About The Breed
The Hereford breed was founded some two and one-half centuries
ago as a product of necessity. Thrifty and enterprising farmers near Hereford in the County of Herefordshire, England,
were determined to produce beef for the expanding food market created by Britain's industrial revolution. To succeed in Herefordshire,
these early-day cattlemen realized they must have cattle which could efficiently convert their native grass to beef and do
it at a profit.
There was no breed in existence at the time to fill that
need, so the farmers of Herefordshire founded the beef breed that logically became known as Herefords. These early Hereford
breeders molded their cattle with the idea in mind of a high yield of beef and efficiency of production, and so firmly fixed
these characteristics that they remain today as outstanding characteristics of the breed.
Beginning in 1742 with a bull calf from the cow Silver and
two cows, Pidgeon and Mottle, inherited from his father's estate, Benjamin Tomkins is credited with founding the Hereford
breed. This was 18 years before Robert Bakewell began developing his theories of animal breeding. From the start, Mr. Tomkins
had as his goals economy in feeding, natural aptitude to grow and gain from grass and grain, rustling ability, hardiness,
early maturity and prolificacy, traits that are still of primary importance today.
Other pioneering breeders were to follow the Tomkins' lead
and establish the world-wide renown for the Herefordshire cattle causing their exportation from England to wherever grass
grows and beef production is possible.
Herefords in the 1700's and early 1800's in England were
much larger than today. Many mature Herefords of those days weighed 3,000 pounds or more. Cotmore, a winning show bull and
noteworthy sire, weighed 3,900 pounds when shown in 1839. Gradually, the type and conformation changed to less extreme size
and weight to get more smoothness, quality and efficiency.
HEREFORD IMPORTATIONS
Herefords came to the United
States in 1817 when the great statesman Henry Clay of Kentucky made the first
importation -- a bull and two females. These cattle and their offspring attracted considerable attention, but they were eventually
absorbed by the local cattle population and disappeared from permanent identity.
The first breeding herd in America is considered to be one
established in 1840 by William H. Sotham and Erastus Corning of Albany, New York, and for practical purposes Herefords in
the United States date from the Sotham-Corning beginning. The more densely populated eastern area of the United States, including
herds in New England, was the early home of Herefords and from there they fanned out to the South and West as the population
expanded and the demand for beef increased.
Records of the New York State Fair reveal that 11 Herefords
were exhibited there in 1844 and were highly praised. Several breeders were active in exhibiting at fairs and exhibitions
in the East and Midwest where the Herefords met with great success. Perhaps the greatest early interest in the breed came
from the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia where T. L. Miller was awarded a medal for the first-prize herd.
HEREFORDS - THE GREAT IMPROVER
With the end of the Civil War and the coming of the American
Industrial Revolution, the westward expansion continued and so did America's appetite for beef. Western ranching developed
from free land and local longhorned cattle originally brought to Mexico by the Spanish conquerors and allowed to drift northward
into what is now America's great southwestern cattle country. These cattle were tough and had the bred-in ability to survive,
a trait that enabled their being driven to railhead shipping points and then transported by rail to slaughter at eastern markets.
It was on such cattle that Herefords proved the great improver. They survived the rough ranching conditions and improved beef
quality in the process. Demand for Hereford bulls boomed.
DEMAND CAUSES INCREASE IN HEREFORD IMPORTATIONS
IN 1890's
To satisfy the growing market which developed from the western
area cattlemen, Hereford breeders expanded their herds through heavy importations from Herefordshire. Whereas only 200 head
were imported up to 1880, more than 3,500 head of Herefords came over during the 1880-1889 period. During this time, breeders
of Herefords led by such men as T. L. Miller, C. M. Culbertson and Thomas Clark, all of Illinois, won hard-fought battles
for breed acceptance in the agricultural fairs and expositions which furthered the use of Herefords in American beef production.
