Shorthorn cattle

“ When a heifer of this stamp was again put to a Shorthorn bull, the result was quite as fine a black poll, of still larger size. If the produce were also a heifer, and mated with a pure Shorthorn bull, the result was still a poll, yet larger in size, but bluish-grey in colour. If a heifer again, and put to a Shorthorn bull, the produce was once more a grey poll, probably lighter in colour. When this form of crossing was continued further. Shorthorn colours appeared, sometimes with scurs, but oftener with the regular short horns of the male parent. ”

“ It is highly probable that the distribution of fat through the meat, so characteristic of the shorthorn breeds, and which has been brought about only by careful breeding, is not found in either the beef of the buffalo or common range cattle. ”

“ He had learnt from Bakewell the all-importance of quality in cattle, and determined to improve the local Shorthorn breed near his own home, which had been described in 1744 as 'the most profitable beasts for the dairyman, butcher, and grazier, with their wide bags, short horns, and large bodies.' He was to make these 'profitable beasts' the best all-round cattle in the world, and to succeed where George Culley had failed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The favourite breed of cattle is the Shorthorn, and they comprise 84 per cent, of the classified breeding cows; the Herefords only figure out as 6 per cent., but, undoubtedly, a more careful and complete classification will lead to modifications in these figures, for at the present time no less than five and a-half million cows are returned as Criollo cattle, in other words, unimproved stock. ”

“ The Romans improved the Celtic Shorthorn by crossing it with cattle imported from Italy; the form of the Roman Ox, as inferred from contemporary art, being exactly what was required to produce the modification observed in the latter Romanized breed. The characteristics of the Urus nowhere appear among the Romano-British cattle.
The Kerry Cattle are the most typical examples in the British Isles of the Celtic Shorthorn, while the Chillingham Cattle are the nearest representation of the breed introduced by the Romans. ”

“ Large numbers of cattle are fattened in the field or the fold-yard, and are sold when rising three years old. They are mostly of the shorthorn breed, large numbers of Irish shorthorns being wintered in the fens. Leicesters and Lincolns are the most common breeds of sheep; they usually attain great weights at an early age. ”

“ Before its extinction it had held in 1821, at Aldridge's Repository, the first national agricultural show. £685 was given in prizes, and the entries included 10 bulls, 9 cows and heifers, several fat steers and cows, 7 pens of Leicester and Cotswold rams and ewes; 12 pens of Down, and 9 or 10 pens of Merino rams and ewes. [509] Most of the cattle shown were Shorthorn, or Durham, as they were then called, with some Herefords, Devons, Longhorns, and Alderneys. There were also exhibits of grass, turnip-seed, roots, and implements. ”

“ The roan colour is very popular, and dark red has its supporters, as in the case of the Lincolnshire Red Shorthorns; white is not in favour, especially abroad. The Shorthorn breed is more noted for its beef-making than for its milk-yielding properties, although the non-pedigree milking Shorthorn of the north of England is an excellent cow with dual-purpose qualifications of the first order. ”

“ The Red Polls are a comparatively new breed, resembling the Devons, hornless, and inclined to the beef form. They are only fair dairy cattle, being in the class of breeds which aim to serve the dual purpose of milk and beef production. The Shorthorns, described above as beef cattle, although a typical beef breed, are to some extent dual-purpose animals, and some families have been notable for milk-production. ”

“ But Short-horns have been so generally bred for beef qualities that the demand for them is almost exclusively on that line, and they are no longer classed as dairy cattle. Ayrshires from Scotland, Holstein-Friesians from North Holland, and Jerseys and Guernseys from the Channel Islands, are the breeds recognized as of dairy excellence, and upon which the industry mainly depends for improvement of its milch cows. ”

“ Consequently we may anticipate that so long as no crossing takes place, there will be little variation.
Among the established breeds of cattle the Improved Short-horns are the most fashionable, and the most widely diffused; and where the fertility of the soil, and the climate, are such as to allow the development of their peculiar excellencies, they occupy the highest rank as a meat-producing breed. Their beef is hardly equal in quality to that of the Devons, Herefords or Scots, the fat and lean being not so well mixed together and the flesh of coarser grain. ”

“ It will be seen that the average for Short-horns is less than that for either of the other breeds though, of course, the number sold is greatly in excess of the others. In 1882 the average for Short-horns was but $192.10, and in 1881 but $158, so that on the whole the breeders are perfectly satisfied with the way the business is running.
The dairy breeds did remarkably well in 1883, the Holsteins coming up well to the Jerseys, but the latter leads greatly in point of numbers.
The pure bred cattle business of the country as indicated by these sales is exceedingly prosperous. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Great attention is paid to livestock. Shorthorns are the most common breed, but the principal home-bred stock is a cross between shorthorned and polled, though there are many valuable herds of pure polled. Cattle-feeding is carried on according to the most advanced methods. Blackfaced sheep are chiefly kept on the hill runs, Cheviots or a cross with Leicesters being usually found on the lowland farms. Most of the horses are employed in connexion with the cultivation of the soil, but several good strains, including Clydesdales, are retained for stock purposes. ”

