The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 20, July 1916 - April, 1917 Page: 3
426 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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History of the Cattle Industry in the Southwest
male and two female Herefords, at the cost of five hundred
dollars.4 New England and New York soon began the introduc-
tion of short-horn stock. The western grower was half a cen-
tury behind the East in the kinds of stock, but he determined
to improve as rapidly as possible. Besides knowing the purpose
of his animal, he had to learn the results of mixing certain east-
ern breeds with the Spanish stock and the adaptability of the
animals to the ranges. It was found that storms and short forage
affect well bred animals sooner than the native western animal.5
The lightweight Devon was found better suited for uplands than
the heavier shorthorns.0
California stock growers began introducing blooded bulls as
early as 1852, and the native stock gradually became uncommon.
By 1880, in central California, Miller and Lux had three-fourth
and seven-eight shorthorn and Devon stock. In an address be-
fore the Agricultural Society of California, the president, Hon.
Marion Biggs, September 18, 1877, said:
We now challenge the world with our shorthorns. We have
the finest beef cattle in the world. Yes, our neighbors, the Japs,
come all the way from Japan, go to New York and examine the
finest herds in the Atlantic States, they return to California and
purchase their cattle and horses in this market, showing the
world that we produce the best animals that stand on hoof.7
The high grade bull was introduced among the herds on ranges
throughout the west. The Texans sold their male animals young
to drovers or placed them as stock cattle on the ranges to be
sold when old enough to be called beeves. They introduced Dur-
ham bulls among their herds and by crossing improved their
stock. In Colorado it was made a punishable offense to permit
a Texan or "scrub" bull to run at large, and ranchmen were
authorized to shoot such unwelcome animals wherever they were
met upon the range.8 Thus the western grower both lost and
won in his conflict with improved stock.
4"American Cattle," Nation, II, 46.
"Census Report for 1880, III, p. 990.
Ibid., 1033.
'Biggs, Marion, address in California State Agricultural Society
Transactions, 1877, p. 87.
8McCoy, Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade in the West and South-
west, 238.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 20, July 1916 - April, 1917, periodical, 1917; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101070/m1/9/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.