CHAPTER IX. 

 HEAVY BUYING IN ENGLAND BEGINS. 



The history of live stock husbandry affords few 

 parallels to the situation rapidly developed in Here- 

 ford cattle breeding in the western states about the 

 year 1880. Almost like a bolt out of a blue sky the 

 fact flashed upon those who had become interested 

 in the breed that an almost illimitable field for 

 Hereford activity existed in the far west — a field 

 which in extent and possibilities could not then be 

 fully comprehended. If, as was generally believed, 

 a type had now been found that possessed quali- 

 fications for open range service absolutely unap- 

 proached by any other breed, it meant a new and 

 important industry in the middle west — the produc- 

 tion of bulls for a breeding and grazing ground ex- 

 tending all the way from Mexico to the British pos- 

 sessions. 



The call was urgent. It came from the mountain 

 valleys and the plains of all western North America. 

 It was a call for vigorous impressive bulls that 

 could stand grief and be depended upon to leave 

 behind a progeny well adapted to the business of 

 converting the wild grasses of the range into mar- 

 ketable beef under the rigorous conditions imposed, 

 by the soil and climate of those regions. The Short- 



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