464 



HISTOEY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



of Herefords, and the Herefords would not have 

 occupied the position ttn'j' do today. We 

 thought if we couhl show that with ordinary 

 methods of hay and f^rass thi; farmer can put 

 his three-year-old steers on tlie marl<et at an 

 average weight of 1,(;5() pounds, and his two- 

 year-olds at nearly 1,400 pounds, he would rec- 

 ognize the Herefords as Itettci- ]><-fi' animals 

 than he has been in tiie haliit of handling from 

 any other breed. 



We called attention to the fat cow nearly 11 

 years old, weight 1,800 pounds. We believed 

 such an exhibit a credit to the breed, breeding 

 for more than the average life of the Short- 

 horn, and then going to the butcher as first- 

 class beef, weighing 1,800 pounds. It is a 

 credit to the breed that it can fit three-year-old 

 heifers to 1,750 pounds, but greater credit to 

 take an aged breeding cow and make 1,800 

 pounds of first-class beef. 



In this exhibit of our breeding stock we 

 had the three-year-old bull, Dauphin 18th, bred 

 by Mr. J. B. Oreen, Marlow, England, weigh- 

 ing without fitting 2,330 pounds, and Winter de 

 Cote, a brother to Mrs. Edwards' celebrated 

 Jjeonora, and then old Success, nearly ten years 

 old, with all the vigor of a two-year-old, and no 

 sign of age upon him. Also four of his heifers. 



and the nine-year-old cow, Victoria (by old Sir 

 Charles), the dam of Dictator, owned by Mi. 

 l\ VV. Smith, of WoodlandviUc, Mo., who won 

 with him the sweepstakes of the best Hereford 

 bull two years in succession, at St. Louis, over 

 the best Hereford bulls of b^ngland and 

 America. 



1'be bulls in this exhibit were from ordinary 

 stock keep, and the cows fronj jjastur(; only. 

 We expected the tirrn; was not far distant when 

 stock from the jjastures would form an im- 

 portant part of the live stock exhibits of our 

 leading shows, and if this exhibit of ours would 

 hasten that time, we would have accomplished 

 wdiat we intended to do. The advice of the best 

 and most experienced breeders is to never Ijuy 

 fitted stock, and whatever may be the breeder's 

 reputation in the show ring, his borne exhibit 

 must support it, or very few will wish to choose 

 from his herd. The five cows exhibited dropped 

 within three years, including the; vear they were 

 shown, fourteen calves. 



Wbenr'ver the time shall come that grass fed 

 cattle and cows with calves at foot shall be a 

 feature at our b-ading fairs, the Llerefords will 

 show character to which no other breed can 

 attain. 



D. p. WILLIAMS, 

 Guthrie CfiQtGr, la. 



