The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-07-30
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From the Keoavee Courier.
History OF Short Horn Cattle, and Their
Value.
Next to the horse, the cow is justly valued
as the most useful animal which man has been
able to domesticate and retain permanently IN
his SERVICE and yet it is strange to see how
they are neglected and abused; receiving less
care and attention than almost any animal we
have. They are turned loose in the spring and
summer to roam the woods and pick what they
can get, and in the fall and winter they are
turned in the fields to ruin the land by tramp
ing it to death. Try it one year by feeding
them under nice, warm shelter, where they
can enioy both their rest and food, instead OF
leaving it in the fields, and you will be aston
ished at the condition of your stock, increased
production of your land, accumulation OF ma
9ure and increase of milk and butter, which
will more than repay you for your services and
attention. In the spring, ask your nelghbor
over to look at your stock, and help haul out
YOUR manure But it is not only requisite that
they should have good warm shelter and
plenty to eat, but also put in charge OF per-
son Of character, ON whom the utmost reliance
can be placed, for the act of milking is one
which requires great caution, for IT not careful,
~ ana properly uoue, 'ho quan'a.J oA ~ !" -
be diminished, and the quality inferior, for to
q person whom they dislike, they never give
their milk freely.
Whatsoever differences of opinion may pre-
vail respecting the comparative merits of our
several breeds of cattle, it must be admitted
that the Short Horn present themselves to no.
tice under circumstances of peculiar interest.
Possessing in an eminent degree combination
of qualities which have generally been consld-
cred incompatible, and rendered irresistibly
attractive to the eye by their splendid frames
and beautifully varied colors, it is not surpris-
ing that they have become objects of public
curiosity; that they have realized for their
breeders enormous sums of money, and that
throughout our own land, and in every foreign
country where agriculture is attended to, they
are in increasing request. 1t might tend TO
throw much light on the science of feeding and
breeding, could these animals be traced in
the progress of their improvement. Of the
extent Of that Improvement we may form an
estimate by placing together one OF the I'M
proved and one of the unimproved race. You
will find great difference between the North
ern and Western cattle, the Western being
much superior and commanding higher prices,
with the exception Of the New York Mills
Herd, as the climate and pasturage suit them
better. Ohio has obtained the highest price
ever paid for bull. They generally buy COWS
from the Northern sales to keep up their stock,
thus avoiding the system of breeding IN too
much. The earliest periods OF which we have
any account of our breeds Of cattle, the coun-
ties of York and Durham have been celebrated
for their Short Horns, but principally IN the
first instance On account of their reputation
as extraordinary mixers, at that particular
time, they found their way to England, but by
%bo1y IS
there is tradition that, towards the close OF
the seventeenth century, bull and some COWS
were introduced into Holderness. In color,
they resembled the improved Short Horns be-
ing occasionally red, red and white, white and
roam, though the last named color was not then
so prevalent as now the white, in all probabil-
ity, they obtained 'from being crossed on the
white wild breed.
The Short Horns continued to sustain their
excellence and celebrity in various hands, until
Mr.. Charles Ceilings adopted them, when he
manifested superiority of skill as breeder,
which, in a very brief period, secured him a
large fortune. Whatever had been the merits
of the Short Horns, Mr.. Ceilings greatly i'm
proved them, both in form and milking quail
ties, and though it has been asserted by some
that his success was the result OF chance,
arising from the possession of an animal, Hab-
back, with the merits of which, it is supposed,
he was at one period unacquanted, but others
are of the opinion that Mr.. Ceilings success
resulted from deliberate and we'll considered
plan. He avoided the system of breeding in
and in too much, by judciously cropping on
other STOCK and was sensible, also, of the diff
Guilty of. breeding, with anything like a GER
tainty, large, good animals. 1t seems to have.
been his aim, though, to reduce the size of his
breed, aHd, atthe same time and by that,means,
to improve its FORM This he is supposed to
have effected in the first instance, through the
medium Of bull, called Hanback,, an animal
respecting which, there has been much contrO-
versy, principally touching the purity of his
blood-a question now of little Importance.
Mr. Ceilings sale having settled the public
Judgment and taste-obtaining higher price
than any other breeder for his stock. The
origin of the Duchess Short Horn, famous
strain of cattle, which have become so popular,
and sell at such enormous prices one COW of
New York Mills Herd having brought forty
thousand dollars, are descended from Charles
Collings' Herd, Thomas Bates having bought
of Ceilings two COWS, one in 1904 and one in
$780, Mr. Bates selected this tribe from hav-
ing found that they were great powers, quick
feeders, with fine qualities of meat. consuming
little food in proportion to the progress they
made, and also from finding that they were
equally remarkable as great mixers; the first
cow he bought gave seven gallons Of milk per
day, and the milk yielded eighteen pounds of
butter in week. 1t has been frequently as
serted that the Short Horns are bad mixers;
indeed, that no sort of cattle are SO deficient
in milk, but this deficiency does not proceed
from the COWS being Of the Short Horns. Had
the flesh been neglected as much as the milk,
and the property of giving milk as much
would have been deep mixers. 1t would be
to desire an impossibility to desire the full
development of flesh, fat, and milk at the same
time. But there is no large secretion of flesh
and fat at one time, and large secretion of
milk at another, from the same COW, for it is