•486 



HISTOKY OP HEREFORD CATTLE 



stakes. By ttis award he was barred from com- 

 peting for the grand sweepstakes. 



In the three-year-old Hereford class but two 

 animals were shown, to-wit, a cow belonging to 

 Fowler & Van Natta, and the steer Hoosier, 

 belonging to Adams Earl. The cow took first 

 prizCj and no one was more surprised than Mr. 

 Van Natta himself. The steer Hoosier was 

 perhaps the most skillfully fed and fattened 

 animal in the show, and the most evenly 

 fleshed animal in the show — not a lump as large 

 as an almond could be found on him from his 

 horns to his hocks. He, likewise, was barred 

 from showing for the grand sweepstakes. 



In the three-year-old class for grade Here-_ 

 fords, Benton's Champion took third prize. 

 This, of course, barred him from the grand 

 sweepstakes prizes. This Benton's Champion 

 was such an extraordinary good steer that Mr. 

 John D. Gillette publicly said "he was as good, 

 if not the best, beef steer he had ever seen.'' 

 Mr. Gillette is perhaps the most noted and suc- 

 cessful steer breeder and feeder in the West — 

 a man of integrity and rare good judgment. 



But the greatest wrong that was done was the 

 awarding the grand sweepstakes carcass prize 

 to the steer Clarence Kirklevington. Of all 

 the carcasses on exhibition — 30 in all — this 

 carcass, with but one exception — was the most 

 objectionable of any. After hanging on the 

 hooks for two days and nights, the weather be- 

 ing cool, it was as soft and springy as when first 

 killed — its outer coat of fat handling as soft 

 and slippery almost as a sponge tilled with oil. 

 As a proof of what I have said about this, it 

 may be interesting to know what became of this 

 carcass. I find that the butcher, Mr. John 

 Ford, at the special request of the proprietors 

 of the Grand Pacific Hotel, bought the carcass ; 

 that the carcass weighed some 1,650 pounds; 

 that he paid 12| cents per pound for it — costing 

 about $200; that he sent about 600 pounds to 

 the Grand Pacific Hotel; that the hotel sent 

 back to him about 300 pormds; that he got 

 about $90 for 300 pounds from the hotel, and 

 that Mr. Ford estimated that the loss on the 

 carcass would be about $50. If such is the case, 

 he could not have realized quite 5 cents per 

 pound for the balance, 1,350 pounds. One of 

 the proprietors of the hotel said that the meat 

 was the worst they ever had in the hotel. And 

 this, gentlemen, is the grand sweepstakes car- 

 cass for the year 1884. 



The truth is, gentlemen, that Clarence 

 Kirklevington as a beef animal never deserved 

 a ribbon of any kind. He was a beautiful 

 animal for a picture, groomed and polished to 

 the very highest degree, but as a beef animal 



he, to say the least, was a delusion. The 

 judges on carcasses, in 1883, gave the grand 

 sweepstakes to a very lean and only about half 

 fattened animal. In 1884 the very reverse was 

 the case. 



My opinion is, that no half-fat animal will 

 retain its form m cooking. The marbling or 

 fat strands, or tissues, not being solidified 

 among the lean, will melt out in cooking. The 

 fatty part, it is thought, contains most of the 

 flavor, hence when cooked out leaves the lean 

 minus the flavor. Mr. Kinsley's cook hits the 

 nail on the head when he says ; "A beef animal 

 is like an apple — 1st, the green stage; 2d, the 

 ripe stage, and 3d, the over-ripe stage- — when it 

 begins to deteriorate." 



Now who is to blame for all this blundering ? 

 I am of the opinion that it is mainly charge- 

 able to the management. You were very un- 

 fortunate in choosing your judges, but when 

 you saw their incompetency, which was made 

 very apparent the first hour they acted, I think 

 it was your bounden duty — a duty you owed 

 to all the exhibitors — to have promptly dis- 

 charged them, and substituted other judges. 

 Mr. Dysart, in 1881 or 1882, when he was the 

 superintendent of the ring, on the first half day 

 of the judging, promptly discharged the judges 

 when it became apparent that they were not 

 competent, and had other judges substituted 

 who gave very general satisfaction. 



The only places where you are likely to find 

 expert judges of beef is among men who con- 

 stantly use none but the choicest of beef, and 

 for carcass judges none so good as the men 

 who do the cooking and serving up. 



It was reported that all judges who served in 

 1883 would be barred from serving in 1884. 

 How does the judging of 1SS4 average with 

 that of 1883 ? In the Polled yearling class 

 you allowed a steer to be led into the ring to 

 compete for the prize that had been protested 

 by about all the cattle exhibitors and expert 

 judges on ages, as being one year older than he 

 was entered for. I must say that much sur- 

 prise and dissatisfaction was manifested on 

 account of this action. 



I have from the start taken great interest and 

 pride in our fat cattle shows and have made, 

 from time to time, many suggestions about ar- 

 ranging and making our show and system more 

 perfect. I am still with you, but I must say 

 that if better judging cannot be had, your show 

 will lose the confidence and respect it should 

 have and the people and exhibitors will lose 

 interest in it. 



In what I have said I have tried to state facts 

 as they appear to me, and have also tried not to 



