SOME OF THE SITTYTON SHORTBORNS AND THEIR ORIGINALS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 6

SOME OF THE SITTYTON SHORTBORNS AND THEIR ORIGINALS.

The Barmpton Roses were obtained from Colonel Townley, and were bred with great success from 1864 to the close. The purchase was Butterfly's Pride, by Royal Butterfly. She was in calf to the Bates bull Second Duke of Wharfedale, and pioduced Butterfly's Joy in due course. This kind of breeding had two crosses of Duchess bulls, so it may be called a tribe of mixed bleeding. This was the foundation on wliich Colonel Townely's famous herdsman, Joe Culsha-w, bred the most beautiful shorthorns of their day. He was not only a good trainer and feeder, but he was well able to select his animals for mating, and when he got what he wanted he could not only feed well to keep them in show-yard form, but he could keep them breeding regularly. The famous bulls Master Butterfly and Royal Butterfly, which won everything before them in England, Scotland, and Ireland, were always kept in high condition, yet they bred satisfactorily. His cows won in all the leading shows, yet they continued to breed, and produced many winners. The bull Frederick, which appears in this pedigree, demands prominent notice. He was the maker of the Townley herd and of Clllshaw's reputation, and, strange as it may appear, he was such a shabby little bull that Coloney Townley would not use him, and Culshaw does- not seem to hare seen any merit in him. He was given to a tenant farmer to be let at Is a cow to the Townley tenantry, and was kept at this class of service for three years. Colonel Townley"* steward purchased a number of heifers by this bull out of nondesciipt cows for feeding, and they turned out such beauties that inquiiies were made as to their breeding by Colonel Townley, because they looked better than his purebreds. H& found they were by the despised little bull Frederick. He was brought home and largely used, with surprising results. Cnlshaw's reputation as a trainer is still fresh in the memories of those who saw him lead Master Butterfly. The stj'le and walk of the bull attracted the attention of all. The great secret of his success in bringing out his animals in such style was the unlimited use of milk, and it is said he trained his bull to lead in a large barn, where he placed sheaves of straw on the floor to make them lift their feet. Master Butterfly always had the gait of a beast walking over sheaves. He lifted his feet well and reached them out. The tribe was descended from Robert Colling's Roses, which made very high prices at his sale in. 1818. The purchase of the Barmpton Roses was due to their great success in the leading shows. Mr Anthony Cruickshank favoured fashionable blood, and being a rich man could afford to pay for it. This is the only fashionable tribe which met the approval of Amos. The Victorias (bought by Anthony) Amos did not like. The Duchess, at the great sal© at Kirklevin-gton, he would not buy, much to the regret of his more -enterprising brother. Amos seems to have liked the Roses from the first. Butterfly's Joy bred the great stock bull Ben Wyoss (30,528), by Caesar Augustus ; her daughter. Butterfly's Delight, bred Barmpton Prince to Viceroy, and the still greater favourite Barmpton was a son of Barmpton Flower and Royal Duke of Gloster. He was much used in the herd, and sired several great animals. The tribe at Sittyton were never numerous, and seemed to have almost passed away when the herd was sold in 1889. Of the Sittyton Barmpton Roses, the only animals brought to Ireland having the blood were Lord SLjyor, and of course his son, the invulnerable Sign of Riches. All their descendants have it, and are, happily, numerous. This came through the famous bull Gravesend, a grandson of Barmpton, so that the Colling Rose blood was not strong in Lord Mayor, being only one-eighth.