Tecubrenst as apereets a @oso00 00000 IN TMOULD [ATFs Hrouno4n} lied srt pes) di i= piel i New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library Cornell University Library Kansas shorthorns; a history of the breed “aT Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924002974099 KANSAS SHORTHORNS A HISTORY GF THE BREED IN THE STATE FROM 1857 TO 1990 By. Pole Secretary Kansas Shorthorn Breeders Association COMPILED AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION OF THE KANSAS SHORTHORN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION Committee Personnel PARK E. SALTER, Wichita, Pres. Kansas Shorthorn Breeders Assn. JOHN R. TOMSON, Dover, Pres. American Shorthorn Breeders Assn. W. A. COCHEL, Manhattan, Field Rep. Am. Shorthorn Breeders Assn. H. M. HILL, Lafontaine, Leadins Breeder in Southeastern Kansas. SEN. FREMONT LEIDY, Leon, Extensive Breeder of Shorthorns. THE LAUDE PRINTING COMPANY IOLA, KANSAS F920) 1°72037 Published by authority and under the direction of the Kansas Shorthorn Breeders Association and based on in- formation received during 1919 and 1920. Copyright 1921 BY G. A. LAUDE PART I. INTRODUCING SHORTHORNS It is not in human nature to anticipate emergencies. The average man—and we are nearly all average men—goes along in the regular way until he realizes that he is at ‘‘the parting of the ways,’’ when he rises to the occasion or goes down in defeat. The Kansas farmer has come to the parting of the ways. Over the greater portion of the state, in the region of the farm home, he has, with few exceptions been taking from the soil bountiful crops until for natural and well found- ed reasons the old farm is not so kindly in eulti- vation, nor so responsive to his efforts as it once was. He has been drawing on his bank account stored in the soil in the shape of fertility, and having made few if any deposits, his account has run low. He sees the warning signals—harder soul, less resistance to excessively wet or dry sea- sons and a lighter growth of vegetation that tell of less humus and less available fertility—and he is heeding the call now as never before. There is an insistent demand for live stock on the farm. Why is it that only when brought face to face with necessity the farmer, both large and small, is planning to make his holding a stock farm? A cattle farm—for it is recog- 6 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS nized that cattle alone have the capacity to turn the big crops of roughage into cash, yet leave the farm enriched in so doing. The answer is easy. He has told us time after time that it was easier and more profitable not to keep cattle and who will say that in many cases he was not right? But this was not altogether a true answer for some have made a financial suecess of the work. What is the trouble?) The man who has failed to make cattle pay has kept the wrong kind of cattle or he has kept them ina way that outraged the laws of live stock husbandry. Keeping the right kind of cattle in the right way always pays and that is the problem of the Kansas farmer of the present and of the future, for only in doing that will he be able to profitably maintain a bal- ance of soil fertility in his favor. When a farmer begins to investigate the dif- ferent breeds of cattle with a view of finding the one best suited to his requirements he will remember first of all that he wants an animal that can get almost everything needed for thrift and development from the roughage grown on the farm requiring only a small amount of grain to land it on a good market. He will remember that he needs not a cow that will fill either the requirements for beef or for dairy products alone, but one that will produce calves equal to any breed as beef animals and at the same time give milk and butter for his family and, in the 7 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS case of the small farmer, for market also. In no other breed is found so well this happy com- bination as in the Shorthorn. Shorthorn cattle are pre-eminently the great machine which turns roughage into cash. No other breed can approach them in availability for this purpose. It is not so much of a contest as to what breed of cattle will thrive best on corn, for as a grain consuming machine the hog will produce almost double the number of pounds for each bushel of corn consumed as will the steer— and for this purpose the American hog is the un- crowned king of the universe! Shorthorn cattle with their big, thick, deep bodies and capacious digestive organs can consume more roughage and as a result get more pounds of gain daily from grass and rough feeds than cattle of any other breed. This means that they can put on the final pounds of finish for which grain