Vol. LVII. No. 2538. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 17, 1898. 
»1 PER YEAR. 
HEREFORDS WITHOUT THE HORNS. 
NOT WANTED IN PUREBRED STOCK. 
The New “ Kansan ” Breed of Cattle. 
Several weeks ago we gave some interesting facts 
about the new Polled Durham breed of cattle. Breed¬ 
ers have asked whether Hereford breeders have made 
any effort to remove the horns from their animals. It 
would seem, on general principles, as though, if dis¬ 
horning is a good thing, this famous beef breed of 
cattle would do better without the horns. Our cor¬ 
respondence with Hereford breeders shows that there 
is quite a diversity of opinion regarding this matter. 
Z. F. Kinsell, of Mount Ayr, Iowa, says that he does 
not think that dishorning is practiced by breeders of 
registered Herefords. Most of the grade cattle in his 
country are dishorned in Spring and Winter. The 
ranchmen in the Far West want their cattle with the 
horns on, as such animals are better able to protect 
their calves. 
Scott & March, of Belton, Missouri, write that they 
have never heard of a purebred Hereford that was 
naturally polled. They have seen half-blood Here¬ 
ford and Angus cattle that were hornless, but very 
few breeders dishorn pure 
cattle, most of them con¬ 
sidering the horns very 
necessary. 
C. G. Comstock of Albany, 
Missouri, says there is no 
doubt that a family of 
polled Herefords, provided 
they possess the merits of 
the best Hereford cattle, 
would be very desirable 
everywhere except upon 
the range. As the best 
Herefords are the result of 
careful selection, it would 
take a long time to bring a 
strain of the polled animals 
up to the highest standard. 
So far as known, polled 
cattle of any breed are 
originally the result of a 
sport. A start in that direc¬ 
tion with Herefords would 
be as likely to be from in¬ 
ferior animals as from 
those of high quality; in 
fact, it would be more 
likely, as the high-quality 
animals are not nearly so 
numerous as the others. In 
such a case, it would take many years to bring them 
up to a point where they could compete with horned 
cattle. Therefore, the outlook is not very favorable. 
N. W. Leonard, of Fayette, Missouri, says that Here¬ 
ford breeders, as a rule, are very much opposed to 
dishorning. They claim that it spoils the good looks 
of a Hereford head. Western buyers of Hereford bulls 
do not want a polled animal, and do not buy dishorned 
bulls. Breeders cater to this feeling. Mr. Leonard 
says that he practices dishorning himself on animals 
that he expects to keep. But lately he has yielded to 
the demand for horns, and from now on will quit the 
practice. He thinks dishorning injures the looks of 
the head, although he does not know of any other 
good reason for giving up the practice. He thinks 
that the big meat packers are now divided on the 
question as to whether horns injure steers in shipping. 
The dishorning of steers is largely practiced in his 
section, though it is stoutly maintained that dis¬ 
horned steers will not do as well on pastures in fly¬ 
time, as the horned cattle. They are more likely to 
huddle together on account of the flies, and do not 
thrive as well as horned cattle, thatjwill not bunch so 
closely. The public opinion there is that dishorning 
steers is a good thing only when Winter feeding is 
done or when the steers are to be shipped to market. 
The New “Kansan” I3reetl. —W. W. Guthrie, of 
Atchison, Kansas, has developed what he calls the 
“ Kansan” breed, a good idea of which will be ob¬ 
tained from the picture of the bull Bolivar at Fig. 293. 
Mr. Guthrie says that this experiment was started 
about 10 years ago, when the original polled calf was 
born. This calf was a freak, and dishorning did not 
enter into the experiment at all. In a herd made of 
crosses of Hereford and Short-horns, he was at the 
time using only Hereford bulls. When he found the 
original calf, which had all the markings of the Here¬ 
ford with the square build of the Short-horn, and was 
hornless, he called him a three-quarter Hereford and 
one-quarter Short-horn. From that start, crossing 
with Short-horns and again with Herefords, he has 
bred out and back again until he has now 30 or 40 
of the cattle. He does not call them Boiled Here¬ 
fords because they are, evidently, not purebred. 
