SHORTHORN COWS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 105, 15 April 1933, Page 4

SHORTHORN COWS

HISTORY OF THE BREED. A DUAL PURPOSE ANIMAL. The early history of the Shorthora is 01' particular interest to dairy farmers, since it shows what can bo done by skilful heeding with a definite objective in view. As a result of hereditary transmission, intensified by the activities of Bates and other early breeders, the Shorthorn to-day produces an abundance of milk, and in this respect is not equalled by any other breed of beef cattle. This characteristic has served to produce two groups, or classes, of Shorthorns, the beef type and the dual-purpose type, but even the beef Shorthorn surpasses all other breeds in the quantity of milk furnished to its offspring. There is some doubt as to the original- home of the breed, and while it is generally accepted that the birthplace of the Shorthorn was at Durham and North Yorkshire, some historians claim to have traced it to a Dutch foundation. The probabilities are, however, that the Shorthorn is a truly English breed, with, posibly, infusions of outside blood. In the early part of the nineteenth century there was intense rivalry between English breeders of Shorthorns, when two distinct lines had been developed. While some breeders had been seeking the production of the massive Shorthorn with the beef trait supreme to all other considerations, Bates and others had been developing the milking trait, although at the same time, giving due consideration to the essentials of beef production. Apart from Thomas Bates the most notable of the early breeders of Milking Shorthorns were the Colling brothers and Amos Cuickshank. Their work and that of their successors has resulted in the building up of a dual-purpose animal which may be moulded into a type in which either the beef or dairy characteristics may predominate. The general tendency of the breed is towards the putting on of beef, but, in the hands of a skilful breeder, it may be maintained as a highly productive dairy animal.