is required more cheaply than can those of other breeds, for they do more with the cheap feeds of the farm. Shorthorn cattle are the great farm cattle for they have no rivals in utilizing the farm feeds whether it be for production of beef or for beef and milk. The record price for range grass fat steers is held by grade Shorthorns marketed in Chicago at $18.00 per ewt. The record price for feeder cattle is held by Shorthorn steers sold in Denver at $20.25 per ewt. The greatest net return for a 8 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS carload of steers at the International (except the grand champion herd the value of which was enhanced by winning of the ribbon) was secured from a load of Shorthorns. The International erand champions carried a large percentage of Shorthorn blood. The highest prices paid for steers at the Missouri River markets have gone to cattle tracing to a Shorthorn foundation. The additional weight of approximately 200 pounds on two-year-old steers which carry a large per- centage of Shorthorn blood is a very important consideration when cattle sell at prevailing prices. The heavy loins, broad backs, deep hind- quarters and natural flesh of the Shorthorn make them the ideal farm cattle. In the herd of Shorthorns at the Kansas State Agricultural College Farm, Manhattan, there are seven thick-fleshed, broad-hacked, low-set Scotch cows having milk records averaging con- siderably in excess of 7,000 pounds of milk per year. Their calves are of the same individual conformation and several of them have won prizes in the beef shows. But this is not all— these cows were not put to milking until after they had raised one or more calves. One of them had nursed her third calf before she was tried as a milker. Individually they will compare with the best cows in the leading herds of the country and no two are bred along the same line. One is a daughter of Matchless Dale, that sired the win- A HISTORY OF SHORTELORNS IN KANSAS 9 ning steer herd which the eollege had out two years. There is something in this double-pur- pose achievement. The Shorthorn is the farm- er’s cow. MATCHLESS QUEEN 100083 Milk record $735.1 pounds. Owned by the Kansas Agricultural College. At the Breeders Sale at Coffeyville, April 4, 1919, twenty Shorthorns from ten months to four years old, none of them ever in a large crowd before and many of them hardly halter broke, were led into Exposition Hall. When surround- ed by an immense crowd they stood for fifteen minutes without showing any symptoms of ner- yousness, and in the sale of nearly 100 head not 10 A HISTORY OF SIHORTHORNS IN KANSAS a single animal behaved in an unbecoming man- her nor was the emergency post provided for nervous cattle used once. No untrained and un- handled cattle of any other breed ever acted so well. Shorthorn cattle, by reason of their quiet, gentle disposition are the ideal farm cattle. More than a century has now passed since the Shorthorn found its way from the rich val- leys of England to the United States. During all this time they have been the popular cattle for the American farmer. Not only do they provide more beef than any other breed of cattle but they also furnish the family with all the milk and butter needed. After one hundred years they are firmly established, the great breed for every section of our country. Other breeds may be prime favorites in certain localities, but the Shorthorns are all right everywhere. Other breeds come and go, but the Shorthorn goes on forever. They have established them- selves in the eastern part of our country where they are unrivaled producers of milk and butter. From Ohio to Kansas and from Canada to the Gulf they are firmly established and it is only in sections where they find any active competition. They have gone to the ranges of the central West and Southwest where they became the maternal ancestry of the range cattle that made Hereford popularity possible. They are now the popular beef cattle of the Pacific coast country and have A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 11 no established rivals in that section. What is it that made all this possible? For answer, look the Shorthorn over. It is not a breed of extremes but one which combines the good qualities which PRIDE’S BESSIE 206445 The first Seotch cow to be admitted to the advanced registry for milking Shorthorns. Milk record 9210.5 pounls. Owned by the Kansas Agricultural College. are demanded by the farmer, not by the special- ist; they are not the cows that do one thing only but they combine size, beef, milk, butter. They are the one and only great machine that turns the rough feeds of the farm into ready eash to the very best advantage. 