Cattle in Harrison County at the Turn of the 19th Century

By Thelma Taylor

At the end of the 19th Century, Perrin's History gave a brief sketch of the cattle industry in Harrison County. I intended to use excerpts from his book, but a word in the first paragraph was salubrious. I had to look that up in a dictionary, so I decided to decode his big words and give you a Reader's Digest version of local cattle history as Perrin saw it 100 years ago as the nation was going into a new century (Y I K):

Cattle did so well on bluegrass that Kentucky-bred beef cows had a good reputation even before the people made an effort to improve their herds. Three sons of Matthew Patton Sr. of the South Ford of the Potomac in Virginia, came to Kentucky in 1785 with cows sired by a bull that had been imported from England. The buff was "very large and of the Longhorn breed."

Five years later, in 1790, Patton came to Kentucky with calves from the same Longhorn bull. These cattle were "large and rangy, fattened slowly and late, but ... made excellent beef." They had very long horns that were wide between the points that turned up slightly on the ends. some were excellent milkers.

B. Harrison brought in registered Shorthorns. They were described as deep red with white faces, of good size, and of round full form. A heifer, Venus, was "pure white except for her ears which were red, of fine size, high form, crumply horns turned downward." She was bred to Mars, the first Shorthorn bull brought to Kentucky. She had two bull calves and died. The service for Mars was $2.00 which was an extremely high price. However, his cross-bred calves were "soon scattered all over Kentucky making an improvement in the common stock."

James Patton, Daniel Harrison and James Gay bought a Shorthorn bull, Pluto 825. Harrison said, "He is the largest bull I ever saw, with an uncommonly small head and neck and fight short horns. " Patton bred him to the products of Mars. People could see the marked improvement in Patton' s herd and flocked to Pluto with their cows even though the service price was high.

S.F. and J.J. Tebbs brought the improved Shorthorns to Harrison County. Lady Motte and Rosebud were bred by Exception, a Shorthorn bull owned by Charles Garrard of Bourbon County. Gen. Lucius Desha was one of the most successful Shorthorn breeders in the county. He began his herd with two cows, May Rose by Imp and White Rose by Publicola (1348).

In 1850, Dr. G. H. Perrin purchased from William Alexander, Woodford County, a six-month-old Shorthorn bull calf Langton, for $600 and a cow, Valette, from Gen. James Garrard. She was from the bull, Exception. This was the beginning of his herd.

Anselm C. Shropshire, Leesburg, bought Mary Ann from Imp in 1852. He sold his cattle privately. Duke of Moscow sold in 1870 for $1,600.

James L. Patterson of Broadwell, started a herd in 1854 with three cows and one bull of the Amelia family. B. B. Groom, Clark County, bought a bull from Patterson for $2,000 and showed it at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. He bought Red Daisy 8th for $2, 100 to show in his centennial herd.

John M. Berry of Berry Station, Thomas Megibben and Henry Williams of Cynthiana, and John Lair of Lair Station had excellent herds of Shorthorns. Lair said that if Shorthorns are crossed properly they can become good milkers. He was interested in butter and milk production. He said it took no more feed to support a Shorthorn than it did a scrub and they were, by far, more profitable to the farmer.

Perrin said that besides producing superior purebred cattle, the Shorthorns that came to the county improved the "native grades." These progressive farmers showed the county the superiority of purebred cattle over "common grades and no doubt, the close of the present century (1800s) will witness quite a revolution in the cattle interest of the county. It

May 27, 1898, 100 head of cattle sold at the local stockyards. The sales were mostly yearlings and two-year-olds. They brought 3 1/4 cents to 3 3/4 cents a pound. A few fairly good yearling steers sold for 4 1/4 to 5 cents. Milk cows sold for $25 to $42 per head. It would take a while to recoup the $2,000 paid for the bull and Red Daisy 8th that went to the Philadelphia Exposition, wouldn't it?

Other atricles about Harrison County and Harrison Countians.