The Short Horns

Categories: History and Breeds

No breed of cattle has commanded more universal admiration during the

last half century than the improved short horns, whose origin can be

traced back for nearly a hundred years. According to the best

authorities, the stock which formed the basis of improvement existed

equally in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, and the adjoining

counties; and the pre-eminence was accorded to Durham, which gave its

name to the ace, from the more correct principles of breeding which

seem to have obtained there.



There is a dispute among the most eminent breeders as to how far it owes

its origin to early importations from Holland, whence many superior

animals were brought for the purpose of improving the old long horned

breed. A large race of cattle had existed for many years on the western

shores of the continent of Europe. As early as 1633, they were imported

from Denmark into New England in considerable numbers, and thus laid the

foundation of a valuable stock in farming at a very early date in

Holland, and experience led to the greatest care in the choice and

breeding of dairy stock. From these cattle many selections were made to

cross over to the counties of York and Durham. The prevailing color of

the large Dutch cattle was black and white, beautifully contrasted.



The cattle produced by these crosses a century ago were known by the

name of "Dutch." The cows selected for crossing with the early imported

Dutch bulls were generally long horned, large boned, coarse animals, a

fair type of which was found in the old "Holderness" breed of

Yorkshire--slow feeders, strong in the shoulder, defective in the fore

quarter, and not very profitable to the butcher, their meat being coarse

and uninviting. Their milking qualities were good, surpassing those,

probably, of the improved short horns. Whatever may be the truth with

regard to these crosses, and however far they proved effective in

creating or laying the foundation of the modern improved short horns,

the results of the efforts made in Yorkshire and some of the adjoining

counties were never so satisfactory to the best judges as those of the

breeders along the Tees, who selected animals with greater reference to

fineness of bone and symmetry of form, and the animals they bred soon

took the lead and excited great emulation in improvement.



Importations of short horns have been frequent and extensive into the

United States within the last few years, and this famous breed is now

pretty generally diffused over the country.



The high-bred short horn is easily prepared for a show, and, as fat will

cover faults, the temptation is often too great to be resisted; and

hence it is not uncommon to see the finest animals rendered unfit for

breeding purposes by over-feeding. The race is susceptible of breeding

for the production of milk, as several families show, and great milkers

have often been known among pure-bred animals; but it is more common to

find it bred mainly for the butcher, and kept accordingly. It is,

however, a well-known fact, that the dairies of London are stocked

chiefly with short horns and Yorkshires, or high grades between them,

which, after being milked as long as profitable, feed equal, or nearly

so, to pure-bred short horns. It has been said, by very good authority,

that the short horns improve every breed with which they cross.



The desirable characteristics of the short horn bull may be summed up,

according to the judgment of the best breeders, as follows: He should

have a short but fine head, very broad across the eyes, tapering to the

nose, with a nostril full and prominent; the nose itself should be of a

rich flesh color; eyes bright and mild; ears somewhat large and thin;

horns slightly covered and rather flat, well set on; a long, broad,

muscular neck; chest wide, deep, and projecting; shoulders fine,

oblique, well formed into the chine; fore legs short, with upper arm

large and powerful; barrel round, deep, well-ribbed horns; hips wide and

level; back straight from the withers to the setting on of the tail, but

short from hips to chine; skin soft and velvety to the touch; moderately

thick hair, plentiful, soft, and mossy. The cow has the same points in

the main, but her head is finer, longer, and more tapering; neck thinner

and lighter, and shoulders more narrow across the chine.



The astonishing precocity of the short horns, their remarkable aptitude

to fatten, the perfection of their forms, and the fineness of their bony

structure, give them an advantage over most other races when the object

of breeding is for the shambles. No animal of any other breed can so

rapidly transform the stock of any section around him as the improved

short horn bull.



It does not, however, follow that the high-bred short horns are

unexceptionable, even for beef. The very exaggeration, so to speak, of

the qualities which make them so valuable for the improvement of other

and less perfect races, may become a fault when wanted for the table.

The very rapidity with which they increase in size is thought by some

to prevent their meat from ripening up sufficiently before being hurried

off to the butcher. The disproportion of the fatty to the muscular

flesh, found in this to a greater extent than in races coming more

slowly to maturity, makes the meat of the thorough-bred short horn, in

the estimation of some, less agreeable to the taste, and less profitable

to the consumer; since the nitrogenous compounds, true sources of

nutriment, are found in less quantity than in the meat of animals not so

highly bred.



In sections where the climate is moist, and the food abundant and rich,

some families of the short horns may be valuable for the dairy; but they

are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in

sections where they have attained the highest perfection of form and

beauty, so little is thought of their milking qualities that they are

often not milked at all, the calf being allowed to run with the dam.