back in the day...Polled Durham Heifer

[librarian]

https://images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/view/all/what/Polled%2BDurham?sort=work_creator_details%2Cwork_shelfmark%2Cwork_source_page_no%2Cwork_title

 

[librarian]

More on Polled Durhams
https://books.google.com/books?id=pOVHAAAAYAAJ&dq=Galloway%20Peru%20Indiana%20miller&pg=PA124#v=onepage&q=Galloway%20Peru%20Indiana%20miller&f=false

 

[beebe]

There are some wide tops on those females.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

They used to be some of the stoutest easiest keeping cattle of all-Those days are history for the most part-To add to the worse cases-the cover of the currant Shorthorn country has a malnourished female with a young calf:you can count every bone in the cows body-what are they thinking about? How could anyone in their RIGHT MIND set a poor bedragled animal like that as representative of breed quality?O0 O0

 

[idalee]

Here is a picture from Volume 2 of the American Polled Durham Herd Book.  Nellie Gwynne was one of a set of twins born in 1881.    She along with her twin,  Mollie Gwynne were the primary source,  if not the only source,  for the polled gene in purebred Shorthorns.  She was purchased by W. S. Miller of Elmore, Ohio in 1888.  Nellie Gwynne had 17 calves.    Mollie Gwynne died in her 14th year of milk fever after dropping her 14th calf.    There were other Shorthorns which had been bred up from native "muley" cows and these were called Single Standard.  Those descended from the Gwynne family, were pure on both sides of the pedigree, and called Double Standard,  denoted by the "x" in registration numbers which is still used today. 

 

[mark tenenbaum]

The polled females etc shown in this article plus others I've seen in a couple of my old books (which I"D sell) are way more balanced and attractive to me than the horned cattle of the day  O0

 

[idalee]

Mark;  what are your old books that you would sell?

 

[mark tenenbaum]

50 Years Among Shorthorns by Robert Bruce republished (London) in 1907-with photos and recollections back to 1847.  Short-Horn cattle-by Alvin H Sanders-copywrite 1918- 994 pages illustrated and photos-the most complete history of the cattle from the very beginnings includes :English, Scottish, US Cattle O0

 

[knabe]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1917-Park-Place-Shorthorn-Scottish-Scotch-Cattle-Augusta-KS-Ad/232314873635?hash=item36170ba723:g:32kAAOSw5UZZAReK

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1919-Cosgriff-Farm-Clarence-IA-Shorthorn-Cattle-Sale-Ad/292098145193?hash=item440267fba9:g:XJIAAOSwRUhZARP7

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1919-Last-of-Gainford-Champions-CL-McClellan-Lowden-IA-Shorthorn-Cattle-Sale-Ad/292098146857?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44039%26meid%3D25a31f89d1bd4493a7df75034727480f%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D292098145193%26itm%3D292098146857&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&kn=shorthorn+cattle&recentlyadded=all&sortby=1

 

[idalee]

Thank you Knabe and Mark!    Specifically,  I am looking for "The History of the Aberdeenshire Shorthorn" by Isabella M. Bruce.  1923

 

[Doc]

They used to be some of the stoutest easiest keeping cattle of all-Those days are history for the most part-To add to the worse cases-the cover of the currant Shorthorn country has a malnourished female with a young calf:you can count every bone in the cows body-what are they thinking about? How could anyone in their RIGHT MIND set a poor bedragled animal like that as representative of breed quality?O0 O0

Mark, I was wondering the same thing. I mean to use some kind of cute picture is one thing, but there isn't anything cute about that picture.

 

[knabe]

Thank you Knabe and Mark!    Specifically,  I am looking for "The History of the Aberdeenshire Shorthorn" by Isabella M. Bruce.  1923

none of below have it but they can find just about anything.  they are spendy and mostly deal only in fine quality books, sometimes with dust jackets which add to the price tremendously.


if you are serious, contact this guy. he's pretty comprehensive, pricey, but he knows where to look. he doesn't have it but he is one of the best western book dealers west of the rockies.
https://www.carpediemfinebooks.com/


another
https://www.biblio.com/bookstores/western-americana/51


super primo book store
http://argonautbookshop.com/

 

[764wdchev]

I'm glad I am not the only one that thought - What a terrible picture for the cover of Shorthorn Country!

 

[mark tenenbaum]

I'm glad I am not the only one that thought - What a terrible picture for the cover of Shorthorn Country!/// Big Ditto to you and Doc-I may e-mail the King there at the Assoc.-Want to do a huge amount of damage to your breed? Allow something like that O0

 

[justintime]

I think I heard that this cover picture was sent in by another breed association!

 

[mark tenenbaum]

I think I heard that this cover picture was sent in by another breed association!/// What do they do all day-isn:t someone aware of whats going on? O0

 

[RyanChandler]

You think you heard? lol.  Mercy Salesman to the bone. 


On page 4, of every single Shorthorn Country magazine ever published, is stated where the cover photo was obtained.

"The april cover was taken by Lori Streck, Streck Shorthorns, Pond Creek Oklahoma"


While I agree this representation is not something you typically see on a cover,  it is an accurate representation of how shorthorns are going to look when calving them out on pasture in the winter.  Most people that I've encountered within the Sh breed feed their cattle soooo much, they have just lost all perspective as to how the cattle would look provided they were being run in a commercial pasture setting.  It would not be a stretch to say that half of the registered SH cows in North America are drylotted close to half the year.  Let that sink in.  The good thing about SH cows like this is that they will breed back at a much lower body condition score than other british breeds I've dealt with will therefore if they have a point mid year where the grass is good, compensatory gains will bring them right back to where you'd want them.  This cow looks rough no doubt-- but I guarantee you she's a calf raising money maker.  I have spent a fortune in years past keeping cows in a better body condition through the winter- and in my experience- its just not worth it..  By June, they'll look the same regardless how they were fed in January/February. 

 

[idalee]

Thank you Knabe for the bookseller references.  My old bookseller passed away a few years ago and I have been out of the market since then.  Probably time to establish a new relationship.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Shorthorns have become very hardoing which along with the bws has pretty well cancelled any commercial viability in the eyes of most commercial cattle people at least down here.Crossed with Angus ,Char or Simm variations and way back with Herefords they have worked very well as part of the whole-just as well as the other breeds. When we were running different breeds together in Kansas etc there wasnt a huge gap between them-ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS KEEP THEM BALANCED AT A CERTAIN POINT RATHER THAN THE EXTREMES OF ALMOST STARVING TO GOOD SHAPE TO BACK AGAIN. It doesnt take that much-the calves are healthier-wean off bigger, breeding back is not such an issue. and the cows live much longer BUT-SORRY DUDE-when they look like the one in the picture they are not automatically bred back first time, much less raise that calf in good order all the way through in some cases. O0

 

[aj]

I'm kinda with x-bar on this one. I live in Sherman county Ks. There are a lot of ranch cows.....around here that are a 4 to five condition score. These are successful operations that make money. There is thin line between over feeding a cow and under feeding a cow as far as profit goes. Like always the majority of purebred people don't even comprehend this concept. It's all about propaganda.