HISTORIC PRICES FOR SHORTHORNS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2695, 8 November 1905, Page 7

HISTORIC PRICES FOR SHORTHORNS.

Mr John .Downing, who' kept -one of the leading herds of shorthorns in' lreland (at Ashfield, near, in the seventies, and at^whose dispersal sale some*very xemSrkable 'prices =were'Tealised for ' heifer.s, to the Live Stock, JournaLsome interesting, xeminiscences of the jiart {played byjhe Hon. M. _H. • Cochrane, . of Hillhurst. near Quebec, in the history of the shortlorn- during the years- of the 1 big boom ■which 'culminated so disastrously for many treeders'^during the bad times of the earlyeighties. Many-^years ago, long before the high prices which were reached by shorthorns in the seventies came into vogue, Mr Cochrane visited England determined to buy some of the most renowned shorthorns in the country, and, as events proved, ready to pay for them prices which up to then had been unheard of by admirers of ihe "red, white, and roan.'" To Colonel Gunter he gave 1000 guineas for the beautiful Duchees XCVTL Then he visited Mr T. C. Booth at Warlaby, and to him ■he paid 1500 guineas for Lady Grateful, that exquisite cow which was own sister to the unconquered Lady Fragrant, which feeat All England for three successive years. JTor Bride of the Vale, which Mr William Wetherell thought one of the best heifers he ever saw, Mr Cochrane gave Mi- Booth a, cheque for 1000 guineas. Mr Raymond •Bruere next came into the running, and got 500 guineas for a pretty youngster of the Vesper tribe, a price previously unheard of for a member of that nice family. On a subsequent visit to England Mr Cochrane went again to Mr Wetherell, and ■purchased two in-calf Duchesses for 1000 guineas apiece. All these he got out in safety to his Canadian • headquarters at Eillhurst, and tlie two Duchesses proiduced heifer calves which the plucky Lord ©unmore coveted, and eventually purchased at the same price as was paid Colonel Gunter for their, dams— namely, 1000 guineas each. Tr, 1P.70. Al\. rV,,.ViT. Q T,A foH- witli ni? t,hf»

prescience of a statesman who sees a long way in frcnt, that shorthorn prices were soon to drop, and he concluded that the wise man would be he who got out of shorthorns while prices were high. He therefore .determined to sell his entire herd in England, and he made arrangements to charter a special steamer to bring the herd bodily across the Atlantic to the home of their ancestors. Where would they be sold? On this point he consulted the Tattersall of shorthorns, who at once proceeded to lay his plans for a successful and sensational coup. In the autumn of 1879 the Rev. Thomas Stanif orth, of Storrs Hall, on the shore of Lake Windermere, fixed his sale day, and Mr Thornton made arrangements to ' hold the sale of Mr Cochrarie's herd on the day preceding the Storrs sale.

A very large company assembled at Mr Cochrane's sale^ a, company which comprised nearly every mai> of the first rank of shorthorn breeders in Great Britain and •Ireland. Two yearling heifers ol the Duchess tribe sold at immense prices — one went to Lord Bective for 4400 guineas, and the other was. bought by Mr R. Lodes for 4300 guineas. A somewhat rough cow of the Bruere Vesper sort went to Ireland at 1000 guineas, and a handsome roan heifer, of the same blood went at 700 guineas to Mr Alfred Dai'by, of Shropshire. It was altogether a wonderful sale ; Mr Cochrane must have slept well that night on the lovely and peaceful shore of Lake Windermere.

The. Warlaby bull Royal" Commander was for private sale, and wa6 quartered safely at West Dereham Abbey, the seat of .Mr Hugh Aylmer. "For this bull," writes Mr Downing, "I bid Mr Gochrane 1000 guineas, as I wished to put him to Vain* Hope's stock. Mr Thornton undertook his' sale. After my return to County Cork I.Jiad. a wire to tell me that three breeders had each offered 1000 guineas for B'oyal Commander, and to ask me to increase my offer. The highest offer by the wire -was to secure the bull! I replied that, unfortunately, foot-and-mouth disease had just appeared in my herd, and, therefore, declared off. The bull eventually went to Lady Pigot and Mr Hugh Aylmer at 1150 guineas."