222 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
Improved Shorthorn-Durham Cattle (1871); William Housman, 
The Improved Shorthorn, London (1876); Plumb, Little Sketches 
of Famous Beef Cattle, Columbus, Ohio (1904); herd-books of the 
various Shorthorn associations. 
HEREFORD CaTTLE. Plate VIII. Figs. 36, 37. 
By Charles Gudgell 
256. The Hereford is a breed of cattle raised for the 
production of beef. 
257. History in England. — The Hereford breed of 
cattle originated in the southwestern part of England, in 
a district the center of which is the county of Hereford. 
It doubtless had its foundation in the native cattle of 
that district in the same way that the other English breeds 
of domestic cattle had their origin. The name Hereford 
was at first used to designate the cattle generally of that 
district. These cattle were historically mentioned at a 
very early date (1627), as possessed of remarkably easy- 
keeping and fattening qualities. Later the term Hereford 
came to be used to designate the improved and pedigreed 
cattle that had been developed into a race with well- 
established breed characteristics that were reliably trans- 
mitted. Many of the early breeders had different objects 
or ideals in breeding, with the result that the Hereford 
cattle of that day had a great diversity of color as well as 
of physical features. 
The colors that predominated among Hereford cattle 
at the time of the preparation of the first volume of the 
herd-book (about 1845) were varying shades of red on 
the body with white face, and the same with mottled or 
spotted face, and also varying degrees of roan or gray, as 
it was called, on the sides of the animal, with all the 
