174 LIVESTOCK ON THE FARM 



BREEDS OF BEEF CATTLE 



There are different breeds of beef cattle, all of which are 

 good. The choice of a breed, therefore, is largely a personal 

 matter. The breed is not the most important thing. The 

 first consideration should be that the cattle are properly bred, 

 fed, and cared for. The standard breeds are the shorthorn, 

 polled Durham, Aberdeen Angus, Hereford and Galloway. 



Shorthorn. — The shorthorns include a strain of cattle that 

 have both dairy and beef characteristics. Consequently are 

 called milking shorthorns or dual-purpose cattle. Here, 

 however, only the beef type of shorthorns is to be considered. 

 This breed from the numerical standpoint is the most popular. 

 They are a good all-round beef animal well adapted to modern 

 methods of farming. Shorthorns are red, red and white, roan 

 and white. They were developed in Great Britain many 

 years ago by breeders of exceptional ability. Among these 

 may be mentioned the Colling Brothers, Bakewell, Bates, 

 Booth and Cruickshank. They were brought to the United 

 States at an early date and have been popular here ever since. 



Polled Durham. — The polled Durhams are simply an off- 

 shoot of the shorthorn breed. They were developed without 

 horns. This strain was developed in the United States and 

 originated from native cattle outside of any breed. Such 

 native mully cows were bred to shorthorn bulls and the off- 

 spring were not eligible to registry in the shorthorn breed so 

 the Polled Durham Registration Association was started. 

 These cattle are called single-standard polled Durhams. 



Later also were found hornless individuals among shorthorns 

 and these were also developed. These are eligible to registry 

 in both the shorthorn and the polled Durham associations, 

 and are called double-standard polled Durhams. 



Aberdeen Angus. — This breed of beef cattle originated in 

 Scotland. It is also an old well-developed breed of beef cattle 

 and is especially noted for the fine quality and large propor- 

 tion of lean meat produced. Cattle of this breed have been 

 the most persistent winners in the fat-stock shows of this 

 country. 



Aberdeen Angus cattle have no horns and are black. They 

 are very strong in these characteristics, and this, together 



