DEVELOPED FROM FREAKS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17116, 23 November 1929, Page 15

DEVELOPED FROM FREAKS

POLLED HEREFORD BREED HISTORY OF ITS ORIGIN Recently Mr. F. E. Humphreys, of Ngntapa, secured the importation of a Polled Hereford bull, and the animal, after its period of quarantine at Wellington, arrived at its new home last week. This is the first Polled Hereford importation into New Zealand, and in view of this the story of the origin of the breed is of particular interest. On this poiut. Mr. Humphreys has supplied the following information: —

“Ilow did you get rid of the horns in the first place?” is a question frequently asked by those who are seeing and hearing of Polled Hercfords for the first time. This is the answer: They were developed from a few freaks of nature, or variations which appeared in purebred herds of horned l-lerefords. These freaks were hornless, although all their ancestors were purebred' horned Herefbrds. ' Just why ‘these particular' animals 'should fail to develop horns is as unexplainable as why a- child from normal parents should develop,an extra toe or finger, or a colt should be born with an .extra head or, leg, .pr any. other of; the so-called freaks of nature .should, occur. But though we cannot explain such freaks, we must recognise that they do occur more or loss frequently among both animals and plants. Recognising the fact that a hornless strain of purebred Hercfords would be a very desirable improvement, Mr. Warren Gammon, of lowa, in 1900, wrote to every member of the American Cattle Breeders’ Association, then numbering about 2500 members, asking if such a naturally hornless purebred Hereford had ever been dropped in any herd, to their know-, ledge. From among the nearly 1500 replies a few reportfcd such hornless cattle, and, all told, 14 such Polled or hornless Hercfords were located. Mr. Gammon bought all that were for sale, four bulls and seven females, ami from them as a foundation herd the present Polled Hercfords have been developed. GROWTH OF POLLED HERDS

Experiments' soon proved that when a polled bull was mated with horned cows, quite a large percentage of the calves would be hornless. This made it comparatively easy to develop the breed rapidly in numbers, for the freak bulls could lie used extensively on herds of honied cows. This was the method followed, and within a very few years the breed, or strain, had increased from the original 14 head to many hundreds.

Ten years after commencing operations 21)7 herds of Polled Hereford cattle were recorded. From 3DIG to .11)22 the number of herds Increaseo to 3600. In December, 11)01, the first animal was registered in the Polled Hereford Herd Book; on June 1, 11)22, 34,325 animals were registered; by April, 11*28, the numbers h:ul increased to 04,421 in the bull division alone. Of course all polled .females were mated back to polled bulls, and thus the polled, or hornless character was firmly fixed. Fortunately, when the first 14 freaks wore located, four of them were bulls, and these four were entirely unrelated to each other and to tin* females, so it has never been necessary to inbreed or breed closelyrelated cattle to each other in developing the breed. As noted before, most of tlie polled bulls, as they came to serviceable age, were put into herds of horned Hereford cows'. Observations over a number of years shows that when thus used polled males will sire from 50 to 95 per cent, polled calves. Some bulls have been used extensively, and have never sired any but hornless calves, but most bulls will throw a small percentage of horned calves, especially from horned dams.

ALL DESIRABLE CHARACTER ISTICS

From the facts stated above it will will Ire seen that double-standard Polled Hercfords are nothing more or less than purebred Hereford cattle that are naturally hornless or polled. They do not have any other blood than pure Hereford, and the only difference between them and the standard Hercfords is the lack of horns. They are all registered in the American Hereford Record, or Herd Book, just as the horned Hercfords are. They are not crossed with any other breed, and hence they can be expected to show all the desirable characteristics that have made the horned Hercfords famous wherever good beef cattle are produced.

A Polled Hereford bull can be used on an established herd of registered Hereford cows, and the calves can be registered in, the American Polled

Hereford Record, and thus become “Double Standard” Foiled Hercfords. The term “.Double Standard” refora to thU double, registration, and does not mean that the animal has both a polled sire and a polled dam. Both sire ami dam may be polled, or one may be horned, but. if the calf is entitled to registry iu both the American Hereford Record and the, Polled Hereford Record it is “Double Standard.”

DEMAND FOR POLLED BULLS In all the history of beef cattle in America no breed has ever grown so rapidly in popularity as the Polled Hercfords. When the horns were successfully bred off the standard Hereford, an improvement was wrought which appealed jo every man who handles beef cattle from the day of their birth to the day of their death. Instantly the beef cattle fraternity recognised the value of the hornless head, and instantly there was developed a demand for breeding stock. As fast as good polled bulls-were available they were purchased, and put into service in horned Hereford herds. Polled Hercfords are now being bred in 43 States of U.S.A., and in Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, Mexico and South America, with New Zealand as the latest addition to the list. They have proved their adaptability to ali countries and conditions, and are popular everywhere. This widespread popularity is based upon the very real advantages that go with the polled head, combined with tihe well-bred Hereford’s hardiness and propensity to fatten at an early age., Every cattle man recognises these advantages. ITp knows that in a breeding herd lie will have less loss from injuries due to hooking and goring; that he will save the shrinkage that accompanies dehorning; that he will eliminate the very unpleasant, annual task of sawing off the horns from the young cattle; that he, will not bo endangered in the handling of the herd, and not. risk having the children, the womenfolk, the horses and other cattle subjected to the danger of injury if he keeps only hornless cattle. Three years ago a heifer calf was born, naturally polled, in the herd of Mr. Jefferson, Wairoa. Both hoi sire and dam were .registered iu the New Zealand Hereford Herd Book.