Hereford Cattle. 
57 
The grass-fed Hereford beef is in great favour, and com- 
mands top price on the London market during the season, 
having that marbled, well-mixed appearance that butchers 
and consumers prefer. A Hereford carcass carries most flesh 
where the best joints are cut. For winter feeding no breed 
gives better return for the amount of corn consumed than 
the Hereford, and more Herefords can be carried to the acre, 
both at home and abroad, than any other cattle. 
The following figures as to average live weights are taken 
from the Smithfield Club records, and of course refer to 
animals fattened for exhibition 
Steers under 2 years old 
>) » ^ ,, ,, 
» over 3 „ „ 
Heifers under 3 ,, 
1,350 lb. 
1,820 „ 
2,115 „ 
1,595 „ 
The average daily gain 
being : 
in live weight at 
the same shows 
Steers under 2 years old 
Heifers under 3 „ ,, 
1-85 lb. 
1-66 „ 
1-45 „ 
Herefords are supreme as ranch cattle, roughing it in 
extremes of heat or cold. They thrive and fatten on scanty 
fare and are eminently suited for countries where the grass is 
rough and the land harsh and stony, and there is a great 
future for the breed in the more southern of the South 
American States and in South Africa, where less hardy con- 
stitutioned breeds would succumb. They are also remarkably 
good travellers, and can walk longer distances in search of 
water than any other cattle. 
In addition, or to be more correct, because they are so 
robust and hardy, Hereford cattle are remarkably free from 
disease and have great powers of withstanding infection. As a 
breed they are practically free from tuberculosis, only about 
2 per cent, reacting over a very large number of tests. This 
is a most important point in their favour now that so much 
attention is being paid to tuberculosis in cattle, and no doubt 
the mild climate of their native home, which admits of 
a system of open-air management (see further on), is largely 
responsible for the apparent immunity they enjoy. Hereford 
breeders are so confident of the freedom of their cattle from 
this disease that nearly all of them sell their cattle, even by 
auction, subject to the tuberculosis test. That other disease so 
dreaded by stockmen, namely contagious abortion, is also rare 
in Hereford cattle. 
Although coming to such early maturity, Hereford cows 
have exceptionally long lives as breeders. Dropping their first 
