. History of Hereford cattle : proven conclusively the oldest of improved breeds . Hereford cattle. fliSTOEY OF HEEEFOED CATTLE stock that I have ever seen, for the grazing in this region of country. Sixth. Give as full a description as you can of the qualities of each breed, as they have been developed with you, embracing remarks on com- parative size, form, activity, hardiness and ten- dency to disease of the different breeds. The original breed of cattle in Kentucky strongly resembled the old unimproved Devon- shire cattle. They were small, thin and diffi- cult to fatten—cow weighing when f
. History of Hereford cattle : proven conclusively the oldest of improved breeds . Hereford cattle. fliSTOEY OF HEEEFOED CATTLE stock that I have ever seen, for the grazing in this region of country. Sixth. Give as full a description as you can of the qualities of each breed, as they have been developed with you, embracing remarks on com- parative size, form, activity, hardiness and ten- dency to disease of the different breeds. The original breed of cattle in Kentucky strongly resembled the old unimproved Devon- shire cattle. They were small, thin and diffi- cult to fatten—cow weighing when fat from three to four hundred pounds. [This undoubt- edly means dressed weight, the corresponding Uve weight bemg 525 to 700 lbs. T. L. M.] These cows were good milkers, giving a moder- ate quantity of rich milk. I do not know that they were subject to any other disease but the hollow horn, a disease brought on by poor keep in winter, so that the pith of the horn is frozen. It was cured by boring a hole in the horn. The introduction of the Patton stock in 1785 and subsequently made a considerable improve- ment in these cattle. Cows of the Patton cross would weigh when fat from 6 to 7 cwt. [Mean- ing dressed weight, or 1,050 to 1,225 lbs. alive. T. L. M.] There was such a general disposition to increase the size that the coarse-jointed, large-boned animals were selected and saved as breeders generally, from 1785 to 1817, and the consequence was at the latter period the Patton stock (as all these cattle were called) were very coarse. The size of some of these cattle was enormous; but they did not weigh, net, near equal to their size. The graziers at that period did not like to attempt to fatten cattle until they were four years old. The importation of 1817 improved the coarse cattle very much, in- creasing their disposition to fatten. They came earlier to maturity, were gentler, better dis- posed and had much less offal. Whatever repu- tation the Shorthorns acquired in Kentucky
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