The
movement in British North America toward importing pure bred animals
and of being attentive to maintaining the selected qualities of these
breeds had started in the 19th-century with gentlemen farmers, many
of whom had the time and wealth to engage in such practices. Their efforts
were promoted by the early agricultural societies who encouraged farmers
to show their livestock through competitions and prize giving. These
societies often imported breeding stock as a means to start farmers
toward improvement. For many farmers these activities were seen to be
the indulgences of the well-off, and until market forces rewarded the
added cost of acquiring such stock, most ordinary farmers were reluctant
to adopt these livestock. The first shorthorn importations to Westmorland
probably took place in 1839, when Amos Botsford and William Crane acquired
animals in England. By the second half of the 19th-century however,
all farmers were becoming much more attuned to the economic benefits
that derived from raising “improved livestock.” Shorthorns
were one of the breeds that gained early favour for their ability to
serve the dual purpose of supplying milk while also producing good beef.
This document records the details of the Shorthorn cows and bulls acquired
and subsequently sold by James Dixon beginning in 1866. Dixon starts
his breeding herd by acquiring a sire named Brunswick and a dame named
Peerless from Ontario. These animals and their offspring were then registered
in the New Brunswick Herd Book, and in some cases in the Canadian Herd
Book, a step that ensured their value because would-be buyers could
verify their pedigree and track their genetic offspring. The fact that
this activity was occurring on the Tantramar provides an important indicator
of the level of agricultural development taking place on the marshes
in this period and suggests that many farmers had reached a new level
of specialization and commercial farming. |