12 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS Shorthorns on The Beef Market.—It is some- times stated that Shorthorns do not command the highest market price. This isa mistake. Good, well finished Shorthorns sell at the highest price paid. They have topped the Kansas City market for 1920 as will be seen from the following letter: Stockyards Station, Kansas City, Mo. 7|15|20. Mr. G. A. Laude, Secretary, Humboldt, Kansas. Dear Sir: Replying to yours of the 13th beg to say the cattle we sold for Sni-A-Bar Farms at $17 were the top for their weight for the year. Some yearlings brought $17.25. The Sni-A-Bar cattle have always killed very satisfac- torily and are particularly liked by the Harvey people. Yours truly, SWIFT & HENRY, by J. C. Swift. A Record.—H. M. Hill, the well known breeder of Montgomery county, has during the past few years bought many Shorthorn cows of varying quality. A few years ago he castrated twenty bull calves. These calves were the poorer ones and the off-colored ones from all the cows on the farm only a few having been of Mr. Hill’s breed- ing. They were wintered so as to maintain thrift and a good growth, and during the next summer were fed only a little grain on pasture. Toward fall the grain was increased and for the last sixty A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 15 days they were on full feed. They were sold at an average age of but little over twenty months and brought on the Kansas City market $224.60 each, Another Shorthorn Achievement.—In the fall and early winter of 1918 H. O. Peck & Son, of Wellington castrated five out of twelve bull calves, these ike Ma, Hill’s having been the ones undesivable for bulls. They were calved from September to December. They were given a little grain while sucking the cows during the winter, were weaned in the spring and ran on pasture the next summer. They had access to a shed and alfalfa hay and received a very small grain ration. They were on full feed a little more than sixty days and were sold at an average of sixteen months at the Peck farm for $119.70. This sale was made on the low market last March. These cases show the value of pure bred Short- horn cows as producers of bect cattle. Only little erain is required for this class of cattle. Shorthorns Feed Well for Baby Beef.—W. J. Sayre of Cedar Point, Chase county, now a well known breeder of Shorthornus, was until recently a breeder of Shorthorn calves for beef. These calves were nearly all of lis own breeding from high grade and pure bred cows. During a period of ten vears Mr. Sayre fed annually a carload of these calves and nine veat's out of the ten he topped the Kansas City market on baby beeves 14 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS for the year. An account of the one time he failed to sell at the highest price for the year is given ina letter as follows: MR. AND MRS. W. J. SAYRE Cedar Point, Kansas. July 25, 1920. Dear Mr. Laude: I think I have told you why I failed to receive the top price one year. It was because mine were too heavy. The buyers were wanting them very small that spring and some 500 pound 8. M. 8. heifers sold a little higher than my Shorthorns, but the Shorthorns brought many more dollars. Several times I have bought the very best Here- fords I could buy and fed them with my own and at no time did any of them gain as much as the Shorthorns and only on one occasion were they good enough to sell with them. Sincerely, W.J.SAYRE. A HISTORY OF SUORTHORNS IN) KANSAS 15 Shorthorn Show Steers.—Aside from an oe- easional steer and a few carloads shown by indi- viduals it has remained for the Kansas State Agricultural College to carry on the produetion of show steers. The great success which has at- tended their efforts has attracted international attention to Kansas as one of the leading states to be reckoned with at the big American shows. The steers shown by the college in recent years were nearly all sived by the now thirteen-vear-old Matchless Dale, a bull that has proved himself one of the great sires of the breed. Jn ordinary pasture flesh Matchless Dale weighed 2400 pounds and no one ever handled a meHower hide. His splendid disposition, wouderful quality and character have won the admiration of every breeder that has seen him. The record made by steers sired by him is remarkable. The college has shown eighteen steers sired by Matchless Dale that have been placed not lower than third at the American Roval or International Live Stoek Shows. At the American Royal they won two championships, nine fhsts, seven seconds and six thirds. At the International they won one championship, two reserve championships, six firsts, four seconds and three thirds. A Notable Carlot From Kansas.