DR. JENKINS ON CATTLE.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 285, 10 March 1874, Page 2

DR. JENKINS ON CATTLE.

Ijf the Sydney Town and Country Journal appears the follcmin» criticism, by ' Clydesdale/ of Dr Jenkiba'g pamphlet on cattia breeding:— " Doctor Jenkftis lias now published, in nico convenient pamphlet fornvliis original paper on cattle, and his supplementary additions to it, us well ns a number of lottcrs written ■pro and con hii argument?, in different newspapers, and i rsomo opinions of the preas j the whole forming * Tory readable a and highly interesting little addition to the grazier'a library, for giving us which the worthy proprietor of Nepeau Towers and Theodore deserves our especial, thanks. In this littlft work nra to be found in juxtaposition the doctor's original thesis and tho antithesis ot tho-ic.who do nol ngteo wi'l- him; a plan which enables the reader to follow the different Arguments much easier than when coming across them piece-meal, at intervals of woeka, at they appeared in tho papers ; mid although I had previously read once and again most, if not all, the contents of the book, I must t>ay I have derived great pleusuro from again going through them in their present concise form. After ill, however, I completely fail to ace either that Dr Jenkins's paper did actually deal with • the considerations that should guide breeders and graziers of cattle in New South Wales,' which it was supposed to do, or that it was in fact, anything more than an e.aborate and well studied defence of the pure-bred shorthorn ; ignoring in ioto the merits of any other breeds. " I cannot, moreover, discover that either Doctor Jenkins or those- writers who hare sided with him in discussion hare put forth any argument prmng the superiority of the shorthorn over the Devon or Hereford as au animal geuerally suitpd to the grasse3 and climate of New South Wales, or that they have even made out any case in favour of pure cattle instead of cross-breeds, for stocking the vast interior of this gr^at country. " On the contrary, if anything in the shape of a point has been arrived at by those holding Dr Jenkins's side of the question, it it simply that cioss-bredg are superior to pure, for it is simply absurd to class the large herds of the far-off bush as pure this or pure that, and there are very few of our outlying cattle stations on which large numbers of heads and horns do not testify with a truth that cannot be gainsaid to the presence there at some time or other of the longhorn, the Hereford, or the Devon. The cattle mentioned by Mr J. D. Y. Lamb, in his le ter quoted by Doctor Jenkins, *s having ...irned tneir beef ao welt a very long journey to Melbourne, are not supposed to be pure shorthorns ; and if they were, no comparison is dr iwn between them and any others ; so that instance goes for very little. Then the mob of cattle of which we are told in the letter signed ' C .' as having brought the highest price in Melbourne (£lO 2s 5d ), after travelling 1,100 inilea from the Bulloo, were certainly half-bred H refords ; and as certainly we may be sure that the cattle w hich ' Breeder ' in his answer to ' C calls ' shorthorns,' and which went from the adjoining run on the Bulloo, and beat the others by half-a-crown a head, were also cross-bred. I contend we have been told nothing to show that pure shorthorns are bast adapted for New South Wales gVaziers, the whole tenor of thj argument on the one side having been to endeavour to show that the shorthorns are heavier and so more valuable than other breeds ; but there has been no attempt to establish the adaptability of the shorthorn to make his living in poor countiy at best of times, or live through a bad season in the beat fattening country in the colony. Not a solitary instance has been given of either one or the other being the case; though two or three cases are cited of the contrary being indisputably proved by facts ; and among others Mr Reginald Wyndhnm telh, in his letter on the subject of Doctor Jenkins's paper, that on a first-class saltbush run on the M'lnty<re, a number of Hereford and Durham bulls were put ; a dry season followed, and all the Durhamsdied, while the Herefords kept with the cattle, and • id not suffer. Common sense seems to suggest that calves winch require and receive tho milk of their cows to rear them are neither of the sort nor in themselves best adapted for the foundation of bush herds in Australia ; and I shouldn't want to go out of the countvof Cumberland to work out the problem with cattle of different breeds confined to some paddocks I could pick Commencing with their ' wet nur*es,' and go.ng on with mrai, cake pu iT ipkins, mangolds, turn ps, lucerne, and rye grass—to say nothing of boiled corn, wheat, and barley — the shorthorn will very likely be the heavier, and put both alongside each other, as I have said, in a poor paddock, after bavins been brought up on mother's milk apiece, and the despised little Devon will soon have his more pretentious opponent down to his weight. It is asked by Dr Jenkins, ' Why Herefords and Devons are not oftener found out of their native countries ?' and other contingent questions follow, as though the shorthorn of to-day was a pure Durham. I say ' nothing of the sort ;' and I maintain not only that tho present shorthorn is a oross-bred ; but. that there are many fewer pure Durhams, such as were 40 and 50 year* ago, now to be found than there are o» pure Devons or Herefords. If cross-breds have been found to rough it better than the pure shorthorns in tho old country, as I believe they have, it is rery certain thp s.ime will be the case here. I flaw the other day as nice a lot of station bullocks ac a man could wish to look at from Macquarie Marshes ; and every male showed unmistakable signs of the Horeford cross. They had symmetry, quality, weight, good temper, and came early to maturity. We have had no evidence throughout the discussion of super-excellence attaching to the pure shorthorns as dairy cattle ; for I'm sure it would be hard to find a dairy, properly co called, which is not composed of cows of all conceivable crosses and breeds. But even were it otherwise, it appear* to me that the great consideration which ought to guide breeders and graziers in New South Wales is not how to produce milk and butter, for which they never, in all probability, have any great demand ; but to discover the cattle best suited to every part of the colony, with a view to the production of the brst quality, on the least food, at the smallest cost, and in the shortest time, the largest quantity of beef and tallow, for both of which there will always be an increasing market at remunerative prioes. "In most parts of the country the Devon Or Hereford cross with shorthorn is good enough for me, breeding always from pure bulls of the reds or whito faces, so as to stamp the stock legibly ; and if three of these- can be fattened for two of the large nnwieldly pure (?) shorthorns, as I have no doubt is the case, tho crosses will be best for weight after all.