Excerpt from The Story of the Herefords: An Account of the Origin and Development of the Breed in Herefordshire, a Sketch of Its Early Introduction Into the United States and Canada, and Subsequent Rise to Popularity in the Western Cattle Trade

Much ink was needlessly spilled and bad blood unnecessarily engendered some years ago in en deavoring to explain why the white faces were so long in coming into their own in the United States. The lot of the pathfinder in any field is not always cast in pleasant places. Those who first sought to force the Hereford to the front in the west were riding somewhat ahead of the hounds. They were in advance of their time. Natural con ditions were not favorable to immediate success, and, knowing as they did that there was merit in the breed they championed and chagrined at the slow progress made, they were inclined to attribute to unworthy jealousies and conspiracies their fail ure to compel general recognition. The impatience displayed, therefore, by some of those who were on the original skirmish line is pardonable. We are now far enough removed from the controversies of the old days to get a proper perspective; and viewed in the light of the known facts it is clear that while some difficulty was at first experienced in securing a fair hearing, the real reason why the Herefords did not sooner acquire wide popularity is grounded in more natural causes.

When the Indian and the buffalo disappeared from the great grassy west and cattle claimed the open range, the Hereford's real hour in America had struck, and not before. The world's grazing breed par excellence quickly found there a congenial home. And when cornbelt farmers began turning to the range for cattle to fill their feedyards, -then but not until then, were the necessary conditions for a wide extension of Hereford breeding in America pre sented. In the following pages we shall endeavor to trace the trail from its earliest beginnings down to the present time, including such account of the origin and development of the type in Hereford shire, England, as may seem essential to the intel ligent reading of American records.

The long and successful career of another great English breed, the Shorthorn, more particularly as relating to its rise and progress in America, has already been sketched by the writer in a previous volume. While we have to do in the following pages with the Hereford alone, a close acquaintance with both breeds has supplied such convincing proofs of the special merits of each that I can only write of one with due appreciation of the other. It will be understood, therefore, that this volume is prepared in no partisan sense. This is not an effort to exploit Herefords at the expense ofotho'r good breeds.

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