“ The cow has the same points in the main, but her head is finer, longer, and more tapering; neck thinner and lighter, and shoulders more narrow across the chine.
The astonishing precocity of the short horns, their remarkable aptitude to fatten, the perfection of their forms, and the fineness of their bony structure, give them an advantage over most other races when the object of breeding is for the shambles. No animal of any other breed can so rapidly transform the stock of any section around him as the improved short horn bull. ”

“ The Shorthorn is the most famous and widely-spread breed of this country, if not in the world; it exceeds in number any other breed in the United Kingdom, and most cross-breds have Shorthorn blood in them. It adapts itself to any climate, and is equally noted for beef-making and milk-yielding. ”

“ Besides these, from fifty to sixty young bulls, cows and heifers are disposed of by private sale during the season, ranging from 50 to 150 guineas, going to buyers from all parts of the world.
It is Mr. Cruickshank’s well-matured opinion, resulting from long experience and observation, that there is no breed of cattle so easily maintained in good condition as the Shorthorns. His are fed on pasture grass from the 1st of May to the middle of October, lying in the open field night and day. In the winter they are fed entirely on oat-straw and turnips. ”

“ In sections where the climate is moist, and the food abundant and rich, some families of the short horns may be valuable for the dairy; but they are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in sections where they have attained the highest perfection of form and beauty, so little is thought of their milking qualities that they are often not milked at all, the calf being allowed to run with the dam. ”

“ They were now coming in from every side, bringing about a thousand cattle in all—the object being to separate—“cut out”—the cows with young calves for branding and the merchantable steers for shipment to the east. The herd was assembled in a level plain near a corral and the cowboys, some three or four dozen in number, dashed furiously about, dexterously singling out the proper animals and turning them into the corrals. Sometimes a calf, bawling wildly, would bolt for the hills, followed by his terrified mama. ”

“ The long-horned black Welsh Cattle grow to a great size, as do the polled Angus breed of Scotland. The polled or hornless cattle include the red Suffolks, a most valuable breed, hardy, and wonderful producers of milk. The cows often give milk every day of the year. The Longhorn breed is almost disappearing, as the horns are a disadvantage both in the fields and when the animals are carried on board ship or in the train. The Humped Cattle of India and East Africa belong to a race different from European cattle, of which the parent stock is not known. ”

“ As a profitable beast to the grazier, and the feeder, nothing can equal them in early maturity and excellence. For this purpose, the short-horns are steadily working their way all over the vast cattle-breeding regions of the west; and, for the richness and abundance of her milk, the cow is eagerly introduced into the dairy, and milk-producing sections of the other states, where she will finally take rank, and maintain her superiority over all others, on rich and productive soils. ”

“ The committee who reported upon this subject, attributes the superiority of the cattle to the large infusion of Short-Horn blood in their veins, and hence their fine symmetry, light offal, and increased weight of flesh on the more valuable parts, as compared with native stock when fattened for the shambles. Mr. Paoli Lathrop exhibited some choice Short-Horns. Of native cows the committee thus speak:—
Of the ten cows entered for the premium as native animals, nearly or all have an intermixture of Short-Horn or other foreign blood. ”

“ A cañon on the west was decided on as a range, as it was well watered from living springs, having a valley several miles wide, forming a park with ample range for two thousand cattle. The bluffs on either side were abrupt, almost an in closure, making it an easy matter for two men to loose-herd a small amount of stock, holding them adjoining my deeded range, yet separate. The survival of the fittest was adopted as the rule in beginning the herd, five hundred choice cows were to form the nucleus, to be the pick of the new ranch, thrift and formation to decide their selection. ”

“ What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three-fourths breeds might be analyzed as follows:
“We can depend upon a race of cattle unequaled in the world for hardiness and durability; a good meat-bearing animal; the best and only fur-bearing animal of the bovine race; the animal always found in a storm where it is overtaken by it; a race of cattle so clannish as never to separate and go astray; the animal that can always have free range, as they exist where no other animal can live; the animal that can water every third day and keep fat, ranging from 20 to 30 miles from water ”

“ Importations of short horns have been frequent and extensive into the United States within the last few years, and this famous breed is now pretty generally diffused over the country.
The high-bred short horn is easily prepared for a show, and, as fat will cover faults, the temptation is often too great to be resisted; and hence it is not uncommon to see the finest animals rendered unfit for breeding purposes by over-feeding. The race is susceptible of breeding for the production of milk, as several families show, and great milkers have often been known among pure-bred animals ”

“ While cattle-growers generally have shown the greatest enterprise in producing special breeds for milk, for butter, or for beef, cattle with short horns and cattle with no horns at all, only two or three men have had the enterprise to try to produce a breed particularly hardy and capable. ”

“ No breed of horned cattle has commanded more universal admiration during the last half-century than the improved Short-horns, whose origin can be traced back for nearly a hundred years. According to the best authorities, the stock which formed the basis of improvement existed equally in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, and counties adjoining ”

“ Those who are favored with luxuriant pastures and abundance of winter feed will have no objection to large-sized animals, and will naturally wish to obtain or possess grade short-horns. There is no breed in the world to which it is more desirable to resort, under such circumstances, particularly where improvement in form, early maturity, and general symmetry, are sought, in union with other qualities. It is well known that some families of short-horns have been bred for the pail, while most others have been bred chiefly for beef. ”