POLLED HEREFORDS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 19, 15 October 1937, Page 31 (Supplement)

POLLED HEREFORDS

Double-Standard Cattle are v • . v Purebred Stock ORIGIN OF THE TYPE Of recent years great interest has been taken in ihe Polled ' Hereford in New Zealand, and more particularly since the advent of the chilled beef trade from this country to the tJmted Kingdom. There is an impression in the minds of a number. of people that the Polled Hereford is. the duteonie of a eros# between a horned Hereford and a polled " breed,, such as tbe Aberdeen Angus or the Red Poll, and that from this the breed has grown. Such, however, is not the case as f ar a's the Donble Standard Polled Hereford is coneerned, and it applies only to what are termed the- single standard Polled Heref ords. The donble standard Polled Hereford is any purebred Hereford that is naturally polled and is registered in the American. Polled Hereford record at Des Moines, Iowa, and in the Ameri-. can Hereford record at Kansas City. The term, ^double standard' refers to this double registry in both the horned and Polled * records, but in all cases both the sire and the dam.must be purebred and registered in the American Hereford record. If

the sire or dam, or both, are polled they must be registered ia .tbe American Polled Hereford record also. • . • All the calves resulting from mating double standard Polled Herefords with registered horned Herefords are eligible to registry in the American Hereford record, just the same as any; . other purebred Hereford. All polled' progeny from such mat- . mgs are eligible to entry and should be registered also in the American Polled Hereford record. Single standard Polled Herefords are a separate and distinct strain. They are registered only in the single standard Polled Hereford record* This record (herd hook) is.separate ' from the* double standard Polled Hereford record, and has no connection with it. • Praetically all single standard Polled Herefords are simply high-grade, naturally Polled Hereford cattle which owe their polled head to a cross of Aberdeen Angus, Polled Sliortliorn, or other polled blood back a few generations. None of tbe increase from the single standard Polled Herefords can ever become 'double standard,' nor can the progeny ever be recorded in either the double standard Polled Hereford record or the American Hereford record. Mr Warren Gammon, of Iowa, IJnited States of Ameriea, upon reading Cbarles Darwin's works, learnt that among both plants and animals there was constantly occurring certain marked variations, mutations, or mutants. The idea came to Mr Gammon that there was a possibility of such a variation or freak oecuring among purebred registered Herefords. He determined to investigatfe the matter and sent a circular inqniry to all members of the American Hereford Breeders' Association, then numbering about 1500. From the several hundred replies to this inquiry he lo'eated 14' such hornless freaks, all of whicli were registered in the A.H. reeord and were dropped in the herds of reputable breeders. Pour of them were bulls and ten of them were females. He bouglit the four bulls and seven of the females in the autumn of 1901, and with them established liis foundation herd oi double standard Polled Herefords. It will thus be seen that double standard Polled Herefords are nothing more nor less than purebred registered Herefords minus. horns. No crossing with other breeds was necessai'y and since the original polled bulls were unx*elated to eaeh other it was not necessary to inbreed in order to multiply numbers or fix the poljed cHaracter. When it was demonstrated that polled calves would result from the use of the freak or polled bulls on registered horned cows, it beeame an eay matter to increase very rapidly the number of Polled Herefords and at the same time secure cattle of ricli pedigree and approved Hereford t-ype. The registra* tioris of 8000 head of double standard Polled Herefords last year, and a prediction of over 10,000 for this ycar, with trausfers numbering 3175 and association members numbering 6313, with 11,194 present owners, an increase of 1522 for the year, shows that double standard Polled Herefords have advanced far since Ihe assemblinsr 6f tlie one little herd of 11 cattle some 38 years ago.