782 A HISTORY OP HEREFORD CATTLE 



of fat cattle and a carload of feeder cattle from the 

 same herd at the Kansas City Royal Show, and both 

 of these were grand champions in their respective 

 divisions. Inasmuch as these cattle were handled 

 on the range until they were put on feed in Kansas 

 the results demonstrate conclusively what can be 

 done by the careful selection of Hereford bulls to 

 place on good range cows. 



The Swensons. — Few brands of Texas cattle are 

 better known or in higher repute than the SMS. 

 The Swenson Bros., of New York City, owners of 

 an enormous property in Jones and five other coun- 

 ties, at one time ran 55,000 head of cattle. That 

 was when they owned the Spur cattle as well as the 

 SMS herd. They have been selling largely of their 

 lands in recent years, but still manage 400,000 acres 

 — 250,000 acres of their own and a lease of the 150,- 

 000 acres of the Spur property, all under wire fence. 

 At this writing they are probably running about 

 22,000 cattle exclusive of calves, of which they had 

 in 1913 about 10,000 head. 



The first registered Hereford bulls taken to the 

 Swenson Ranch were bought from Fowler & Van- 

 Natta in 1884, and they were bred upon a small 

 herd of cross-bred Hereford and Shorthorn heifers, 

 and the bulls from that herd were in turn bred on 

 the SMS main herd which was made up of native, 

 but well selected, Texas cattle. The first Hereford 

 bulls used on the Spur range were introduced the 

 same year by manager C. L. Goff from 0. H. Nelson's. 



Speaking of the foundation of the SMS cattle 



