Wellington County a Recognized leader in Livestock Breeding (The
Guelph Mercury newspaper, July 20th 1927.) by Wade Toole, B.S.A., M.S. Within a few years after John Galt founded
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The tourist may travel from the turbulent Atlantic to the placid Pacific, or from the frigid Arctic to the sunny south, and in all of that vast expanse of North America’s wonderful land there is nothing that can quite compare in agricultural development and opportunity with what we generally term, South-western Ontario, and the good old county of Wellington is one of the gems among the score of counties comprising that unsurpassed agricultural field. Wellington County with its preponderance of fertile clay and sandy loam soils, its rolling topography, its numerous streams and rivers, and its inland central location, has, from the beginning, been destined to become one of the leading livestock producing centres of this great province, and almost from that time, 100 years ago, when John Galt felled the first tree on the banks of the Speed River, where the Royal City now solidly stands, Wellington County has been famous for livestock, particularly beef cattle, sheep and horses. The earliest settlers were of British stock, and |
Heroic Men These early settlers were heroic men. Of them, the poet says: “This generation ne’er can know, The toils we had to undergo, While laying the great forests low.” Would that some poet would also sing the praises of the first men
to import blooded stock from the home of the home of the breeds, in the days
of sailing vessels which were from nine to fourteen weeks in crossing the Atlantic,
and when it took $250 to carry a horse across, and the rate for a cattle
beast was $150, and that for a sheep, $25.
It required men of vision and of courage, to stake their modest
fortunes, for money was scarce in those days, on bringing a few pure-breds to
their clearings, but they were of the stuff of which heroes are made, and to
them we owe a debt of gratitude, which we shall never be able to pay. Wellington County may well feel a sense of
pride in the successes of her livestock pioneers, for many of them settled
therein and sowed the seed of better stock and cultivated it so well that
down through the decades, The Ontario forests of a century ago were finally cleared and
surveyed into fifty-two counties and districts with the County of Wellington
comprising 652,578 acres or about 1,020 square miles, of which today there
are 628,239 acres of assessed land, over 80 % of which is cleared, and this
land according to the last report of the Statistics Branch is valued at
$24,767,103. Wellington farm buildings
are among the best in the country, for, while the county stands thirteenth in
value of land and ninth in area among the 52 counties, the buildings, valued
at $18,354,966, stand seventh in the list and in value of live stock on hand
the county stands sixth with $8,423,036 worth. Moreover, in the revenue value of the
livestock sold off the farms in the last year, Wellington was fifth in the
list of 52 being only exceeded by the counties of Grey, Huron, Middlesex, and
Simcoe, each of which is a much larger county in
area. The revenue from livestock sold
from
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Pioneer Stock Men The quality of commercial livestock is directly dependent on the
quality of the pure-bred seed stock available. |
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The Wingfield herd was sold a few years later to John Howitt, who,
through judicious breeding and careful feeding, improved it considerably, and
it is recorded that at the first Provincial Exhibition, which was held in
1845, this herd captured nearly all the prizes for the breed. The herd was sold by Mr. Howitt to F. W.
Stone in 1851, and in 1854, Mr. Stone commenced to import pure-bred stock,
the first consignment of which, he lost on the ocean. From 1854 to 1875, Mr. Stone was one of the
largest importers in Another early importer and breeder who did a great deal to stimulate livestock breeding in the county was the late Thomas McCrae, who became a noted breeder of Galloways, as well as of Shorthorns, Herefords and Aberdeen Angus cattle, Cotswold and Southdown sheep, and Clydesdale horses. Mr. McCrae’s work was an important factor in laying the foundation of better stock in the district, and his son, Colonel D. McCrae carried on for many years, particularly with the Galloway herd, with which he was successful at all the major shows. |
Following the start in Shorthorns made by Mr. Wingfield and
carried on by Mr. Howitt and Mr. Stone, came the work of Messrs. J. and W. B.
