The Cattleman's Pages of History

The Cattleman cover depicted “A promising young bull from the show herd of H. M. Halff.”

➤ In an era long before smart phones, the internet and #CattleRaisers, pictures were still “worth a thousand words.” Cattlemen were encouraged to photograph their animals in A Review of Timely Topics: “Live stock photography on the farm and ranch is a field that has apparently been neglected, says the American Hereford Journal. The stockman …often finds himself in a position where he could use a picture of some of his animals to advantage in making sales by mail order… The stockman usually has a son or even a daughter who would be only too glad to experiment with a kodak and soon learn to make good pictures with it.” [The writer may have been referring to a Vest Pocket Kodak camera (1912-1926) like the one shown here.]

The August cover featured the Hereford breed in a photograph taken by Dick Wilson. “It was a warm Spring day when this photo was taken and the commercial Hereford heifers on the Ray Smyth Ranch near Aledo, Texas, found the prospects of a cool drink inviting.”

➤ Then, as now, The Cattleman featured Herefords in its August issue. Writer Paul Brock traced a history of the breed in an article titled “The Whiteface Story.” One question he posed was “…why does half the world demand the best blood of the breed to improve their herds? This question was answered over half a century ago by Alvin Sanders, famous judge of cattle and managing editor of the Chicago Breeders Gazette, when he said: ‘It has always been demonstrated that Herefords are great cattle wherever grass grows…’”

➤ “Mingo 22562, a Charolais bull calf owned by Hoyt ‘Pete’ Hardin… has made quite an impressive record. Mingo weighed 925 pounds the day he was weaned. He weighed 1,475 pounds on his first birthday (365 days of age), a whopping 4.04 pounds for each day of his life… Plans for Mingo’s future have already been made in some detail.”