THE SHORTHORN 



231 



cases, reach 2000 pounds. The mature bull will easily attain 1 800 

 to 2000 pounds ; many weigh from 2000 to 2200, and weights 

 upward to 2500 occur, though the latter figure is infrequent. The 

 Hereford is a close second to the Shorthorn in size, with no 

 great difference between the two breeds. 



The Shorthorn as a beef producer stands in the first class. The 

 men who have attained the most fame as Shorthorn breeders have 

 always emphasized the value of this breed in producing the best 

 of beef on a profitable basis. There have been cases where great 

 breeders — like Bates, for example — laid stress on the impor- 

 tance of the breed: in milk production, but this was not to be at 

 the expense of the meat-producing qualities. Cruickshank and 

 the Scotch school of Shorthorn breeders, however, laid more 

 emphasis on the value of the breed on the block, the final test 

 of all meat animals. In the leading fat-stock shows of Great 

 Britain, the United States, Argentina, and Australia, the Short- 

 horn far outnumbers any other breed, while in the stockyards 

 Shorthorn grades greatly predominate. The Shorthorn produces 

 a class of beef that is wide in the loin, thick, wide, and long in 

 the hind quarters, and of fine fiber or quality. If compared with 

 the Aberdeen-Angus the Shorthorn will not dress out quite as 

 high, perhaps, in percentage of meat to offal, though the differ- 

 ence is not large ; also the dressed carcass of the • Shorthorn will 

 show somewhat more tallow and external patches of fat than will 

 the Aberdeen-Angus. In a study of the gains made by different 

 breeds of steers shown at the Smithfield Show in England for 

 twenty years (1895-1914), Henry and Morrison show^ that the 

 Shorthorn ranked at the very top among eleven breeds. Eighty-five 

 yearling steers, averaging six hundred and seventy-four days old 

 and 1446 pounds weight, made an average daily gain of 2.14 

 pounds. Ninety-one two-year-olds, averaging one thousand and 

 twelve days old and 1901 pounds in weight, made an average 

 daily gain of 1.88 pounds. Four three-year-olds showed an average 

 weight of 2363 pounds and a daily gain for thirteen hundred and 

 fifty-three days of 1.74 pounds. No other breed showed as high 

 a gain at two or three years as the Shorthorn. In the carcass 



1 Feeds and Feeding {1915), p- 445- Compiled from The Live Stock Journal, 

 London. 



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