the awards that 

 have been made for the last twenty years by all 

 the agricultural societies in the United States. 



