OUR ANIMAL ARISTOCRACY

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1899, Page 4 (Supplement)

OUR ANIMAL ARISTOCRACY

'. Pedigree among our domestic animals is an undoubted sign of worth, and each year its claims receive more practical recognition, both in this country, and by the great prices paid by buyers irom every pare of the globe to secure these distinguished alliances for their own flocks and. herds, in ranche, estancia, sheep-ran, or breedingstud! The almanac of the Live Stock Journal for 1897 is a kind of animal Debrett and Court Circular, recording the families, fortunes, and alliances of these high-born creatures, their entrance and debviu iii the new worlds which they are sent to conquer ; and the facts and figures suggest even more than the context in which they arc found. Pedigree is not the main topic, or even one of the side subjects, of tho work. Bufc the whole value of these highly prized creatures really depends upon this, and from the first article on '"Marske ' and his Descendants," in which the family tree runs back exactly to the middle of the last century, to the records of the most recent experiments in Canada and Australia, this purity of blood is the secret of success and value. ,In Canada, for instance, the whole of the vast stock of sheep comes, or came originally, from English stock. So, for that matter, did tlje clover, now übiquitous on Canadian soil, on which these sneep are largely fed. But of all the breeds, those found most adaptable to all circumstances are the most " improved " and highly bred of all, the Border Leicester sheep. It is far easier to breed successfully from thoroughbred creatures, whose pedigree and family qualities are recorded, than from animals whose ancestry is imperfectly known ; and if, as Mr. Francis Galton states, one-half only of animal characteristics are derived from the two parents, while the rest depends on ancestry, the aid given by pedigrees and records to the improvement of all domestic animals is still more evident. The greater part of our animal aris- i tocracy does not trace its history further back than the beginning of the century. Many of the most famous breeds and families were not regularly entered on the rolls until the present reign ; some are even "recent creations." But the data so obtained have been used with such skill and scientific precision by our owners and farmers as almost to create new species in some cases ; while in most tho improvement has been so astonishing that the rest of >the world is content to come here and purchase and learn without attempting as yet to dispute their supremacy. . At the same time, English buyers of cattle, sheep, tyid horses do not go beyond our own coasts to purchase a single animal, except to an outlying dominion in the Channel ' Islands, where pedigree cattle flourish in excelsis, and whence they are regularly imported to give " fineness " to their cousins living on our fatter pastures, -where the subtle influence of climate and soil coarsens the fibre of these, the Arabs of the bovine race. As might be expected, the great prices, the prizes for our live-stock breeders, are mainly paid by foreigners. Their desire to possess, and inability to obtain elsewhere, stock whose perfection of shape is guaranteed to descendants by a known and distinguished past is shown in the year's history of all the famous breeds. The highest price ever paid for a sheep in England was given for a Lincoln ram sold in July. There was to be an international show at Buenos Ayres in September, and the contest was between those who wished to keep this famous sheep in England and the Argentine buyers. The English bid up to 960 guineas, but Argentina won with 1000 guineas. Some 5000 costly sheep of this one breed are annually sent abroad from this country. Canada, Argentina, and the United States are the chief purchasers. Australia buys largely, but also seems by now to have created its own class of sheep from Merinos and Lincolns, some of which look as if overgrown with deep moss from muzzle to feet, so thick and fine is the wool. Their appearance is like that 'of some new species of animal. Three rams averaging £472 each, ten rams averaging £5287 14s each, single rams at 350 guineas, 200 guineas, £152, 130 guineas, 235 guineas are examples of the value of English pedigree sheep. Hundreds sell at high prices, and great though the foreign demand is, numbers of the best are purchased in England to maintain or better this national industry of producing the "golden fleece." Those who, for the first time, visited the Cattle Show in the Agricultural Hall must hare admired not only the beauty of the cattle, but the absolute trueness to type obtained in the different breeds. The red Devons. the red Sussex cattle, the red hornless Suffolk and Norfolk steers, so alike in general colour, were distinguished by a correspondence' in each breed of the most minute points, which showed the complete separation maintained by our breeders between races which a chance observer might imagine were only varieties of the same breed. It is this continuity and stability of character, form, and even temperament, in our long list of pedigree breeds of cattle which creates and augments the demands for the finest specimens from beyond the Atlantic, and in other countries of Europe. Take, for instance, the" Hereford cattle. These have long horns, dark-red coats, white faces, and a mild disposition, and prow fat by feeding on natural grasses. The vast increase of pedigree^ cattle of the finest quality has sunk the individual prices in the general level-ling-up caused by the all-round improvement in our herds during the present reign. But the story of the Herefords during the past twelve months is a type of what has occurred in the history of other breeds. "Buyers from all parts of the civilised world, but especially from the two continents of America, Have come to England wfth all speed in order to secure the valuable Herefords ,to cross with their native cattle on their estates. The Hereford is partictilarly adapted for certain countries where grass is abundant, such as the pampas of the Argentine and Banda. Oriental* the plains of Texas, and the prairies in Canada on this side of the Rocky Mountains." Twenty-five pedigree bulls wore shipped to the vast estates of Liebiefa Extract of Meat Company on the Uruguay, and scores at nthers. to the es«

