Black Angus Calf Most Common Beef Cattle Breeds in Iowa
In previous blogs, we accept talked some about the differences in breeds of cattle. Over fourth dimension, cattle were bred for different traits in dissimilar parts of the world, which resulted in many of the breeds we know today. For instance, Holsteins are large dairy cattle with superior milk production. Angus cattle are a popular beefiness brood with superior marbling and meat quality.
Just if you retrieve back to old westerns, it'due south rarely a Holstein or an Angus that was represented on a cattle drive. Mostly, the herds are a mass of red and white with curly hair on their faces, and those animals are chosen Herefords.
Screen capture from The Rare Breed, starring Jimmy Stewart
The Hereford breed of cattle was founded in Herefordshire England in the 1700s. Herefords are known for being docile, and were bred for high meat production and quality. Traditionally, they are a horned breed, pregnant that all animals (both male and female) of this breed naturally grow horns. Since early cattle breeders actually preferred horns, this trait became more or less fixed in the breed, with polled animals existence only a rarity. However, once the trait was fixed, producers noticed it was a problem.
When cattle have horns, it'due south very piece of cake for them to hurt things. Horns can exist long and sharp, and with a quick toss of the head, an animate being can push, cut, or skewer other animals or their owner. This not but becomes a liability for the other members of the herd, which are the farmer's livelihood, merely they also go a danger to the farmer themselves.
Considering of this, cattle owners began the practice of dehorning cattle. It'due south not a fun, easy, or nice task. Over the years, producers take gotten better at it, using local anesthetics and more than humane techniques, but fifty-fifty now it is but a necessary task that producers grit their teeth to achieve to the best of their ability.
Let'due south rewind back to 1898 to Warren Gammon, an Iowa lawyer and cattle breeder.
Warren Gammon was a Hereford breeder that hailed from Des Moines, just his farm was nigh St. Mary's in Warren County. He first saw naturally hornless (polled) cattle at an exhibition at the Trans-Mississippi Fair in Omaha in 1898. From there, he ran with this idea: can we develop a modern beef breed without horns?
In Gammon's mind, dehorning was an unnecessary practice. He felt that he could better the treatment of cattle by selecting for naturally polled animals. He once wrote an essay titled "Is It Morally Right to Use a Horned Balderdash?" In this essay, he said:
"When we consider all of her [a cow'due south] merits, we are forced to conclude that there is no species of animal on earth that is more than entitled to sympathetic and kind handling or that has greater claims on our admiration than the American moo-cow and her progeny."
On his quest, Gammon searched the land for other naturally hornless Hereford cattle. According to Nascency of a Breed by Orville One thousand. Sweet, Gammon wrote letters to 2,500 members of the American Hereford Association searching out these odd, naturally hornless animals. He purchased four bulls and x cows from these inquiries. Three of those animals were eliminated from his breeding stock, and the remaining 11 were the first of the Polled Hereford breed registered in 1901.
Just a few years later in 1907, the American Polled Hereford Breeders Clan was founded and headquartered in Des Moines. Both Warren and his son, Bert, were instrumental in the growth and development of this breed. By the 1950s, Polled Herefords had proven to be a popular, versatile, hardy, and adaptive brood. In 1995, the American Polled Hereford Clan merged with the American Hereford Clan, both of which are now housed in Kansas City, Missouri.
From an Iowa standpoint, nosotros tin can claim non merely this breed, but also these ii influential Iowans. Warren and Bert Gammon were able to utilise their knowledge of heredity to create a breed of cattle that is safer to handle while eliminating an imperfect practice.
You lot tin can even pay homage to the birthplace of the Polled Hereford breed! In that location isn't much left of the original site (now on the National Register of Historic Places), simply there is a boulder with a plaque explaining the significance.
What's more, you can even visit the Gammons' barn at the Iowa Country Fairgrounds! The befouled was moved from the origin site to the fairgrounds in 1991, where it at present serves equally a museum. This lesser-known beauty is tucked in between the Livestock Pavilion and the Cattle Barn. Inside, you tin can run across bronzed hats of American Polled Hereford Association Hall of Famers, books, documents, pictures, and other historical pieces relating to the Polled Hereford breed. (And equally a bonus, when yous're there yous might meet my dad, Ray!)
I promise you had fun learning about one of my favorite pieces of Iowa history!
-Chrissy
Ps. If you're interested in modernistic efforts to genetically dehorn cattle, check out this really cool video!
trevascusbeffight.blogspot.com
Source: https://iowaagliteracy.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/iowas-beef-breed/