Watt, who founded a herd on their excellent farms at Salem, just above Elora,
in 1861. These men were sons of
Alexander Watt, who emigrated from |
Sheep and Horses The Whitelaw family has for almost a century been prominent in the
livestock progress of |
Noted Horse Breeder Perhaps the best known Clydesdale and Hackney horse breeder and
importer in |
Contemporary Breeders Working contemporaneously with the elder Watts of Mention should also be made of the Parkinson family in
Eramosa. Joseph Parkinson Sr. was born
in 1787, in Lancashire, The Hood family had an important part in the history of livestock
in |
Other Notable Breeders Alexander Blyth came from The Amos family should also be mentioned. They were sons of Gilbert Amos, a barrister
of It is impossible, in one short article, to mention all those who
have held a prominent place in such a big industry as the livestock business,
in a county like |
Mention should be made of the Murdochs,
descendents of Robert Murdoch, who was born in William Elliot came to Canada in 1831 from Peebles, Scotland, and
a grandson of his, William R. Elliot afterwards became a breeder and feeder
of Shorthorns of a high order which won many prizes in our largest
shows. Only a few years ago, J. J.
Elliot, of another branch of the Elliot family, imported a $34,000 bull, Millhills Comet, this being the highest price ever paid
for a bull coming to The Stewarts, early settlers in the district, have been leading cattle and horse men for years, and Peter Stewart and Sons Shorthorns have been well known among the best breeders. The Ewings have been good cattle men for
many years in the northern part of the county. The first of their family, Alexander Ewing,
was born in The late Joseph Wooddissee, who was born in Derbyshire, England and emigrated to the United States in 1850, finally settled in Maryborough Township in 1875 and for several years, along with his sons, Thomas, James, and Edmond, carried on one of the largest herds of Ayrshire cattle in Ontario. |
The name of Arkell is famous the continent over. Thomas Arkell came to The Cockburn family, descendents of John Cockburn, who came from Isaac Groff, who was born in Waterloo County in 1854 and settled in Peel Township in 1876, was a successful breeder and exhibitor of Shorthorn cattle and finished steers for a number of years. We should also mention the more recently established herds of the Aulds, Kay and Meyer, and many others, and the recent show ring success with steers from the herds of Kopas, of Elora, and Henderson, of Guelph, might be elaborated upon, but space will not permit, and we are up to the present time. |
College Importations Some mention should be made of the O.A.C and its connection with
livestock. Established in 1874, the
College immediately commenced to lay the foundation for herds and flocks, and
in 1876 imported the first Aberdeen Angus cattle to come to |
The College also imported Devons in the
early days, for Devons were then well thought of in
certain parts of the country, the late George Rudd, a son of Nathaniel Rudd,
and his sons, Wm. J. and Matthew, having a large herd in Eramosa
Township. George Rudd Sr. was born in The College has gone ahead with two breeds of heavy horses, three breeds of beef cattle, three breeds of dairy cattle, eight breeds of sheep, and three breeds of bacon hogs for a number of years, distributing surplus stock to breeders in this and other counties of the province. Undoubtedly, the work of the |
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Members
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Left to
right: |
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Top row: |
Wm. Fisk,
A. C. Barber, R. L. Torrance, Wm. Watson, Major G. B. Hood, James McDonald,
Robert McDonald, Harry Lansing, A. W. Tyson, Albert Barber. |
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2nd row: |
Alf.
Hales, T. G. McMaster, F. W. Randall, Robert Barber, Prof. G. E. Day, James
Anderson (the Laird), James McQueen, Edward Thomson, John Thompson. |
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Front
row: |
James
Miller, H. C. Scholfield, J. M. Duff, C. L. Nelles, George J. Thorp, A. E. Meyer, Jas. Bowman. |
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The pure-bred dairy cattle industry is still young in Commercial Stock We have stressed the importance of the breeder of pure-bred
stock. He it was who laid the
foundation for the great livestock business of Again we say, all honour to the men who
so successfully pioneered the livestock business in Note: It is obvious to all that complete justice cannot be done to so large a subject in so large a county in one short article. Doubtless, much that should have been included has been left out. The writer asks the forbearance of the reader regarding any sins of omission. |
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