SHORTHORN BREEDING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 118, 24 June 1914, Page 11

SHORTHORN BREEDING.

A SCOTTISH PAPER. The ancestral home of the Shorthorn might be said to be the valley of the River Tees, embracing parts of the counties of York and Durham. The Shorthorn was of composite origin, representing the Tesult of skilful blending of various types. The first great improvers of Shorthorn cattle were the brothers Charles and Robert Colling, who, about 1780, set their minds towards developing and improving what they considered to be a superior race of cattle. Among the most conspicuous breeders in Shorthorn history, the names of Thomas Bates, of Kirklevington, Thomas Booth, of Killerby, and Amos Cruickshank, of Sittyton, stood pre-eminently. For a long time the only question in the minds of the breeders was whether to adopt the Booth or Bates systems. Both had their own type, the Booth system representing a ;type distinguished principally for substance and flesh/and the Bates representing cattle of the dual-purpose class, possessing much refinement of character and undoubted quality. Both types enjoyed for many years a great reputation, and fabulous prices were given for the choicest specimens, Bates's Duchesses, for' instance, commanding the highest prices that had ever been given for Shorthorns. In this connection must be mentioned/ the name of Captain Barclay, 'of TJry, who was the first to bring Shorthorns to the North of Scotland. While the Booth and Bates cattle were'enjoying their high reputations, there was 'one Aberdeenshire working away quietly ; and de-' veloping a type peculiarly his own. That was Amos Cruickshank, of Sittyton — whose chief object appeared to be- to produce animals that were capable of improving the commercial cattle of Aberdeenshire. It would be difficult to estimate the amount of indebtedness of ,ihiit class of stock .to Sittyton sires, not to speak of the efforrmras advantage that pure breeders had. enjoyed by the use of Sittyton. bulls. r Thefeatures o£ the Sittyton cattle were great wealth of flesh, a broad, full chest, wide back, and •'deep arching, ribs,- and- short legs. Amos Cruickshank worked persistently in producing his own particular type, not paying the slightest attention to fashionable pedigrees of that time, but only animals-; for. Jtiis* herd that came up to his ideas, and, needless to say, his work was crowned with magnificent success. The 1 Cruickshank-' cattle, unlike the Booth and Bates animals, had not only maintained but increased their reputation. Canadian and United States breeders were the first foreigners to recognise the superiority of the ' Cruickshank cattle, and for a good many years [most of the young Sittyton bulls were sent regularly to those countries. They were now being recognised in every eountry where cattle were bred. . THE MOST ESSENTIAL POINTS to be considered in the breeding of Shorthorns was constitution, character, wealth of flesh, quatfty, lightness of: bone, strong loins, well-sprung ribs, and well-developed hindquarters. ' Constitution was one. of the most, important .things to study, as an animal without .a ,'sound constitution was practically useless. Character, another important point, 'might be described as meaning individuality, and in no place was it more apparent than in the head and horn. The head of a Shorthorn bull should have distinct masculine character, plenty of breadth between the eyes, and not too long between the eyes and the nose, the eyes bright and placid, the horns of medium thickness and .length and curved slightly round in, front of the head, and : also a nice, clean muzzle. He should also possess a strong, prominent neck. All those characteristics werfe. indicative of an impressive sire. On the other hand, a female should possess .feminine character, and he thought that most breeders would admit that cows possessed of nice feminine character were generally the best breeders and milkers. A great many,, and, generally the wealthiest fleshed animals were inclined to be . patchy, but patchiness was difficult to avoid in a breed where wealth of-dlesh was a chair acteristic. An animal with rough bone was necessarily a rough animal, slow to feed, and of indifferent quality,'and as quality was of prime importance it was essential to select animals with a fine, soft touch, and reject those, of tough handle. Strong loins a;hd deep arching ribs, where the most valuable meat was, were essential in a good animal and one with weak loins and fiat ribs should be discarded at once. The milking qualities of Shorthorns were of considerable importance, and his experience was that amongst the Shorthorns there were many very good milkers. But, as the prime object of Shorthorns was to produce beef and not milk, there was a danger that the milking qualities might be attained at the expense of the fleshing properties. Poor milkers were generally indifferent breeders, . and ought to.be weeded out. If.it was desired to improve the milking qualities of a herd, the purchase of a bull from a good milking dam would Often be found to give the desired effect. - VALUE OF PEDIGREE. In the breeding' of Shorthorns pedigree formed an essential and important -part,- as- a ; good 'pedigree' was of great value, but it was sometimes abused. One ought to 'select an animal with individual merit first, and if possessed of a good pedigree, then so much the better; but to<'select'animals of in-different-merit, simply on' account of a good pedigree, was a big mistake/There was no doubt, however, 'that the study of pedigree was exceedingly important in the breeding 'of'cattle. ; ! The top crosses -were,> of-course,< the/ most important, as a few bad : top crosses might utterly ruin the .".animal,■ &tod it is often hbticed that females '■■•• >of S> ! renowned tiifoe I—indifferent 1 —indifferent ■ animals l themselves, and having < inferior top crosses—gave handsome prices 'Simply •because they belonged to- that particular tribe. That was where he thought;'pedigree was often abused; ■•■ IN BREEDINGS has played an" important'part in the development of the . Shorthorn breed. Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, was the

first to adopt this system of stock breeding, and he was so eminently successful that particular attention was drawn to it. The idea was the creation of a family likeness or type —a group of animals homogeneous in blood and uniform in characteristics. The brothers Colin, Booth, Bates, and Cruickshank all adopted this system with marvellous results. Although these great constructive breeders adopted this systom with conspicuous success, he had no.:doubt a great many had adopted it with signal failure. Injudicious in-and-in breeding, and the retention of all animals of famous tribes regardless of individual merit, and the evil influence of certain reckless speculators, was, he believed, responsible for the dererioration of the famous Bates cattle. He was not to advocate in-breeding, for if tried in a haphazard fashion, it was almost sure to be doomed to failure; but he would simply say that a little in-breeding, if judiciously applied, might prove of distinct benefit.

