the middle of the eighteenth century, when
Messrs. Tomkins, Weyman, Yeomans, Hewer, and Tully devoted their
energies to establishing a county breed. There were four varieties of
Herefords, which have now practically merged into the red with white
face, mane, and throat: the mottle face, with red marks intermixed
with the parts usually white; the dark greys; light greys; and the
red with the white face. The rivalry between the breeders of the
white and the mottle faces almost caused the failure of the Herd-Book
commenced in 1845 by Mr. Eyton. The mottle-faced party seems to have
been then the most influential, but the dark and light grey varieties
also had strong adherents. In 1857 Mr. Duckham took over the
management of the Herd-Book, and to his exertions the breed owes a
deep debt of gratitude. One of the greatest supporters of the
Herefordshire breed was Mr. Westcar of Creslow, who, starting in
1779, attended Hereford October Fair for forty years, and when the
Smithfield Show commenced in 1799 won innumerable first prizes there
with Herefordshire cattle. Between 1799 and 1811 twenty of his
Herefordshire prize oxen averaged L106 6s. each, and at the sale of
Mr. Ben Tomkins's herd after his death in 1819 twenty-eight breeding
animals averaged L152, one cow fetching L262 15s. Herefords are
famous for their feeding qualities at grass, and good stores are
scarce, the best being fattened on their native pastures. They are
not only almost the only breed in their own county, but few English
counties south of Shropshire are without them; they have done well in
Ireland, and in Canada, the United States, South America, and
Australia have attained great success. They are not so well qualified
for crossing as Shorthorns, but have blended well with that breed,
and produced good crosses with Ayrshires and Jerseys, but not with
Devons. It has been said that they are not a favourite sort with
London butchers, as they require time to ripen, which does not suit a
hurrying age. Hence they probably flourished best under the old
school of graziers, who sometimes kept them to six or seven years
old. At all events they are a very fine breed for beef purposes,
their meat being particularly tender, juicy, and fine-grained. They
are seldom kept for dairy purposes, being poor milkers; consequently
the calf is nearly always allowed to run with the dam, which accounts
for the fact that one seldom sees pure-bred Herefords that are not
well grown.