PURE GRASS BEEF
ROLE OF NATIVE SCOTCH CROSSES IN SHORTHORN "IMPROVEMENT"
"NATIVE" SCOTCH SHORTHORN BULL
photo from: Shorthorns in central and southern Scotland, James Cameron, with an introduction, by John J. Moubray, 1921, page 289
-Alvin Howard Sanders, editor of Breeder's Gazette, 1918
Purists vehemently denied Kyloe ancestry for Hubback, but all the "improved" shorthorns carried very Scotch traits.
photo from: Types and Breeds of Farm Animals, by Charles Sumner Plumb, 1906, 1920
Hubback's body type was thus concentrated, through line breeding, into the Colling's breeding stock.
text from: Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture of the State of Michigan, 1869, Volume 8, page 136
From: Rise and Progress of Shorthorns, By Henry H Dixon THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND SECOND SERIES VOLUME THE FIRST, 1865, p.323
BOOTH SHORTHORN BULL
Thomas Bates cow Duchess by Daisy Bull, bought from Colling, was a granddaughter of the "yellowish-red, short legged, wide-backed" Duchess cow from Darlington market. She was the mother of Duchess the 1st.
GALLOWAY CROSSES IN SHORTHORN "IMPROVEMENT"
photo from: PART II, NO I, Lectures on Live Stock Judging and the History, Development and Characteristics of the Various Breeds of Live Stock, By WILLARD J KENNEDY BSA, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY SERIES Correspondence Agricultural College SIOUX CITY IOWA , 1903
Charles Colling's "Alloy" family of cattle was bred from a Galloway cross bull.
text from: Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture of the State of Michigan, 1869, Volume 8, page 139
Purists disparaged the cross, but Alloy blood made it's way into many prestigious breeder's pastures.
Text from:FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE YEAR 1884, NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPT. AGRICULTURE, PAGE 203-204
It is telling that he chose names like Chieftain and Laird...
Photo from:Farm live stock of Great Britain, by Robert Wallace, Loudon M. Douglas, Primrose McConnell, W. B. Wale, 1907
photo from: Bulletin, Issues 1-60, By University of Nevada. Agricultural Extension Service, 1916
Eventually, English Shorthorn breeders began to compromise the vitality of many Shorthorn families through inbreeding.
A practical breeder, Amos Cruickshank, began to outcross the English bloodlines to recover a robust type that would "pay the rent" in the harsh Scottish environment
Pride of Morning
SCOTCH SHORTHORN BULL, CRUICKSHANK TYPE
photo from: Types and Breeds of Farm Animals, by Charles Sumner Plumb, 1906, 1920
A conservative Scotch farmer, Cruickshank bred archetypal Scottish functionality back into his Shorthorns. Evidently, Cruickshank also selected for the the characteristics of the old native Scotch breeds.
Breeding to suit his own ideas,Amos Cruickshank succeeded in restoring the constitution, longevity, deep flesh, early maturity and fattening qualities that had compromised the original Shorthorn improvements.
We are in a similar position today, regarding compromised old time grass fattening genetics. To recover grass genetics in our beef cattle, we have only to recognize and breed true to the old phenotype.
photo from: A Study of Farm Animalsby Charles Sumner Plumb, 1922
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