Hereford cattle

“ The Hereford breed is maintained chiefly in Herefordshire and the adjoining counties. Whilst a full red is the general colour of the body, the Herefords are distinguished by their white face, white chest and abdomen, and white mane. The legs up to the knee or hock are also often white. As a protection against the sun in a hot climate dark spots on the eyelids or round the orbits are valuable. The horns are moderately long. Herefords, though they rear their own calves, have acquired but little fame as dairy cattle. They are very hardy, and produce beef of excellent quality. ”

“ The limitation of the Hereford is that in the first cross between a pure-bred and any of the primitive cattle ninety per cent will show white faces or dominant characteristics, and just so in the use of bulls, the animal may not have the intensification of blood that he should have simply because he has a white face, and the bull peddler has, as a proposition, bought something that he could sell at a profit, rather than in following out any visions of cattle improvement. ”

“ Although unsurpassed as beef cattle, many of the cows are good milkers, the best of any of the strictly beef breeds. The Herefords, originated in the county of Hereford, may be described as red with white on face, chest, belly, feet, and over the tops of the shoulders. They are close rivals or the equals of Shorthorns as beef cattle. They are inferior dairy cattle, many giving scarcely enough milk to raise a calf. The Galloways are jet-black and hornless, strongly built and rather low in stature. They are hardy in constitution and much esteemed for beef, but very poor dairy cattle. ”

“ Sleek Hereford cattle, the most decorative of all breeds{51} to English landscape, are everywhere. The high wooded ridges, so characteristic of Herefordshire, rise now on one bank and now on the other, while always the long line of the Black Mountains fills the western sky. Fish of every kind worth having are in the river that offers such variety of lodging—the salmon in his season, the trout, the grayling, the pike and chub and perch, and all the lesser fry. ”

“ The occasional appearance of horned calves and lambs among the offspring of hornless breeds of cattle and sheep are examples of atavism indicating the presence of a vestigial tendency to breed true to their horned ancestors. The Hereford cattle originated as a distinct variety about 1769 through the careful selections of a certain Englishman by the name of Tompkins. All domesticated quadrupeds, except the elephant, have come from wild species with erect ears, the ears acting as funnels to harvest the sound-waves. ”

“ The bulls beat the bulls of all other breeds in “rustling” capacity.
In America the ranch-bred Herefords have got too small in the bone in recent years, and Shorthorns, chiefly of the Scottish type, are being introduced to increase their size by crossing. In the “feed lot” a well-bred Hereford steer feeds more quickly than either a Shorthorn or an Aberdeen-Angus.
In Queensland, Hereford cattle bred from the “Lord Wilton” strain by Robert Christison of Lammermoor have for years been triumphant as beef-producers in competition with the Shorthorn. ”

“ In the field at our left a lazy lot of white-faced cattle, large and placid, lolled or grazed on the new spring grass.
Surveying these cattle with a fond eye—had she not that day refused all of three hundred and twenty-five dollars a head for a score of these pure-bred cows?—my hostess read me a brief lecture on the superior fleshing disposition of the Hereford. No better rustler under range conditions, said she, accumulating flesh at all ages, storing it in seasons of plenty to draw on in seasons of want. ”

“ The want of care and attention to the udder, soon after calving, especially if the cow be on luxuriant grass, often injures her milking properties exceedingly. The practice in the county of Hereford has generally been to let the calves suckle from four to six months, and bull calves often run eight months with the cow. But their dairy qualities are perhaps as good as those of any cattle whose fattening properties have been so carefully developed ”

“ It should, however, be borne in mind that the best oxen are not produced from the largest cows; nor is a superior quality of flesh, such as is considered very soft to the touch, with thin skin. It is the union of these two qualities which often characterizes the short horns; but Hereford breeders—as a recent writer remarks—should endeavor to maintain a higher standard of excellence—that for which the best of the breed have always been esteemed—a moderately thick, mellow hide, with a well apportioned combination of softness with elasticity. ”

“ She builds no big muscles with which to climb mountains, or wade through mud and snow drifts. The beef animal if treated like a dairy cow simply gets fat and is finally turned to the butcher. The dairy cow treated like a beef cow is a tragedy to behold. I [Pg 9] have seen both Holstein and Jersey steers out on the range where Hereford cattle stay fat and strong and I have heard the cow boys cuss about letting them live, for they were more of a ghost than a reality. ”

“ The native cattle, like the horses, are small and wild, but are hardy and make good rustlers. The native stock has been greatly improved in recent years by cross breeding with thoroughbred Durham and Hereford bulls. Grade cattle are better suited for the open range than are pure bred animals, which are more tender and fare better in fenced pastures. By cross breeding the quality of range cattle has steadily improved until the scrub element has been almost bred out. ”

“ The fattening of cattle is the chief occupation of the Northamptonshire farmer. The favourite stock for breeding purposes is the shorthorn, but the most common custom is to buy in Hereford, Scotch, Welsh and Irish cattle in the spring and fatten them on the rich pastures, a few being retained and fed for the Christmas market. ”

“ It has been said that cattle covered with ticks east of the Paraguay on crossing into the Chaco soon become free of them. A French company in 1919 had 150,000 head of cattle with over 500 Hereford bulls, a breeding stock of more than 100,000. One thousand miles of pasture were enclosed. The Company makes use of 130 telephones, has shops, a tannery, etc. Besides Herefords there are Durhams and Polled Angus. Two hundred men are in charge of the stock. The natives make good cowboys, better I was told than some Americans who went down from here a few years ago. ”

“ Herefordshire is also famous as a breeding county for its cattle of bright red hue, with mottled or white faces and sleek silky coats. The Herefords are stalwart and healthy, and, though not good milkers, put on more meat and fat at an early age, in proportion to food consumed, than almost any other variety. ”

