212 CATTLE 



Thomas Bates was born in Northumberland in 1775 and died 

 at his Kirklevington estate near Yarm, in Yorkshire, in 1849. 

 He early became acquainted with the prominent breeders of his 

 time, notably the Colling brothers, and began the systematic 

 development of a class of cattle having superior dairy as well as 

 beef qualities. He was a careful investigator, keeping detailed 

 records of the relationship of food consumed to beef and milk 

 production. His cattle had much quality, were rather large for 

 the breed, and possessed great dairy capacity, but were somewhat 

 criticized for lack of constitution and breeding capacity. Bates 



Fig. 82. A rear view of the house and part of the stable at Kirklevington, the 

 residence of Thomas Bates, near Yarm, England. From photograph by the author 



was a man of very strong convictions, extremely egotistical, and 

 did not make friends among the breeders. He was an educated 

 man, having attended Edinburgh University, and was an unusual 

 student for his time. He may rightly be termed one of the world's 

 greatest breeders. Bates died a bachelor, and with his death, in 

 1 849, came the dispersal of his herd of sixty-eight animals at 

 an average price of about ^335 per head. The following are 

 the more important tribes developed by Bates : 



The Duchess tribe of Bates was descended from the Duchess 

 cow, by Daisy Bull (186), that was calved in 1800 and bred by 

 Colling. A daughter of Duchess owned by Charles Colling, bred 

 to Comet (iSS), in 1808 dropped a heifer calf which became 

 known as Duchess I or Young Duchess, which Bates purchased 



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