Early Hereford breeder promoters and exhibitors in the 1870's
and 1880's included such names as Earl, Stuart, Fowler, Van Natta and Studebaker of Indiana, and the Swan Land and Cattle
Co., forerunner of the present Wyoming Hereford Ranch. These breeders were instrumental in the movement of Herefords to Wyoming,
other mountain states and the Northwest. Gudgell and Simpson of Missouri made their start in 1877. Four years later, they
were to gain everlasting renown in the Hereford world through importing and concentrating on the great young sire Anxiety
4. No other bull comes close to the stature of Anxiety 4 for he is often credited as being the "Father of American Herefords"
and "the bull that gave Herefords hindquarters." Today, he is the common ancestor of nearly all Hereford cattle in this country.
The Hereford industry in America passed a great milestone
of progress on June 22, 1881 , when a few breeders met in Chicago at the Grand Pacific Hotel to lay the foundation for the
organization of the American Hereford Association, essentially for the two-fold purpose of keeping the breed's records and
promoting the interests of Hereford breeders.
For over a century, the AHA has performed its duties with
little change in the original bylaws while providing leadership for the industry that has seen Hereford cattle taken to every
area, region and territory of America and become the greatest influence in the nation's beef production activity.
HEREFORDS BECOME DOMINANT
It was largely through shows and expositions that Herefords
gained their greatest acceptance among cattlemen of this country and, no doubt, the first great impact was scored at the 1883
Chicago Fat Stock Show, the forerunner of the famous International Livestock Exposition which, until closing after the 1975
event, was the premier show for market animals in America. At this show over a century ago, the Hereford steer Roan Boy won
the grand championship for his exhibitor, C. M. Culbertson. The steer's early maturity marked the beginning of the end for
the previously popular four-year-old steers -- the big, rough, old fashioned kind. In 1886, a two-year-old Hereford was grand
champion and in 1903 Hereford yearlings won the carlot grand championship. Three years later a 336-day-old Hereford won the
show, the first ever at less than two years old.
Thus, Herefords led the way in revolutionizing beef production
in America, largely through the traits of doing ability and early maturity -- getting fat at an early age and producing the
ideal in "baby beef." While other traits in beef cattle continued to be important in the cattle breeder's selection program
during the ensuing years, there is no doubt that early maturity and fattening ability were of primary concern because (1)
the market paid the highest price for the cattle that fattened well on forage; thus (2) the preferred breeding animals were
those that demonstrated the ability to fatten readily at a given age.
To get this early maturity, breeders in the late 1930's
and 1940's eagerly sought out the compact type of conformation -- short, low set, wide and deep-bodied cattle -- as their
preferred breeding stock. By comparison, such cattle were naturally smaller. Their success in achieving such an animal with
its abundance of fat and establishing that kind as the breed's "ideal" proved to eventually be a detriment. The market changes
that surfaced in the 1960's caused such cattle to be penalized in price and discriminated against.
DEMAND CHANGES HEREFORD TYPE
Following World War II and well into the 1950's, the compact,
fat, small type cattle continued to be favored in the show ring, but quietly and almost unnoticed, there was a change taking
place in the meat-packing industry and in the basic American consumer's diet which reflected on the demand and price of the
favored kind up to that time. The commercial market for fat or beef tallow declined, plus the fact that consumers were unwilling
to buy the excess fat on cuts from "over done" carcasses. The result was that beef packers paid less for the overfat cattle
and suddenly there was a different type of animal preferred by the industry -- a trimmer, leaner, less fat and more red meat
kind. The once preferred wide-backed, overfat and wastey cattle were heavily docked in the market.
This change in market preference was first expressed in
Hereford circles at the National Hereford Conference in Denver in 1963, voiced more loudly in 1967 at a conference in Kansas
City, and in the now famous 1969 conference in Wisconsin this change was very conclusively demonstrated. Economics in cost
of production required faster daily gain at less cost conversion of feed to muscle instead of fat, and far less loss in offal
waste in the desired market kind. These requirements translated to more size and a different style of conformation which,
in turn, presented the breeder with a tremendous challenge in modernizing the breed and turning it around to a new kind of
Hereford endowed with all the basic economical traits to encompass total performance -- no desired trait achieved at the expense
of another.