It was necessary to study colour to a considerable 'extent nowadays.

THE COLOURS OF SHORTHORNS", were, of course, red, white, and roan. He thought it would, .be found there were more good roan animals than there were red ones, although it was. not uncommon to find, a red the best animal in the herd. He considered it. was necessary to have all the. three colours in a, .herd.. For instance,, where there were,a.lot of red females; with white markings, it would be found that a white bull could be used with advantage. On the other hand, where roans were bred to roans for a considerable time, a certain proportion of the calves would be white, whqn it would' be found necessary to resort to a red bull. In England there existed a society called the Lincoln Red Shorthorn Society. The object of this, society, was. to breed nothing but red animals. It had not been very long in existence, and he could not say very much as to the results, but in course of ti.me he thought it would be found that the members of this society would not be able to breed so good animals as they would do with a combination of the three colours. They seemed to be more fastidious nowadays about colour than some of the earlier breeders were. For instance, many of Bates's famous Duchesses were red and white and light roan, and the famous bull Hubback, used by the Messrs Colling, and whose influence as a sire was so far-reaching in the early history of the breed, was a yellow-red with some white—one of .the most unpopular colours at the present time. He believed it might be that, breeders were too fastidious as to colours. He believed' some good reason might be given for preferring dark col-' ours to light, l as it was; said in some warm countries animals of dark colour stood the heat better than those of light! colour.- However,'breeders must' to a certain extent try and please their best ; customers regarding colour as well as other qualities. Let them aim at what, colour they liked} there would always be some undesirable ones turning, lip. A certain amount of

ATTENTION TO STYLE,

A right thiek-fleshed, bloeky animal, set on short legs, could not possibly have : the, same style as a barer fleshed) narrower animal, with longer legs; <;As' the former was .the type of animal, they all wished to breed, and the latter was not, he was driven to the conclusion .that style, should only be regarded as of secondary importance, although vit had its benefits, especially in the showyard, where sometimes top much attention was given to it, and an animal with little else than style to commend it was sometimes preferred to one of the blocky type. The nearer .Shorthorns could be maintained under natural conditions the better, but in their northern climate the cattle had to be housed for, ; at least, six months in the year. Therefore it was essential .to have proper housing accommodation. There wa# no doubt it would be of great benefit if all breeding cattle were allowed. 3, daily run in the fields, for plenty ,pf fresh air' and exercise were excellent things!. ■ln the; summer, rich, abundant pasture was essential to the development of the animals, and no more cattle should be kept than the grass could give ample justice to, for it was better to understock than overstock. To bring out 'young bulls properly required constant care and attention. In the first place, they must be well milked,"and alfter being weaned should be put ,p loose boxes with plenty of room for exercise, and they must have abundance of air, for if they lost their hair by being kept too warm their appearance was; spoiled. For in the young bull there was nothing that showed him off better than a fine, soft, silky coat. Young bulls were more difficult to bring out than heifers, and required more attention and study. No hard and fast rules could be laid down in regard to the feeding of them; but, of course,,to bring them out properly they required" extra keep. That, however, entirely depended on those in charge of them — what to give and how much. The principal thing to study was to bring them out in good condition, and, at the same time, not overdo them.

Most of the famous breeders had re-, sorted more or less to exhibiting their stock, and there, was no doubt exhibitions did a great deal of good in shoWing some of the best specimens of the breed to best advantage. It was a good advertisement to the successful ! exhibitdr,'but'it was very questionable if such showing was a very profitable thing, as there was no doubt that a great many excellent specimens were spoiled by being overfed for , shows. Still; so long as. there are shows there will fee exhibitors. , A: successful breeder must have a thorough liking for his cattle^

'GIVE CONSTANT ATTENTION in every detail, and, once having cot lected a herd of good families, should stick to the best specimens', 'and'' not part with them, for if sold they might be difficult to replace. Of course, it was not always.the best-looking animals that .turned out .the most profitable,; for it was.often found that a rather plainlooking cow, if mated with a good bull, produced a better, calf than a bettor-. looking cow;, but this was just one of the uncertainties of breeding. As a general rule, like produced like. The most important thing was, of course, to acquire a good bull, for a bull was

half the herd, and a breeder ought to put himself to a considerable amount of trouble and expense in acquiring a suitable sire. The element of luck did occasionally turn up, for sometimes good animals were produced by mere :aceident; but it would be generally found that good, sound judgment would, in the long run, tell, and the man who trusted in luck might wait a long time for much success, for animals bred with care and judgment would be generally found to be superior to those bred in a haphazard way. Shorthorn breeding was an interesting study, affording excellent opportunities for breeding to display their abilities in developing the breed; and to those who were successful in producing good specimens of the breed, it might not be an unprofitable one.