304 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



, YEARLING'S TEETH 

 AT 15 MONTHS. 



mal's pedigree, its sex, and its general condi- 

 tion of development. 



"If tlie animal m question is a bull of one 

 of the cultivated breeds, and has been forced 

 to a state of early maturity, it may be expected 

 that the second pair of permanent incisors will 

 have been cut at two years and four mouths ; 

 and if either of the anterior temporary molars 

 remain in their places, the conclusion that the 

 animal is under two years and a half will Ije 

 strengthened. 



"Shortly after the first and second molars are 

 cut the third makes its appearance ; occasion- 

 ally it appears be- 

 fore the others, 

 and the animal at 

 the age of three 

 years will have 

 three anterior mo- 

 lars nearly level 

 with the other 

 teeth, but showing 

 no signs of wear. 



" The eruption 

 of the third pair of 

 permanent incisors 

 may occur at any 

 time between two 

 years and six 

 months and three years of age. In cultivated 

 breeds they are present as a rule before the ani- 

 mal is three years old, and occasionally they 

 will be found well develojjed after two years 

 and a half. In fact the anterior molars afford 

 more reliable evidence of the age between two 

 and a half and three years old than is furnished 

 by the incisors. 



"The fourth pair of broad teeth, the corner 

 permanent incisors, are more subject to varia- 

 tion in the time of cutting than the third pair. 

 In well bred cattle they take the place of the 

 temporary teeth soon after the completion of 

 the third year, but in bulls they are not uncom- 

 monly present at two years and ten months old, 

 while in some instances they are not cut until 

 three years and nine months old. Very little 

 reliance, indeed, can be placed on the evidence 

 of the corner incisors, and the examiner is com- 

 pelled to refer to the molar teeth for the pur- 

 pose of correcting his opinion., 



"With the eruption of the corner permanent 

 incisors, the fourth pair of broad teeth, the 

 permanent dentition of the ox is completed, and 

 after this period the changes in the form of the 

 teeth which are due to attrition will assist the 

 examiner in forming an opinion of the age, hut 

 no exact estimate can be based on ^uch evidence. 

 The five-year-old ox will show a considerable 



amount of worn surface in the central, middle 

 and lateral incisors, and the cutting edge of 

 the corner teeth will be marked by a line of 

 wear, but no one would attempt to determine 

 whether or not an animal were under or above 

 the age of five, and as the years increase the 

 difficulty of judging the age by the appearance 

 of the teeth is not diminished. The teeth be- 

 come narrower and more widely separated from 

 each other year after year, but the changes are 

 not sufficiently well marked to enable the ex- 

 aminer to accept them as reliable evidence of 

 age." 



The Illinois State Board of Agriculture were 

 given a chance to put themselves on record as 

 to whether they wished to have their records of 

 any value as to weights, gain per day and early 

 maturity of the cattle exhibited at the Chicago 

 Fat Stock Show. It must be remembered that 

 the money of the people of Illinois was used 

 by this board. We appeared before the State 

 Board of Agriculture at their annual meeting 

 held at Springfield, January, 1883. We then 

 presented them with the following written state- 

 ment of facts : 



"To the Honorable State Board of Agricul- 

 ture of the State of Illinois: At the late Fat 

 Stock Show held at Chicago I called the 

 attention of President Scott to the fact that 

 cattle were on exhibition at fraudulent ages, 

 and requested of him that he would l.)ring the 

 information to the board to the end that thev 

 might take such action in the matter as would 

 protect the board, the exhibitor and the public 

 from the effect of such fraudulent entries. 

 Whether he brought the matter to the notice 

 of the board or not I am not informed, and, so 

 far as I know, no action was taken on the in- 

 formation. 



"The interview that I refer to was on the 

 first day of the show. I again called his atten- 

 tion to the fact that D. M. i\Ioninger of Iowa 

 had on exhibition a steer called the '.Champion 

 of Iowa' at 715 days old, or one year 11 

 months and 15 days old; that the steer had 

 six full teeth, while he was not entitled, if his 

 age was correctly stated, to have more than 

 two full teeth. That J. H. Potts & Son had a 

 steer entered as 715 days old that had but two 

 full teeth, and that the T. L. Miller Company 

 had a steer entered as 714 davs old which only 

 had two full teeth. These two steers had teeth 

 that corresponded with the age that they were 

 entered at, while the teeth of Mr. Moninger's 

 would indicate that he was full three, if not 

 a four-year-old steer. 



"I had several of the steers examined, but I 