Accomplishing, their objective in a remarkably short time
is a great tribute to the dedication of Hereford breeders, the broad genetic base of the breed, and the ability of breeders
to utilize modern technology along with the practical application of the breeder's art.
The 1960's saw the beginning of acceptance of the performance
era in Herefordom. Breeders began giving concentrated attention toward applying new-found tools such as performance testing,
artificial insemination, objective measures, embryo transfers, generation turnover, and sire evaluation to effect more and
more rapid genetic change in the past 25 years than perhaps had been accomplished previously since Benjamin Tomkins undertook
his systematic efforts to make better beef cattle from his native Herefords.
In 1963, the American Hereford Association embarked on an
experimental program to test sires under practical feedlot conditions through their progeny in feedlot performance and carcass
yield. That program was replaced by the current National Reference Sire program to identify superior sires. This program led
the way for all breeds in sire testing.
The beginning of the American Hereford Association's record
keeping activity was expanded to include performance records and initiation of the present Total Performance Records (TPR)
service in 1964. Having been developed over some two decades, often amended to utilize new technology and to provide maximum
service to breeders, the TPR program that has evolved has proven to be a great service to individual breeders and the breed
in general. Presently, there are some two million records of performance on file in the AHA computer, stored for use to assist
in selecting for improvements in future cattle generations.
The late 1960's found breeders faced with overpowering evidence
that the breed had too many cattle that simply did not measure up in the modern measures of performance and with great competition
from European "exotic" breeds, Hereford followers sought out breeders and bloodlines noted for cattle of substantial size
and performance.
It was fortunate for the breed that there was an ample and
broad genetic base from which to select when the demand came for larger framed cattle. Breeders found the growth traits fairly
easy to select for. Both 205-day and yearling weights were accurate measures of growth, fairly easy to obtain, and they were
highly heritable.
Within herd selection was a long process when considering
the rule of thumb of cow generation being some seven years. Many breeders began looking for short cuts. They searched the
country for sires with more frame and size, requesting and analyzing weaning and yearling weights. Leaders in beef cattle
education and research stressed growth as a major criteria of performance, often ignoring or de-emphasizing the most important
economical trait of beef cattle production, fertility.
Breeders often selected for frame score and mature weight,
and paid little heed to fertility, structural soundness, feet and legs. The "yellow and mellow" coloring, a tic of white in
the back or extra white on the legs and underline became less of a selection criteria. "If big enough, markings and color
became less important."
Where and in what bloodlines could these cattle be found
to increase the frame and weight of Herefords? Voices of the speakers at the Madison, Wisconsin, conference in June, 1969,
had barely quieted when breeders started looking. The frame 5 steers at the conference came from the Northwest. That's where
many breeders headed and they found some bigger-than average framed bulls there. Many were of Evan Mischief, Mark Donald and
Real Prince Domino bloodlines. Some breeders selected bigger framed cattle in Canada, many of which traced to an American-bred
Prince Domino son, Real Prince Domino 109. Also about this time, breeders found the Line One cattle developed by the U.S.
Range and Research Station at Miles City, Montana.
It was at the Miles City station in 1934 that a selection
program commenced and the development of inbreeding several different lines with selection emphasis on yearling weights. Of
all the different lines developed at Miles City, the most prominent to date has been the Line Ones.
The foundation cows for the Line Ones traced back to stock
purchased in 1926 from George M. Miles. The bulls used in the development of the line were half-brothers, Advance Domino 20
and Advance Domino 54, purchased in Colorado. These two foundation sires were strong in Prince Domino blood.
Although the Line One cattle were developed at the Miles
City station and they have remained a prime source of seedstock, a number of other breeders drew heavily on Line One sires
starting in the 1940's, and these breeders became suppliers of the Line One seedstock in the early 1970's.
The complete and universal acceptance of utilizing performance
records was a slow process and, even today, does not have universal appeal. Different breeders place emphasis on different
aspects.
Because of such difference in opinions in the past, the
present, and likely in the future, Hereford cattle will command the premier spot in the beef cattle industry for years to
come.