—It was in about 1910 that a car load of all red vearling steers found their wav to the American Roval. They came from near Lancaster in Atchison 16 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS county and proved little less than a national sel- sation. Their uniformity and general excellence were remarkable and before the final coutest it was admitted by all interested parties that they were the best load of steers on the ground. These salves were bred and developed by K. G. Gigstad and were the product of his Shorthorn herd, vow one among the best in Kansas. As predicted un- mediately after their arrival, they won every- thing in sight including the grand championship over all breeds and they sold at the high price of the sale. The McGregor Exhibits.—E. A. McGregor of Washington county, an extensive feeder of good cattle, sent two loads of Shorthorn steers to the 1919 International, that on the face of the re- turns as interpreted by most breeders and feed- ers would be pronounced the most profitably pro- duced cattle sold in the sales. The cattle in one load were bred by Symns Bros. of Troy, Kansas, the other load by Fred L. Weiss of Elizabeth, Colorado. The Kausas load was bought in Jan- unary 1919 at the average weight of 752 pounds. They sold ten and a half months later weighing 1438 pounds, a gain of 686 pounds. These cattle were first in the Shorthorn Speeial and sold for $24.50, dressing 63.9 per cent. The Colorado bred Shorthorns wou second place ia heavy competi- tion and sold for $26.50. They dressed 64.5 per cent. A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAB 17 Mr. MeGregor, while looking these cattle over, told me he had always fed Herefords and had considered them the best feeders to be had bu these cattle made him feel that there were none better than good Shorthorns, as they had outdone all of his choice Angus and Herefords. SHORTHORN REVIEW 1810—1857 Forty-seven years before this story begins, the first great auction sale of Shorthorns was held at Ketton, England, by Charles Colling, justly called one of the improvers of the breed. The original Duchess cow, ancestress of that tribe bought in 1783 on the Darlington Market for $65, was dead. Thomas Bates, destined to become the leading breeder of Great Britain, bought one of her descendants. She was a little shabby in appearance but he called her the most valuable cow in the world and it is reported that he de- clared he would not take $5000 for his bargain. Here began the boom that made sane men lose their heads in the greatest era of folly known in live stock history. Bates heralded his claim for the Duchess cow and her descendants. Thomas Booth developed a class of Sherthorns that vied with those bred by Bates and for several decades the fight for supremacy was waged. The nobility lined up on the Bates side and threw vietory to Bates’ cattle with the Duchess tribe in the lead. The excellent importation made by Col. Lewis Sanders in 1817 which ineluded the Teeswater Jow, the Durham Cow and Mrs. Motte, filled parts of Kentucky and Ohio with splendid cattle. Later importations, notably the descendants of A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 19 the one made by the Ohio Company in 1836, were used to discredit the descendants of the import- ation of 1817. Though not able to claim and sub- stantiate superiority in fact, appeal was made to fads and the older importation lost popularity. In 1840 George Vail of New York imported from Mr. Bates’ herd a bull calf combining two of his most precious families. Later he bought some heifers, also. Mr. Bates died in 1849 and at the dispersion of his herd in 1850 three head were bought by Morris and Becar of New York. In 1853 Samuel Thorne bought at the sale of Earl Dueie, the man upon whom Mr. Bates’ mantle seems to have fallen, three Duchess cows, and a year or two later he bought the Morris and Becar herd. He now had a monopoly of the Bates’ Duchess and Oxford blood in America. Numer- ous importations of excellent cattle had been made prior to this time, most of them by Ken- tueky and Ohio breeders, and there had been httle discrimination in favor of any family. R. A. Alexander of Kentucky made his notable importation of thirty-six cows and five bulls in 1853 and in 1855 he imported Duke of Airdrie, the bull that was to revolutionize public senti- ment in America by turning it toward the Bates standard. Imported Duke of Airdrie began making his influence felt at the time this story opens and when Shorthorns had become well established from the Atlantie to the Mississippi. SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 1857—1880 Kansas developed its early Shorthorn interests slowly. This fact is not surprising when con- ditions existing at the time are considered.