738 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



enty-one Quarter Circle" herd on the Sweetwater, 

 but the results of their work were swept away in the 

 winter of 1886-87 so that no satisfactory estimate 

 as to the value of the cross could be made. 



The first move of the Chowchilla company was 

 the purchase in Illinois of a number of good 

 Shorthorn bulls and heifers for the purpose of re- 

 plenishing^ the then limited number of purebred cat- 

 tle on the ranch and of increasing the herd. The 

 year following Mr. Clay shipped several carloads 

 of extra Shorthorn heifers from the east, which sup- 

 plied a good foundation for a registered herd. 



In the fall of 1884 Mr. Isaac Bird was given full 

 management of the business by Mr. Clay and from 

 that time on the greatest care was given to the 

 breeding of the cattle. In a few years a Shorthorn 

 herd of high quality was established. In due time 

 the blood began to show in the range herd, as all 

 the bulls were purebreds. None but Shorthorns were 

 used until the year 1898, when Mr. Bird purchased 

 several loads of Hereford cows and bulls; and it 

 was at this point that the "hit" of the company's 

 career was made. The crosses by Hereford bulls 

 on Shorthorn cows were extra good, developing into 

 A-1 stock which was always in good flesh, while at 

 times the other cattle on the range were thin. Speak- 

 ing of the success of this cross Mr. Bird says: "My 

 thirty years' experience in the cattle business has 

 taught me that the best steers I ever raised were 

 those bred from Hereford bulls on Shorthorn cows, 

 the Shorthorn giving them large bone and square 

 rumps." 



