FAMOUS HEAVYWEIGHTS OF THE PAST

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1040, 2 August 1930, Page 27

FAMOUS HEAVYWEIGHTS OF THE PAST

I The Renowned Durham Ox ! Gone for ever arc the days of the j Durham Ox and other old-time heavy- J weight cattle. Charles Colling’s Dur- i ham Ox was calved in 1796, and got by his owner’s celebrated bull Favourite j 252, out of a common black dnd white I cow, bought for Charles Colling at Durham Fair for £l4. His firm and nice handling indicated every disposition to fatten ai an early age, ami at five years old his whole carcase was loaded with thick fat. Being thought so wonderful an animal. and far exceeding what had been seen before, he was purchased to be exhibited by Bulmer, of Harmby. in February, 1801, for £l4O, his live weight being 50241 b. Bulmer had a carriage made to convey him, and alter travelling for five weeks, sold the van and the ox at Rotherham to John Da.'* for £250. On July 8 Day refused £2OOO for the purchase, and he travelled with the ox six years through the principal narts of England and Scotland. In London £97 was taken in one day. At Oxford, ii' February, 1807, the ox dislocated his h3p-hone, and was killed on April 14; weight as follows: the four quarters, 165st 121 b; tallow, list 121 b; bide, lOst 21b. Day stated that the live weight of the ox at 10 years old was 34cwt. His measurement at old was: Length from horns to rump, Bft 4in: height at loin sft Sin; girth, 10ft 2in; and breadth over the hips, 2ft 7in. From many measurements of fat beasts it apoears that the Kowick mottled ox at even years old was the largest, as his 'ength was Oft Sin; height, sft 9Ain; tirth. 10ft lOin; and breadth. 2ft Ilin. The exhibition of the Durham Ox throughout the country attracted great notice to Mr Charles Colling’s herd, ind brought many buyers to Ketton. The Blackwell ox, killed in 1779, scaled 163st 101 b (of 141 b to the stone), and its beef, sold at 1/- a lb round Darlington, realised the sum of £lO9 11/6. Then Lord Darlington’s famous red ox. slaughtered at Newcastle in 1789, had a carcase weight of 109st (of 141 b). but alive scaled one n-ha!f tons and was worked until within a C C w months of slaughter. ARGENTINE MAIZE CROP The Argentine Bureau of Rural Economy and Statistics has published its first estimate of the area sown with maize in Argentina this seasont The total for the republic is placed at 13,638,142 acres, representing an increase of 1,811,782 acres, compared with last year’s sowing.