The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-28
HORNLESS DURHAM CATTLE
PROGRESS IN DEVELOPING
THE POLLED SPECIES

THE POLLED SPECIES
How n New Type of General Purpose
Cow Without Horns Has Been
EVoIved-Their characteristics
and Advantages - Interesting
correspondence as to Their Or
igin.
The advantages OF horness cattle have
been recognized by breeders and particularly
~ shippers. SO considerable is the interest
existing in the subject that the removal
# horns, either in the infancy OF the ami
nal or at some later period, in the first IN
stance by the application of chemicals, and
n the second by the use of instruments, that
The practice Is coming to be more and more
common. The poIed or hornless black and
red Angus are popular both from the fac.
hat while horGless they are also represen-
ives Of the best types, and at the same time
by no means inferior mixers. Time was
when the old-fashioned ''mu.ey" COW was re-
garded as a sort of black sheep" in the
flock, an Irshman migh, say. No mater
how gentle she might be, or how nearly
she filed the pail with milk, she was
garded as an oddly or freak. But all this
has passed away, and the time has come when
scientists are endeavoring to deve.ope a breed
combining the milk and beef type for gen
eral purpose" uses. In this connection some
recently co!lated facts in regard to the po-led
u horn.esS Durham or Short Horn cattle will
prove interesting.
The Rural New Yorker has. through CORE
spondence, tried to ascertain the origin OF the
pOlled Durhams and how they compare with
other cattle. The following is some OF the
information brought oct in the replies
J. NJ. Hughes, of Luray, To-, says that the
originator OF the breed was lakewood
Gwynne 18th. a registered Short-horn COW
and imperfect horns, and she produced twin
heifers that had perfect polled heads These
Gwynne, ana from them has come the stock
which produced the Polled Durham. Mr..
Hughes says there are some Polled Durhams,
so-cailed. which originated from the native
.nulley COW, and which really high grades,
because they have large per cent of Short
horn blood, they are accepted in the Polled
herdbook. MI. Hughes cattle are all record
ed il both Short-horn herdbook and Polled
Durham herdbook and the only noticeable
difference between the pure Short-horn and
Poiied Short-horn is that the latter are nat
urally hoTness; in fact, there has been no
other breed mixed with them.
o. C. Halstead, OF Rensselaer,, Ind, says
there are several families of Poled Dur
udlAiSs hOlnt pA WHICH are pure SnOrt-nOrnS
that are naturally hornless None are ad-
mitted to register If they have other than
Short-horn blood, except, it may be, the Ma
ing the Red Poll or the Black Scotch
cattle would not be accepted. The Poiled
Durhamse are a beef breed, and have the
doclle habits Of the Short-horn. For this
reason, Mr.. Halstead prefers them to any
other polled breed.
John Baker, of Plymouth, Ind, says that
most of the Poiled Durhams were bred from
the common mllley COW, and the Short-horn
bull. Hornless heifers were saved and breu
pack 10 the Short-norn until the calves con-
tanned 80 per cent OF Short-horn blood. With
this per cent of the blood, they can be regis
tered. Mr.. Baker says that about 30 per
cent OF the calves come hornless and he
considers them superior to the Red Polls or
the Black Scotch cattle. By breeding the
hornlesS bulls 10 ShOrt-horn cows the calves
can be recorded at one year old. provide,
they are horness. The pure Short-horn
Without horns. which were descended from
called the Polled Short-horn or double stand,
ard. as they may be recorded in both herd
books. Double standard cattle are, of course
preferred t. the other, although for practical
purposes, the Polled Durhams are about as
uses One great advantage with these cat
ue Is the fact that they can be crossed with
the Shoft-horns. and produce high grades
with the Short-horn marks, and not produce
mongrel, too often the case when the
other polled breeds are used
L. E. Jones, of Rob Roy, Ind, SAYS that
IN the single standard Polled Durhams, about
SO -@r cent of the calves will be Dolis, and
a larger per cent in each succeeding cross.
He has no fault to find with either Red or
Black Polled cattle. but as compared with
the Black Polls, the Polled Durhams are
equal to them in beef quality and superior
for milk They are equal to the Red Polls
as mixers and superior for beef. He thinks
that the double standard Polled Durham. be-
ing a pure Short-horn without horns will
make the ideal general-purpose COW, and he
cons ders that this is the coming breed.
SON. o.. writing to the same journal, enters
somewhat into the details of breeding in or
der to get rid of the horns by natural evo.
luton. He says:
In producing these cattle, the object of the
breeders mas been to produce all the charac-
terlstcS OF the Shorthorn minus the horns A
strong prejudice existed against the polled or
mulley cattle, by cattle dealers but by study
ing the many advantages or hornless stock,
such disposition, less danger of injury
to other stock and to themselves land l might
say to mani, feeding and sheltering in close
YARDS, and in shipping, the breeders were
taught me TACT that the horns must go. The
Angus ana Galloway cattle were Objectionable
on account of their color the Red Pooled
on account OF their size, so the breeders
concluded that the native muIiey or grade
thu-Iey cow was the starting point; so select
ing a few native mulley cows of good size
ana form, very likely graded with Shor,horn
blood the breeders started out by breeding
these mulley cows and their polled progeny
were bred to Shorthorn bulls for three cross:s
saving only the heifer calves that came up
to The standard. These third-cross heifers
were then bred to a third-cross poIled hui
making slight inbreeding here, but strength,
en-ng the polled characteristic The heifers
from this inbre5ding that came up to the
S standard, were then bred to the Shorthorn
pulls again, casting off as before; these cat
tie can row show from t. 10 losses of short
horn blood.
-, Especial care has been taken to improve
the milking qualities of this breed SO tbst
cows OF our herd are above the average short
norm cows forN milk. The Polled Durhans
may well be considered the general-purnose
COWS. These cattle are gentle and orderly in
ulsPoslton' their color is red and roam, their
SIZE ana form are that of the Shortborn
An association has been formed known as
me american Polled Durham Breeders asso
clatlon, and the first volume of the herdbo9lr
is now out. j. H. Miller, or Mexico, Ind, is
secretary. Since the origin of this breed
there has sprung out of Shorthorn herd q
sport or freak of nature in the shane of
puTe-bred Shorthorn, born without horns: this
Dull was kept and used with good results In
some of the herds. III