THE SHORTHORN 



239 



The cow Melba VII, for a period of three hundred and sixty-five 

 days, is credited with a yield of 17,364 pounds of millc containing 

 868 pounds of fat, equal to 1021.59 pounds estimated butter. 

 Her milk showed an average test of 5 per cent fat. This cow was 

 bred by and is owned by the Scottish-Australian Investment Com- 

 pany, Gundgai, New South Wales. The most notable test in the 

 United States was by Rose of Glenside, which, on March 2, 1910, 

 completed an official yearly record, producing 735 pounds of butter 

 fat, or 2.01 pounds per day. The cow Ruby produced 715 pounds, 

 Buttercup 2d 657.7 pounds, and Doris Clay 653.35 pounds of 

 butter fat in a year. Four hundred and twenty-seven cows recorded 

 in Volumes I and II of the " Milking Shorthorn Yearbook " show 

 an average yearly fat record of 330.2 pounds. 



The Shorthorn for early maturity ranks among the best of the 

 beef breeds, though up to twelve months of age it is probably 

 slightly surpassed by the Aberdeen- Angus and Hereford. Records 

 of pure-bred steer weights secured at the International Live-Stock 

 Exposition, covering 19 10 and 191 1, showed an average weight 

 for 29 Angus calves at 1008 pounds and 31 Shorthorns at 911 

 pounds.i After passing the calf age the Shorthorn attains a weight 

 equaling or surpassing the other breeds. Maturity is also more or 

 less influenced by the family blood lines, and no doubt the popu- 

 lar Scotch tribes come on faster as baby beef than do the plainer, 

 more upstanding sort. 



The adaptability of the Shorthorn to a wide range of conditions 

 is probably unsurpassed. Prominent herds are found on the low- 

 lands, the uplands, in the colder north, the warmer south, on 

 rich pastures and those not so desirable. While a popular breed 

 with the small farmer, so is it also a favorite on the range of the 

 great West and on the vast grazing fields of Argentina. 



The temperament of the Shorthorn is notably phlegmatic and 

 quiet, such as might be expected in the beef type. In disposition 

 it may be fairly claimed that of all the beef breeds this is the 

 quietest and most easily handled. In the writer's personal contact 

 with the different breeds the Shorthorn has manifested in a 

 pronounced degree a quiet disposition and ease of control under 

 a variety of conditions. 



IB. O. CowaS^^^M^'Mmmsft^ctohsT 9, 191 2. 



