520 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Culver on the street and condoling with him 

 upon what Mr. Miller had said as to his pov- 

 erty, and inviting him to his house to show him 

 the "Journal," and warming up on this subject, 

 hoping thereby to elicit something in favor of 

 the Shorthorn cattle. We would say in refer- 

 ence to the foundation for our remarks on this 

 that somewhere in 1874, we should think, we 

 met Mr. Culver at his home, and m discussing 

 the propriety of buying Herefords he said that 

 we held them too high; that he could, buy 

 Scotch cattle for less, and he thought they 

 would do him just as well. We will see further 

 on whether Mr. Culver was correct in his con- 

 clusions in 1874. It is not Mr. Culver alone, 

 but the ranchmen state distinctly that they can- 

 not afford to buy thoroughbreds (and many of 

 these are perhaps more wealthy than Messrs. 

 Culver and Mahoney), and therefore buy 

 grades, and when they cannot afford to buy 

 grade Herefords they take Shorthorns. 



Mr. Rust goes on to state that Messrs. Cul- 

 ver and Mahoney bought, in 1873, Shorthorns, 

 Scots and Herefords ; that they used these for 

 about four years in their herd at home and in 

 Wyoming, and at that time sold to Mr. Alex. 

 Swan their herd of range cattle at $24 per head, 

 when the largest price that had been paid be- 

 fore was $16, and that Messrs. Swan were so 

 well pleased with the Hereford cross that they 

 found in this herd that they said to Messrs. C. 

 & M. that if they could get Hereford bulls and 

 put them upon their cows they would buy all 

 ♦ the hulls that they could raise, and as the result 

 of this proposition Messrs. C. & M. bought two 

 bulls for themselves and one for a neighbor, ilr. 

 Blore ; that Messrs. Swan took the crop of bulls 

 and sold them to other parties (we presume at 

 a profit). Two of the steers that went to 

 Messrs. Swan in the herd sale, it is stated, went 

 to John B. Sherman, of the Chicago Stock 

 Yards, and were shown at the Fat Stock Show. 

 (We think this is a mistake, but as to the qual- 

 ity of the steers there is no question.) 



THE HEREFORD CROSS. 



Mr. Eust says the cross of the Hereford 

 upon the Shorthorn cow was also productive of 

 the most satisfactory results. These Hereford 

 bulls that Messrs. C. & M. bought to meet the 

 proposition of Swan Brothers to raise bulls for 

 them were bought of T. L. Miller, and Mr. 

 Culver persuaded Mr. Dick Blore to buy one 

 also, and Mr. Blore has been so well satisfied 

 of the advantage of using a Hereford bull in 

 preference to a scrub that he keeps a Hereford 

 bull to this day, and he walks over to Mr. 

 Culver's fence and points out to Mr. C. the 



grades from Culver's Shorthorn or high-grade 

 Shorthorn cows as specimens of Hereford breed- 

 ing. 



This is fairly quoting Mr. Rust on the Here- 

 ford cross on Shorthorn cows as exhibited on 

 the Big Thompson. We will now follow this 

 herd still further in the hands of the Messrs. 

 Swan. Mr. Rust says that these gentlemen 

 (Messrs. C. & M.) bought these different breeds 

 of bulls, Shorthorns, Scots and Herefords, in 

 1873, and that in about four years they sold 

 to Messrs. Swan for $24 a head, when the high- 

 est price at which cattle had sold before had 

 been $16 per head. This would have brought 

 them to 1877. In that year Mr. Swan came to 

 T. L. Miller and bought about fifty Hereford 

 bulls, and we presume and have always under- 

 stood that his purchase was occasioned bv the 

 very good results that he found of the Here- 

 ford cross upon the Culver & Mahoney herd, 

 and it appears at the same time he made a 

 proposition to C. & M. for all the Hereford 

 bulls they would raise. 



At about the same time he made a contract 

 with Mr. C. M. Culbertson for his crop of 

 grade bull calves, but took a lot of thorough- 

 breds, and in a year or two after the first pur- 

 chase from T. L. Miller he bought another 

 lot of fifty, and again in 1881 or '82 a similar 

 lot. These were some of the results that grew 

 out of Messrs. Culver & Mahoney's purchase of 

 Shorthorns, Scotch and Hereford thoroughbred 

 bulls in 1873, and the Swan interest was so well 

 pleased with the result of these operations that 

 in the fall of 1882 they went to England and 

 the result was the purchase of nearlv four hun- 

 dred cows to establish a herd of thoroughbreds 

 at or near Cheyenne, and again in 1883 thev 

 brought over another large shipment, reaching 

 to nearly, or quite, three hundred head. They 

 are probably using in their different herds five 

 hundred thoroughbred Hereford bulls, and a 

 thousand or more high grade Herefords. 



Messrs. Culver & Mahonev ought to be 

 very proud of the great results' that "have come 

 from their purchase in 1873, and we hope that 

 the Hereford breeders of America will appreci- 

 ate the.^e efforts of Messrs. C. & M. and that 

 they will not be unmindful of their obligations 

 to Mr. Geo. W. Rust for opening up such a 

 mine. Mr. Rust says, near the close of his 

 article, "I should be pleased to gather from 

 the 'Gazette' the real experience of the other 

 firms which are quoted as not buving Here- 

 fords for the same financial reasons, and '=till 

 more gladly would I give if the true inward- 

 ness of the thing could be arrived at, the private 

 opinions and the bottom experience? of tho'^e 

 who did buy Herefords and are suspected 