“ Herefordshire cattle have long been famous as one of the finest breeds in the world. Marshall, writing in 1788, does not hesitate to say, 'The Herefordshire breed of cattle, taking it all in all, may without risque be deemed the first breed of cattle in the land.' Their origin has been accounted for in various ways. Some say they were originally brown or reddish-brown from Normandy or Devon, others that they came from Wales, while it is recorded that Lord Scudamore in the latter half of the seventeenth century introduced red cows with white faces from Flanders. ”

“ Like the Herefords, they are poor milkers; for while their milk is rich, the quantity is small, and they usually go dry for several months of the year. They were first imported into this country about 1850, and in 1883 nine hundred were imported and distributed among the cattle breeders of the plains. ”

“ It is safe, therefore, to say that an animal whose udder and lacteal glands are regarded, by those who best know her capacities and her merits, as of only one quarter part as much consequence as the color of her nose, or half as much as the shape and size of her horns, cannot be recommended for the dairy. The improved North Devon cow may be classed, in this respect, with the Hereford, neither of which has well-developed milk-vessels—a point of the utmost consequence to the practical dairyman. ”

“ There were many men at the work, and after all the cows and calves had been cut into a separate herd, the other cattle were turned loose. Then with great shoutings the cows were started up the river to a branding-pen several miles distant. Never during his life did the line-back calf forget that day. There was such a rush and hurrah among these horsemen that long before they reached the corrals the line-back’s tongue lolled out, for he was now a very fat calf. Only once did he even catch sight of his speckled playmate, who was likewise trembling like a fawn. ”

“ In many instances a cow of unknown brand was still followed by her two-year-old, yearling, and present calf. Under the customs of the country, any unbranded animal, one year old or over, was a maverick, and the property of any one who cared to brand the unclaimed stray. Thousands of cattle thus lived to old age, multiplied and increased, died and became food for worms, unowned. ”

“ I think, too, that in every possible way you should encourage the breeders of full-blood cattle in all of these breeds, and that you give them every encouragement in purchasing their progeny.
The introduction of good bulls is a comparatively simple matter, because they can be purchased, but a great cow herd can only be produced by accumulation, probably by a culling of at least ten per cent of all females every year during the process of up-grading. The yearling heifers should not be bred. We always cull them when about eighteen months old, cutting them ten per cent. ”

“ By making small round-ups, we disturbed the young calves as little as possible. I took charge of the extra outfit and my ranch foreman of his own, one beginning on the west end of my range, the other going north and coming down the Brazos. At the end of a week the two crews came together with nearly eight thousand cattle under herd. The next day we cut out thirty-five hundred cows and started them on the trail, turning free the remnant of she stuff, and began shaping up the steers, using only the oldest in making up thirty-two hundred head. ”

“ In a breeding-ranch country the herd would have been worked on the spot, calves roped and ironed with the brand worn by their mothers, and only the beef steers cut into a day herd, the she-stuff and all stock younger than two-year-olds [88] being allowed to scatter once more on the range. But there were no calves to brand, no she-stock on the range, for of late the cowmen of the Strip had come to follow one set rule in accord with the transition of the cow business, forming an intermediate link between the old-time cattle kings of the open range and the modern feeders of the corn belt. ”

“ The next year he will have more to sell, and the calves will be coming on. By selling every marketable steer each fall and investing the money in young cattle, it is not long until the herd is numerous and the shipments can be great. When he has his herd he drives them upon his range, and hires some boys to help him brand them. Two strong posts are firmly planted in the corral, about twelve feet apart, and part of the herd is driven in at a time. A boy rides in, throws his rope over the horns of an animal, and, all understanding their business, the cow is soon pulled upon her side. ”

“ During that strife the herds of the southwest were neglected to such an extent that thousands of cattle grew to maturity without ear-mark or brand to identify their owner. A good mount of horses, a rope and a running-iron in the hands of a capable man, were better than capital. The good old days when an active young man could brand annually fifteen calves—all better than yearlings—to every cow he owned, are looked back to to this day, from cattle king to the humblest of the craft, in pleasant reminiscence, though they will come no more. ”

“ The cows are of the size of the ordinary Ayrshire stock: they invariably flee man, and seldom offer any effectual resistance to the dogs. They herd, with the young bulls and heifers, in numbers of ten to thirty, roaming more or less, but particularly attaching themselves to tussock grounds. Those who know cattle in our parks only, or even on the hills of Scotland, can form no idea of their speed and strength; and we found that it took three powerful dogs to 'moor' (as our sailors termed it) one full-grown cow. ”

“ To my great delight almost every cow had a calf, and nearly every calf was [Pg 180] alike red body and white face, etc. (Hereford) . I kept and used these same bulls six or seven seasons; every year got the highest calf-brand or crop amongst all my neighbours; and soon, with prudent culling of the cows, my small herd (some 2000) was the best in the country; and my young steers topped the market, beating even the crack herds that had been established for twenty years and had great reputations. ”

“ In the matter of the cows, there has been no culling, added to which there has been in-breeding, and on both the sire and dam side following out the law that evil qualities intensify in posterity, the tendency has been down instead of up in the breeding of native cattle for forty years, to which the only relief has been a very limited introduction of the beef strains. ”

“ It must be remembered that other factors interfere with milking capacity as such alone. The cow's size, age, and health might be mentioned, for instance. If these other factors can be eliminated, then, if the hybrids are intermediates, there will be three grades of cows, viz. high grade, medium, and low grade. The cows' grade being manifest by their yield of milk, the difficult part of the problem is to determine the grade of the bull; and for this there is only one test, the test of breeding. He is either high grade, middle, or low grade. ”