tancias of other famous companies, or well known Argentine proprietors. Ex-Presi-dents compete Avith English peers in buying these costly cattle. The least expected names occur in the lists of purchasers. Where but in the annals of this patriarchal industiy could one expect to find that Heir Padarewski, the famous pianist, has a taste for buying Highland cattle, and is a connoisseur of Herefords, and recently purchased a bull and three heifers to improve the cattle which roam on his estates in Galicia? High prices are still made occasionally, while there always seems a ready and profitable sale for well - bred stock. " Old herds," again, have the advantage ; 410 guineas was given for a shorthorn heifer for the Argentine, with nearly sixty years' pedigree in the same herd, which had itself been of aristocratic origin I 200 guineas, 205 guineas, 126 guineas for a young bull calf, 300 guineas (paid by General Roca, President of the Argentine Republic), are among the best shorthorn prices. " The export" trade has been excellent throughout the year." It pays at both ends of the journey. In Canada a number of these imported shorthorns were sold, after undergoing ninety days' quarantine at Halifax, and six days' railway journey to the place of sale. Eleven imported bulls fetclied £90 a piece, or nearly double the price of those bred in Canada. " Refinement and high quality " continue to mark the excellent little Jersey cattle. They have beaten, on their merits, the whole multitude of English, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish cows for producing butter in the trials now held at shows, mainly by the efforts of the Jersey Herd Society. As Australia is now turning its attention to butter produce and dairy farming, Jersey cattle are being purchased for that distant continent. These little cattle are now not onty numerous but cheap, a fact wholly to the advantage of the public. Only one cloud mars the satisfaction of the breeders of pedigree cattle for export. Science has invented the "tuberculin test," and foreign Governments and buyers insist on its application. It is very expensive. Eightyseven cattle cost their exporters £210 6s 4d for " testing " before leaving London. When arrived on the other side of the ocean they are tested again, and it frequently happens that, after the voyage, fatigue, and change 'of air, Some reaction is produced which leads to the purchase being repudiated. Our latest, and for the moment most successful creation in a commercial sense, is the shire horse. Here, too, the English breeder makes high prices and good profits, and for the present he finds most of his customers in this country. Motor-cars, oil, steam, and electric, have not yet replaced the shire horse, or lessened the demand for his massive, docile, and genial presence. "Two of him" do the work which three horses did twenty years ago, and the costly stableroom of the third is saved. There is no "boom" from abroad, and no craze at home ; only an improving demand, and an improving supply. We think the prices for sires hardly justified, as the average produce sell for about £70 apiece. But, on the other hand, this year has shown an increase of £8 lls 4d per head in the animals sold. Instances of high prices for breeding stock were, at Lord Rothschild's Sale, 430 guineas, 510 guineas, and 700 guineas. No less than 950 guineas was paid for a stallion at Nailstone, and the Prince of Wales closed the season with four record prices for averages, total amount, and prices for mares and yearlings. Seabreeze sold for 1150 guineas, and three mares for 600, 850, and 500 guineas respectively. There are good grounds for thinking that this national industry of breeding pedigree stock is likely to maintain its place for many years. Prices will become lower as the number of pedigree animals increases. But the best will always sell dear, the volume of the demand will increase, and there is no chance in sight of the American, or Australian, or New Zealand owners of flocks and herds competing in this special branch. They work on too large, wholesale, and wide a scale for success in this line. They cannot give to breeding the minute attention and earnest thought of the six hundred or thousand acre owner in the Old Country. It is here that they must come to procure animals which are " works of art " ; and they must pay for them. — Spectator.