The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-10-07
SHORTHORN CATTLE.
The Qualities and Characteristics ofAmer>
lean Pedigree Shorthorns.

The number of breeders of thorough
bred pedigree Shorthorns in the United
States. its Territories, and Canada can
be safely estimated at full four thous-
and. with herds of half dozen to sew
al scores of cattle each. They extend
all over North America between the
Atlantic and Pacific shores, and to the
lower southern States, Texas, and New
Mexico, wherever climate and soil are
suitable and proper forage is produced
for their sustenance, and in numbers
too large for accurate estimate. Al
though considerable numbers of other
good flesh-producing breeds for several
years past have been imported from
abroad and successfully bred, chiefly
in the western States, in competition
with the Shorthorns, the demand for
Shorthorn bulls is greater than that for
all other breeds, to cross upon and ele-
vate the quality OF common cattle, not
in their own localities, but also for the
extensive grazing ranches of the farther
West, to improve the beef quality of the
coarse bovines long existing there.
Many hundreds of young Shorthorn
bulls are annually taken to the ranches
for breeding purposes.
When not fatted to excess, it is distri-
buted all over the carcass, finely mar
bled in combination of fat and lean.
They mature to profitable slaughter as
veal calves at six or eight weeks old of
much greater weight than common on
equal supplies of milk from the udders
of their dams The steers at two and
half years old, when properly fed, at
tain a live weight of 1,500 to 1,600
pounds. and are ripe for the shambles.
At three to three and half years they
attain a live weight of even 1000
pounds, after which longer feeding is
seldom profitable. The American ex-
ports to Europe-Great Britain chiefly
for the six months of the year 1885 of
live bullocks was more than $4,000
head, aside from the largely increased
weight of dead carcasses in quarters of
fresh beef, almost exclusively of Short
| horn blood, the quality most salable in
foreign markets. The best beef for con-
sumption in our American cities and
towns is also of Shorthorn blood, and
commands price considerably above
that of common cattle.
For longevity and hardihood in all
climates where used they are remark
able in both sexes. Numerous bulls
both in England and America might be
named which have continued successful
sires to twelve, fifteen, and even more
years of age. The American bull. Baron
of Oxford 1925, bred by Mr. Becor on
Long Island, one of the most successful
sires, maintained his vigor until nearly
fourteen years old, when fatal acci-
dent befel him.
The cows, as mixers, when bred and
educated for the dairy, have proved
equal to any other breeds, their docility
of disposition and lymphatic tempera-
ment highly promoting their lacteal
product. In England from their earli-
est days large numbers of them have
proved extraordinary mixers and but
ter yielders, and in the metropolitan
dairies for milk supply. as well as on
farms for cheese and butter production,
they are extensively used. In their ear
lier importations to America, the COWS,
as a rule, were abundant mixers. as
many now continue to be; but their
early and rapid tendency to flesh, more
particularly in the western beef-pro-
ducing States, has led to neglect of
their dairy qualities, butter and cheese
production there being less followed
than in many other localities. Yet in
thoroughbrcds, or high grades from ma
tive cows, they are largely bred and
kept for dairy use in many of our
States, and profitable through life on
| average pasture in summer and whole
| some keep in the colder months. Many
COWS might be named as continuing
constant breeders and large mixers un-
til fifteen, even twenty, years old, and
fatted into profitable carcasses of beef
at the end.-Le1Ots T. Allen, IN Harp
er's Magazine for SEPTEMBER.