The Cecil Whig., 1880-05-29

lay on 4 greater proportional weight of
flesh up to these periods, than can be
done by feeding them longer, and it is
then of extra quality. Still, in some in
stances, these bullocks can be kept till
three years old. and pay fairly for the
food consumed, but rarely beyond this,
if properly bred and fed from birth up.
They may then attain 4 weight of 60
600 pounds or more. Out of curiosity
and to make great show, an animal has
now and then been fed on till five or six
years old, attaining the enormous weight
of 5000 to nearly 1000 pounds; but do
ing this is usually attended with consid-
cradle loss to the owner: and the beef
does not prove of SO tender and savory Il
quality Us when brought to the sham
bles at an earlier age.
In all our unimproved cattle it requires
five to six years to bring them up to the
weights of Short-horn steers at eighteen
| to twenty-four months old. Thus in
breeding the latter in preference to the
former there is 4 great saving of time in
maturing the animals. also economy in
feed, less risk of disease and death, and
4 saving of interest on the capital en-
ployed in the business of rearing and
grazing them. Added to this, the flesh
of the latter is SO superior it invariably
fetches higher price in market, and is
more certain of a quick sale.
Aside from his superiority as beef
producer, the Short-horn enjoys the i'm
portant advantage Of being the most gen.
erally usctul of all his species. No other
bull equals him in the great and rapid
improvement he makes in his progeny
when crossed on the common cows of the
country, and especially those of the half
wild Texas race. Short-horn females
also, when bred for the dairy. equal the
best of other sorts i'll the quantity and
quality of their milk. and the excellence
and amount of butter and cheese made
from it; and excel greatly in quickness
and economy of fattening, when dried off
at advanced age for this purpose. Their
beef also proves OF superior quality to
that of most cows.
| The colors of Short horn cattle are
greatly admired, and to the aesthetic eye
are the most desirable of all. They vary
from pure white to light and deep
bright strawberry roam, red and white in
ditferent-sized patches, and pure red.
The skin is a rich yellow, with an orange
colored nose rim round the eyes. The
horns are short. and project generally
from the head with graceful in and
down curve. Nothing in the bovine spe-
cies equals herd of these in majestic
presence: and no animals are more orna-
mental reposing in the gentleman park
or wandering and cropping the succulent
grass of the grazier's pasture. They are
justly termed s. the aristocracy of cattle -
Short horns in considerable numbers
began to be imported into America from
England in 1917. and have continued
more or less up to the present time.
They have been fertile here. and bred in
such perfection as to find many English
purchasers for their progeny, at extraor-
dinarily high prices, to be taken back to
the country of their ancestors. The first
| llerd-book for the record of their pedi-
grecs was got up in 1916 by Mr.. Lewis
f. Allen, of Buffalo. Nineteen volumes
of this standard work are now published,
recording upward of 81, 500 bulls and A.
600 cows of thorough bred stock. Aside
carelessness of breeders, considerable
number (probably II, 600 animals), in the
United States and Canada, have not yet
been entered, which greatly lessons their
value when offered for sale, as those who
desire to purchase improved animals usu-
ally require authentic printed records of
their breeding.
AS high grade and full bred Sh.rt- horn
steers are found to make such excellent
| beef, and prove SO acceptable in their eX-
ira size, sound constitution. and hardi-
|
sought for to export to Europe. 1t is
fortunate that we possess the material in
hand now to produce these abundantly.
| yet still hardly fast enough 10 supply the
rapidly increasing demand for exporta-
ton to Europe. These, combined with
other things, may well encourage a con-
tinued extension of railroads through the
great West. and the settlement and
stocking the vast open plains and numer-
GUS sheltered valleys there, crowned with
rich, nutritious grass enough to rear mil
lions upon millions of cattle beyond our
present production.
| The Hereford equals the Short-horn in
size, hardness, and constitution. and
gives as good beef. but he has a thicker
hide. and rather more bone and ot1al; nor
does he mature quite so early. or make
SO rapid improvement in his progeny
when crossed upon other races With
these slight dement's in comparison with
the Short horn, he possesses the advan-
tage-at least in his own native home of
England, where grass is more abundant,
and continues longer in season, than in
America-of being the more profitable
of the two for grazing. No other breed,
perhaps, makes beef of superior quail
ity, or gains So rapidly on grass alone as
the Hereford; he therefore has the pref
erence above all others for rearing and
fattening at pasture solely. This well
fits him for assisting to stock our vast
Western plains and the colder valleys of
the Rocky Mountains; and in these local
tiles he is now winning considerable favor
for the production of bullocks.
The cows generally are not suitable for
the dairy they giving usually only suffi-
cient milk to rear their calves till old
enough to get their living on grass. But
this best accommodates their breeders,
especially at the West, where the calf is
allowed to run with the dam to suck at
will, as the least expensive and trouble
some method of rearing it.
AS to the general color of the Here
ford, the greater part of the body is a
dark red, with a line back. white face.
throat, breast, and part of the belly and
legs Some breeders, however, prefer
more red on their cattle. a brockled face