Encouraging the Export of Shires
The following is reprinted from the “Farmer and Stockbreeder Year Book” for 1906, and was written by S. H. L. (J. A. Frost):—
“The Old English breed of cart horse, or ‘Shire,’ is universally admitted to be the best and most valuable animal for draught purposes in the world, and a visitor from America, Mr. Morrow, of the United States Department of Agriculture, speaking at Mr. John Rowell’s sale of Shires in 1889, said, ‘Great as had been the business done in Shire horses in America, the trade is but in its infancy, for the more Shire horses became known, and the more they came into competition with other breeds, the more their merits for all heavy draught purposes were appreciated.’
“These remarks are true to-day, for although sixteen years have elapsed since they were made (1906), the massive Shire has more than held his own, but in the interests of the breed, and of the nearly four thousand members of the Shire Horse Society, it is still doubtful whether the true worth of the Shire horse is properly known and appreciated in foreign countries and towns needing heavy horses, and whether the export trade in this essentially British breed is not capable of further development. The number of export certificates granted by the Shire Horse Society in 1889 was 1264, which takes a good deal of beating, but it must be remembered that since then Shire horse breeding at home has progressed by leaps and bounds, and tenant farmers, who could only look on in those days, are now members of the flourishing Shire Horse Society and owners of breeding studs, and such prices as 800 guineas for a two-year-old filly and 230 guineas for a nine-months-old colt, are less frequently obtainable than they were then; therefore, an increase in the demand from other countries would find more Shire breeders ready to supply it, although up to the present the home demand has been and is very good, and weighty geldings continue to be scarce and dear.”