THE DOMINION’S STOCK,

Southland Times, Issue 19123, 15 December 1923, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE DOMINION’S STOCK,

THE SHORTHORN BREED. ITS THREE TYPES. ANOTHER MELBA IN AUSTRALIA. (By X Breeder.) An evolution is taking place in the Shorthorn breed. At one time the English dual purpose type was the ideal, but in New Zealand it is no longer the type bred for by the great mass of breeders. Canterbury, true to its descent, still sticks to the old type, but nobody outside that Province today wants the Canterbury or dual purpo.se type. This is well recognised in that province by those not ruled'by either sentiment or bigotry. The conditions in England are so different from the general run of New Zealand conditions that it can readily be seen there is small room, if any, here for a two-purpose animal. In England this type is used for keeping up the supply of milk for the large city and suburban population. A dual-purpose Shorthorn cow just coming to the calving costs £5O to £6O. The calf is early sold as a vealer for 25 per cent, of the cost of the dam. The good cows of this type milk well, being kept empty, but when they begin to go stale the owner hastens the fattening process by feeding a suitable ration. The cows are stall fed, so that the best can be got cut of them either way. Then when they are fat they realise practically the purchase price for beef, and sometimes more. Here, an entirely different method has to be followed. The requirements of the local population are not sufficient to exert any influence on our methods. We are an exporting country, and cur activities on the farm are governed accordingly. We export principally dairy products. This has resulted in specialisation, and such a system has resulted in the need of the specialised type of dairy cow. The evolution of this type was not our work. Originally it was the work of the Scotchman with .his Ayrshire cow, the Islander with his Jerseys and Guernseys, the Dutchman with some of the Friesian cattle, and marching step fcr step with us, 'the Amercans and Canadians have continued the work with the breeds named. Shorthorns too, have changed. The dual-pur-pose Shorthorn with its rather slow maturing power for beef production, has been vastly improved by the Scotchmen who evolved from it the blccky deep-set early maturing type of Shorthorn, carrying a wealth of firm flesh just where it is most' valuable, over the loins and the rumps. This type comes quickly to the killing stage. That means a quick return. It gives the best quality of meat, and much meat in the most valued parts, which means the maximum price. The combination of these qualities has resulted in the designation “Scotch Shorthorns,” and this type has conquered the world. In both Americas, as well as in the Homeland it brings in thousands of pounds as against the few hundreds realised by the dual-purpose breed. Farming to-day has become a specialised business and it requires special types of farm animals if the best results are to be attained. In Canterbury no man is breeding Shorthorns solely for a living, hence the reason for the lack of incentive to improve the breed, and produce the modern types—the purely Beef Shorthorn, or the Milking Shorthorn as the type was so correctly named by the N.Z.M.S. Association. THE SCOTCH SHORTHORN.

There is much interesting history in connection with the introduction of the Scotch Shorthorn into Canterbury, for it has now got a firm foothold there. Its introduction came about through the founding of the late Hon. Robert McNab’s Stud at Knapdale, Southland. The cattle, quite a small but classy lot, were selected by the manager of the estate, Mr Alex. Reid, himself from Aberdeenshire. The greater portion of his females were drawn from the Hawke’s Bay Studs of Mr R. D. D. McLean, Maraekakaho, and Mr Arch. McLean, Greenhills. To these were added a couple of imported females, and to the head went the imported sire “Diamond Prince.” While in some respects this bull might not have pleased the ultra critical who are apt to get mighty faddy when an animal of unusual’class is brought to the fore, “Diamond Prince” was just the bull to impress breeders with the weaknessesses then existing, for he carried a grand back, packed with a wealth of level flesh. To such an extent did he represent quality in this respect, his hips being entirely covered with firm flesh, that one judge considered him to be deformed. It was a deformity that time has proved has been passed on to his stock, and to such advantage that even last year one of his sons sold for 450 guineas. “Diamond Prince” has improved the Shorthorns in the South to an extraordinary degree, and despite the wonderful manner in which his progeny continue to appear in the prize list, probably the best compliment, paid to him is the fact that one of his sons is being used in the famous Maraekakaho Stud, which is probably only rivalled in Australia or New Zealand by the noted Hordern Stud in New South Wales, in which io-day there are also descendants cf “Diamond Prince.” These Scotch Shorthorns are the responsible factor in making Argentine the principal beef-producing country in the world, and it is their value as utility animals that forced the values of their best up to the thousands. £12,000 fcr one animal, and many others of near value, is but a tribute to the present day worth of the breed as improvers of the .common stock of the world. Even this year when prices in the Old World are at their lowest ebb, the same keenness for the best is in evidence, for at the Shorthorn sales held in Scotland in October a red Rosebud bull “Radiant” by the famous “Millhills” breeding stock bull “Cupbearer” of Collynie, (bred by the late William Duthie), was led in. “He was a perfect gentleman and of grand colour and lovely conformation; ho was of the right Scottish type,” reports a Scottish agricultural journal. “He. stood on short legs, had a grand strong back on him, and was thick and blocky. Lots were after him, but eventually Mr Duncan Stewart, of Mdlhiils, and Mr George Campbell Harthill, Beilside, two well-known exporters, were alone at the finish. Amid loud applause. Mr Duncan Stewart became the bpyer at 20QU guineas, which was the top price of the week." Since the advent of "Diamond Prince” a prominent Canterbury breeder. Mr Leonard White, of Rakaia, has imported two good Scotch bulls, and these are, breeding the right stuff, a fact, that was well demonstrated at the recent Canterbury Show, where the prizes in the juvenile classes practically all fell to the first gets of this pair of Scotch bulls. Now that Canterbury has got the real type of the modern Shorthorn, the old dualpurpose type will go out cf favour as not conforming to the present-day and future

requirements of the country. It must be beef or milk. There are still a fetv studs of good Dairy Shorthorns in Canterbury, but the difficulty has been to secure suitable sires. This same trouble was experienced in the North Island, but the importance that dairying promised to mean to the country was earlier realised there, and a determined effort was made to meet the position by importing Dairy Shorthorns from Australia. The strain developed as a result of a life-time’s effort by Mr J. T. Cole at Darbalara, stands out to-day as one of the greatest butter-fat producing families in the whole world. Canterbury, despite the number of its herds, let matters drift until to-day even those herds which can still claim to have some cows of the old type, are in difficulties. Their only hope of retaining their milking power is by introducing sires of the Darbalara stran. These can be secured in the North Island, the sires being the imported Darbalara bulls or their sons and the dams old English Dairy Shorthorn types. These sires will maintain the production in the breed and give Dairy Shorthorns a fresh lease of life in. Canterbury Southlanders, and a section cf the Canterbury breeders, have already realised this