He has given them the name of “ Kansan ” as a new 
breed. He thinks they are an improvement on the 
Herefords in the fact that they are squarely built 
behind and that they are uniformly good milkers. 
Mr. Guthrie says that the two objections properly 
made against the Herefords are the large horns and 
the disposition to light hind quarters. The objection 
to all beef breeds for all-'round purposes, has been 
their lack in milking qualities. By crossing the orig¬ 
inal calf on Short-horns that have been proved good 
milkers, Mr. Guthrie says that he has squared up the 
hind quarters and made a fair milking animal, an im¬ 
provement, he thinks, in some ways, over both of the 
old breeds. lie has now bred five generations of these 
cattle, and the exception of horned calves in the 
present generation is very rare. He seems to have 
practically disposed of the horns, but has less satis¬ 
factory results in maintaining the uniform color. All 
ot the cows have been prolific, and so far as milked, 
have proved equal to the average cow. Stockmen who 
have examined these cattle compare them with the 
Boiled Durhams, and as a rule, prefer them to animals 
of that breed. Mr. Guthrie expects to exhibit a herd 
of these Kansau cattle at the Omaha Exposition in 
competition with Boiled Durhams, and this ought to 
be an interesting competition. It will be seen, there¬ 
fore, that the majority of Hereford breeders are in 
favor of retaining the horns. Mr. Guthrie starts a 
new idea in Hereford breeding, and possibly, results 
may come from it after two or three more generations 
of these Kansan cattle. 
HOMEMADE MUTTON. 
KEEPING- A FEW SIIEEP. 
Every farm should have its flock of sheep, just the 
same as the flock of poultry, for home use. It costs 
little more to feed a lamb that will dress 25 pounds, 
during the Summer, than to feed a fowl weighing two 
pounds. By good management a score of ewes may 
be fed through the year at no more cost than will be 
repaid by the fleece. Thus the lambs cost nothing 
because they need no feeding until they are needed 
for meat, except the little grass they get. This may 
not be thought to cost anything, for a very poor grass 
field it must be that will not keep four or five sheep 
to the acre, and there is nearly always some run-out 
meadow that will keep the sheep during the Summer 
at really no countable cost at all. 
A lamb of 20 or 25 pounds dressed weight, if of the 
right breed, is the best eat¬ 
ing in existence. The 
Shropshire I think the best 
breed for lambs, but the 
common native sheep hav¬ 
ing some Merino blood, 
crossed with a Shropshire 
ram makes as good a lamb 
as can be wished. The 
present Summer I am kill¬ 
ing off the male lambs of a 
flock of about 30 ewes of 
the common stock which 
cost me a year ago $1.50 a 
head. The smallest lamb 
has dressed over 20 pounds, 
and just now they are 
reaching 30. So far the 
lambs have not had over 25 
cents’ worth of feed that 
has cost money. While 
sucking, as soon as they 
would eat, they got a hand¬ 
ful of a mixture of cotton¬ 
seed meal, bran, and corn 
meal, and after a few days, 
would be always ready on 
hand to skip into the feed¬ 
ing pen where they got 
this feed once a day with¬ 
out disturbance from the ewes. Since the grass came, 
they have had no feed except an occasional scattering 
of corn given to the flock to keep them tame and 
easily handled. 
The dressing of the lamb in these warm days is a 
simple matter. One is picked out from the flock 
brought up to the barn for the purpose, in the even¬ 
ing, so that it may be immediately put in a stall by 
itself without any driving from the field. The rest of 
the flock goes back to the pasture after getting some 
salt or a handful or two of corn. In the cool of the 
morning, the lamb is dressed and, before breakfast is 
ready, the meat is hung up in the cellar. The method 
of dressing is thus : A block and tackle is hung under 
the roof of the shed between a double corn crib. A 
thick hardwood plank bench 18 inches high, is used to 
lay the lamb on. One single stroke of an ax beheads 
the lamb, which then is totally deprived of sensation, 
and struggles scarcely at all. The hind legs are skin¬ 
ned down to the ham and the hock joint is severed, 
the ends of a gambrel stick are put through the loos¬ 
ened sinew, and the carcass is hoisted by the tackle 
to the right height for dressing. By this time the 
