A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



up. He said, "That may work in cattle, but it makes 

 some strange misses in horse breeding." Then he 

 fell into a dissertation on maternal influence which 

 I wish I could reproduce, because "maternal influ- 

 ence" is my pet hobby. 



It is impossible to follow the bull in range breed- 

 ing. All we can do is to work largely toward indi- 

 vidual merit. We cut 35 per cent as yearlings, and 

 thereafter as often as development suggests. Bulls 

 can be bought, but a great cow herd only comes from 

 accumulation, persistently culled with "get" as the 

 prime factor. I recall that incidental to correspond- 

 ence in reference to the Armour Hereford importa- 

 tions in the '90's the late W. E. Britten, who selected 

 them for us, wrote that a celebrated English breeder 

 had a cow named Lady Fickle, which carried one of 

 the richest pedigrees in the English herdbook, but 

 was not much herself. He added, "But she has the 

 blood, can be bought reasonable, and has a good bull 

 calf at foot by a good bull." We instructed him to 

 send her along. I met the shipment at quarantine, 

 and told "Bill" Searle, who brought them over, that 

 I wanted to see Lady Fickle first, and he remarked, 

 "You will not see much." She was indeed a terror, 

 cat-hammed and flat-ribbed, with sprawling horns 

 and a long dished face, but very broad between the 

 eyes, and carried what John Gosling called "a brain- 

 box." Her calf was fine, and sold for a good price. 

 Mr. Armour did not want her around. She sold as 



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