A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



Hart, Partridge, Kans., and was acquired by Swen- 

 son Bros, when they bought the Hart herd a few 

 years later. 



That is a story I should perhaps tell here. Mr. 

 Hart at public and private sales bought about 20 

 head of Armour's cows and importations, each with 

 a heifer calf at foot, at $300, calves not counted. 

 "Billy" Cummings offered to take every bull calf 

 at weaning time at $100 each for five years, as they 

 were all in effect of Armour breeding, but Mr. Hart 

 was dazzled by $1,000 cows, heifers and bulls and 

 refused. Bad times came on, both as to season 

 and price. His records were inaccurate, and just 

 before I came to Texas C. R. Thomas, then secretary 

 of the American Hereford Cattle Breeders' Associa- 

 tion, asked me to go down and straighten him out. 

 I have never seen a range herd that looked worse. 

 Shortly after I went with the Swensons, he asked 

 me to make him a bid on the entire herd, everything 

 counted. The cattle were as well known to me as 

 one's children. Without going to look at them I 

 bid $50 per head, and took the lot, and a sorry lot 

 it was upon the arrival of the cattle, but we applied 

 the feed cross and did some culling ; in fact, we have 

 done some culling ever since, and the 253 breeding 

 females, which are now in evidence in the S. M. S. 

 registered Hereford herd, are the culled accumula- 

 tion, forming perhaps the most distinct holding of 

 the old Armour herd in existence. Last year we 



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